The Searchers
With John Wayne, Natalie Wood, Jeffrey Hunter, Vera Miles.
US, 1956, 35mm, color, 119 min.
Scorsese, Lucas, DePalma, and Schrader have all quoted in their movies from this great, great Indian captivity film (the Great American Film?) which, at release, was passed over as a routine Western. Routine? Think The Odyssey. Think The Last of the Mohicans. Think King Lear out West, with mad Ethan (Lear), Ole Mose (the Fool), and Marty (Edmond) wandering in the storm about Monument Valley until Ethan embraces Debbie (Cordelia) and the universe calms down. Think a Marxist universe, moving from paganism to civilization through the dialectic clash of Ethan and Scar. Jean-Luc Godard: "Mystery and fascination of the American cinema. . . . How can I hate John Wayne upholding Goldwater and yet love him when abruptly he takes Natalie Wood in his arms in the last reel of The Searchers?"
The Harvard Film Archive is proud to offer The Searchers in probably its first multi-show run since its 1956 release.
