Movie #91: The Searchers

Movie #: 91
Movie Title: The Searchers
Year Released: 1956

Director: John Ford
Notable Cast: John Wayne, Jeffrey Hunter, Vera Miles, Ward Bond, Natalie Wood

Short Description: A Civil War veteran embarks on a journey to rescue his niece from an Indian tribe. (IMDB.com)


Rank on the Top 100 Lists (as of 1/7/2013)

AFI.com: #12
IMDB.com: N/A
Ranker.com: N/A
Lifed.com: #84
Empire.com: N/A
FilmCrave.com: N/A
FlickChart.com: #90



Date Watched: 7/4/2016

Grade: 2 out of 5 (Fair)

Rationale: To the best of my knowledge I’ve not previously intently watched a John Wayne movie. That said, I don’t know if it was just how his character was written or if Wayne’s own personality bled into the movie, but damn he was a racist ass in The Searchers. Every time Wayne’s character Ethan Edwards opened his mouth he was either insulting or yelling at the others in the search party or he was cracking unnecessary comments about the Cherokee Indians they were tracking. Even his character’s niece, who the search party was looking for, wasn’t immune to his wrath once he realized she’d been with the Cherokee too long. I get that times have changed and the world is far more PC now than in the 1950’s, but it really makes one wonder why being a racist ass was ok even back then. Definitely doesn’t make me want to watch more of his films if they’re like this.