The Searchers at 65: No More Heroes - 65th Anniversary Video Essay | Movie Birthdays 

I disagree with your final assessment of Ethan. He had changed and he had gained redemption, but his quest had been completed. Their family had been reunited and Martin and Laurie's future could begin. Ethan was alone because his true love, his brother's wife, was gone forever. Great film.

John Ford is one of the greatest directors ever.

I've seen it 50 times and everytime i pickup something even more interesting and cool.My Top 5. The Searchers The Magnificent Seven Shane She wore a yellow Ribbon Major Dundee

Sigh. Look up the Parker kidnapping, the creation of the Texas Rangers, the horrors of Comanche attacks and what happened to Ethan’s family, and you’ll understand the theme this film portrays. It asks us, “what happens to a man who is able to fight these bastards?”, “what becomes of his soul?”, “can he live in our sanitised world?” In the end Ethan obtains peace with rescuing Debbie, peace with his past and he hands her over to the “future”. The American’s won , and the Comanche terror raids stopped. All it took was a few men’s souls and Ethan knows this. His walking off is the culmination of his sacrifice to make Texas, to make America.

Excellent and moving review of Ford and Wayne. Clementine, The Grapes of Wrath, The Searchers, all masterpieces.

"The Searchers'' is my favorite western. The author here talks of Ford's work being ignored now, but it was ignored in 1956 when I saw it at my third-run neighbood theater as an eight years old. I remember the suspense and the horror I felt as the brownish shading of the lighting accented the fear of the family as it awaits the Indians' attack. As an adult, I marveled at Wayne's acting from it. This as he recognizes Ethan's racism, knows it is wrong but can't remove himself from it. This is powerful stuff and should have been recognized with Oscar nominations, if not wins. Yet, the Academy ignored ''The Searchers'' whiie egregiously honoring the overly-bloated ''Around the Wlrld in 80 Days.''

The perfection of the Searchers, apart perhaps from Natalie Wood's lipstick, is indisputable, not just in how in looks but what it says. As relevant in 2024 as ever. Ethan is more archetypal than ever.

Agreed that the Searchers is one of the greatest of all time and Duke at his best. As with the cavalry trilogy Ford did with John Wayne.

Really thoughtful and beautiful analysis of the Ford classic. Thank you!

Greatest director ever. Could do anything.

I used to go to my grandparents every Sunday & my grandad would have a western on without fail and his favourite was The Searchers. Cool video mate, you brought some nice memories back for me.

Vera Miles still lives!

I never looked at the ending in quite such a negative way. Does his leaving alone have to imply he rejects her acceptance back into the family? Maybe he just had other things he had to do at that time.

You may have gotten the ending completely wrong. In picking up Debbie and holding her, possibly recognizing his own daughter and taking her home, rather than killing her Ethan has finally transcended the hate and prejudice that drove him. We see it beginning to unfold when he accepts Marty as family and heir, almost his son. But in the final shot, Ethan turns away from the door and back to the desert, not out of his inability to change, but for the acceptance of the loss of the only love of his life- Martha- and a settled life that will never be. She was the woman that made this man to wonder and roam, and turn is back on home in the beginning. This acceptance of loss was the ending shot. Leaving Debbie and Marty in a home he could never create or provide. He takes hold of himself by the arm, and walks off.

Debbie. MY Stagecoach -- Anniversary 'MUG' Delivered TOday. I am Nearly 87yr. MY 1st. John Ford-- Western! She 7yr. End ww2.

John Ford is arguably the greatest director ever.

PATRICK Wayne/ Natalie Wood And Myself A Few Months Apart In Age. First Western~ Stagecoach age 7. View Anytime thanks to B. BAND! Debbie. Now 85.

Thank you so much for this meticulously produced and insightful essay. I've been rediscovering some of the westerns I loved most as a kid. Perhaps it's a way in my old age to recapture memories of some the best times spent with my father. I recently read Glenn Frankel's book that tells not only the story about the making of the film, but the historical source material of Le May's original novel. About the abduction of Cynthia Ann Parker, on which both the book and film are loosely based. I'm a musician and am always looking for inspiring visuals and recently created this music video using footage from the film. I attempted to recast this as the epic tragedy it really was, and not just for the Ethan character, but for Natalie Wood's character, the real Cynthia Ann Parker. Here was a 10-year-old girl who witnessed her family savagely murdered, only to grow up and have her new family and adopted tribe, including two of her sons, seemingly slaughtered by Cavalry soldiers. Something that should never happen to anyone she experienced twice in her short life. She spent her last tormented years, first as a public curiosity - never fitting in, not ever wishing to become "white", never knowing that one of her sons managed to escape the massacre and become the famous chief Quanah Parker who helped negotiate peace between tribes and the federal government long after her death. Hence the bibilical Job theme from one of my favorite English composers, Vaughan Williams, seemed quite appropriate, especially the horse scenes in the Monument Valley and that funeral-like dirge during Debbie's wary return and the Duke's iconic exit. ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-7QTeAazY0FQ.html

Will we ever get another John Wayne I don't think so

Being a slave to current trends is anathema to greatness in any field of endeavor no matter the era. If your work does not transcend modern sensibilities (if you can define all this latest woke crap as sensible), it is quickly forgotten. The values which held society together are being ripped asunder. It is not that Ford and Wayne are merely forgotten as much as they have been forced out by the mediocre and the talentless hacks of modern cinema. Fear rules the day in every aspect of our culture and we are NOT the better for that.

The Searcher’s and the Man Who Shot Liberty Valance are the two greatest movies ever made.

He's doomed to wander between the winds.

Difficult and heart wrenching for all. A different perspective than 1878 or even 1956. Human can cruel animals. The cruelest.

And Today. Real Treat. RIO GRAND. Colorized ~ Brilliant ~ Technology !

Present day audience! contemporary cinema! BAH! Except for the Cohen Brothers and CGI it sucks!

Thanks for your video. But your conclusion is way off. Your "take" makes me wonder if you watched the movie thoroughly and carefully, or just read about it. I've seen the movie a dozen times. You ignored the most climactic scene--Ethan's moment of change and repentance at the cave. He picks up Debbie in his arms, holds her and says, "Let's go home Debbie,". He accepts her. He lets go of hate. Yet at the end of your video, you said he is "incapable of change" and that he thinks Debbie is "lost and corrupted". You missed it sir.

Just came across your videos (on a Strange Days kick) and OMG you absolutely nailed The Searchers! I’ve loved this movie forever and had a hard time justifying/explaining its greatness which you were able to do in the span of about 10 minutes. Thanks for your analysis!

The lesson of the Searchers is revenge and hate poison you, and many looking back at this film fall into a self-hatred which is equally odious. Normal people that watch The Searchers grasp these concepts, but critics seem to feel embarrassed and need to justify. It's the ever-evolving asterisk they have to attach. I highly doubt the same people will lament their own as they too fade into obscurity like so many other groups throughout history. The graveyard of history is full of well-intentioned appeasers.

Wow! Thoughtful. Insightful. I’m grateful you shared this. Well done.

At the end, that wasn't his home, he had no home...the woman he loved, and his brother, were dead. He is left to wander.

Good job,🤠🇺🇸. I'm big fan of John Ford, maybe even a product of his work and employees. Start many a morning with Elmer Bernstein playing in the background. I don't think you have to have everything right for me to say you nailed it.

Ethan Edwards,( Amos in the book which i recommend) is called a racist character. He was a man that lost his mother to commanches, then his love, his brothers wife, and possibly the mother of his child, is butchered by commanches as is his niece. 3 women of his blood. Of course he hates the commanches. Hes a good man having to do bad things to survive. In the end his connection to his last living relative, possibly his daughter, wins through. A dark character but 1 of the greatest in cinema.

Been watching your videos for a bit man, theyre very sick. Really well though out with unique nuanced opinions and thorough backup. No Idea why youre channel and this concept isnt much bigger. But thank you for all you do, will definitely be signing up for your patreon

What a beautiful.... Vision.....thank you. You open my taste to new movies

Your best video yet. Your editing from the upteenth clips available is brilliant and, like the video, serves as a reminder of the richness of Ford's, and by extension, Hawks' works, particular their works in colour. Even though some modern audiences now scoff at their work (whether its due to sensitive themes, or just simply whether or not the Duke will be able to get on and off his horse) Ford's films are very much the definition of shaping the cinematic definition of American culture. It's this cinematic definition and viewpoint that has sold America and its landscapes to the world and has gone onto influence countless generations of filmmakers. Ford and, by extension, Hawks are very much the true auteurs of American cinema, and yet they never really identified themselves as such. Ford was dismissive of the theory by stating that others did the work on his behalf, yes it was his vision, but it took others to execute it. The Searchers is Ford's key film, a revenge story of patience told within the context of a brilliant colour palete and breathtaking cinematography. What always interested me about Ford, especially in his later years, was in how he tried to deconstruct the American myth, that he had so richly put on the screen in the first place, with films such as Liberty Valance (IMO his best film) This theme in turn would pave the way for a new generation of westerns filmmakers, some of whom would take Ford's tropes and, at times, would improve upon them, either due to a differing viewpoints, different methods or simply the change in censorship rules. When it comes to Ford, I at times compare him to Jean Luc Godard, in that the framing, the shot compositions and cinematic techniques that these two filmmakers have pioneered have gone onto influence the future, and sadly, at times, have been used to better effect in better films.

A very moving and insightful analysis, thank you! I think that John Ford is cinema. Even when younger filmmakers ignore his works his thematic and stylistic elements are still in films today. And eventually, a new group of filmmakers will discover his work. As Prof Sue Matheson notes in her book on his Westerns and War Films, he'll always be there.

I agree with others. Ethan had realized that he couldn’t finish the rest of his life in hate. Holding Debbie broke thru the horror he saw in the Civil War and on the plains. Remember Ford was surrounded by WWII veterans. He understood PTSD.

great cinematography, fine acting by Wayne, but quite a mess with plot and script. Vastly overrated movie----sorry.

Often wondered if Bob Dylan had Ethan in mind when he wrote 'Like A Rolling Stone'. Edwards passes' forever between the winds' at the end with no direction home. Some think Debbie might actually be Ethan's daughter as the feelings between he & Martha are very clear, if unspoken...complex film...

People focus so much on Ethan that they think this is an anti-hero movie. If you look past Ethan, not easy because John Wayne dominates the hell out of the movie, there is a hero hiding in plain sight. Martin Pauley. Old Mose finds Debbie and Martin saves her.

It's curious that the movie is set in Texas when none of it is filmed there and the iconic scenery is recognisably Monument valley on the Utah-Arizona border.

All new ground for me, so informative in the extreme.

I do not understand the take on the end of the movie, that Ethan now sees that he will wander forever, like the Indian whose eyes he shot out was supposed to wander. I don't understand that take, except that people want the darkness to consume Ethan, further separating them from the infamy of his racism, his darkness, so no pesky guilt by association transpires, I guess. That just seems like an incredibly shallow take on the movie, and everything it is about. When Ethan shot the eyes out of that dead body, he was already like that. He was sharing his misery with the body, and whoever of the Indians who happened to see him afterwards. And I can't understand that anyone would miss that there was grace that had happened to Ethan at the end, who had been so determined to kill Debbie. And the final end of the movie is in the light of that grace. Everything is not made alright, but of what story do we actually demand that at the end, all things are now fixed, and every question solved? Would we really want a completely happy movie ending, when there is still so much wrong with everything? If Ethan (who sure enough doesn't belong, as Debbie doesn't belong) walked in hale and happy, his back being slapped, congratulatory cigar put in his mouth, and he's grinning because of how accepted and belonging he finds himself, in the heart of the family? But does anyone really believe that the Jorgenson's are rejecting him (it is their moment welcoming Debbie back, of course!)? Isn't it Ethan who needs to separate himself from them, and think about what has happened? Sparing Debbie was an act of grace in Ethan's heart; why would he have forgotten so soon? Grace = hope for someone who has been condemned to wander eternally. As a Christian, I can't help but notice the important symbolism of the serpent gingerbread in the doorway, as Ethan stands there looking in, then walks away, pondering all that has happened, and what has happened to him. The serpent is a well-known symbol of Satan and evil. But there is another meaning for a serpent lifted up in the Bible, and it is the message of grace. Appearing in the doorway of that all-important shot, I cannot believe that its intention is just decorative, or an accident.

Talented directors site John Ford as an influence like abused children say their parents didn't know any better.

The idea that Debbie is actually Ethan's child makes his quest even more personal.

Well done and very interesting! I was taken by 'The Searchers' on first viewing. Each time I see a another perspective on it, my appreciation for it grows. Ford has created such a haunting character in Ethan- we appreciate him for his dedication, humanity, and courage, but are repelled by his racism and hatred- he embodies the some of the best and worst traits of the traditional Western hero, a myth we've grown up to admire and believe in- it is as timely today as it was when it was made.

John Ford is one of the greats and I'll always be grateful to George Lucas for not only making great films but also introducing me to so many different corners of cinema because his homage to The Searchers in both AOTC and ANH lead me to Ford's filmography. There's just so much Ford has done and everything I've seen from him so far is great. Also great video!

What is the film clip used at the start of the video?

Beautifully done! Carefully selected, super high-quality images that support your comments perfectly! Thank you!

What a great analysis....

There's no point to all this stuff about "love overcoming hate". If Ethan hates Commanches, then so what? The human soul is a mysterious thing, and life is more nuanced than the "good versus evil" presentation. In fact, hate is just as much a constituent part of human life as love. And like love it has its own reasons, both rational and irrational. All this talk of "redemption" is just Jewish/ Christian nonsense.

Most folks that know me, know that I like movies. They learn that I enjoy the classics and most have never heard of, I'll end up talking about these movies with the fathers of most of my friends since many younger folk haven't viewed them. I'm sometimes asked what my favorite movie is and I struggle to answer, I love so many you see. So I often just say that I don't know which is my personal favorite, but that the best movie ever made is probably The Searchers.

Ford got good work out of Duke on "The Searchers." I tell people who knock John Wayne to watch this superb film. Give it a try. ❤❤❤

👍

people tend to empathise with ethan, obviously being the main character, his character is explored the most. being maori im more interested in the scar character, having his land, family and way of life taken, a way of life that existed for thousands of years in america. for me the loss is beyond anything ethan experiences. one criticism of war movies is that even if theyre anti war movies they tend to glorify war, as with westerns up to this point the films almost always empathised with white characters, which says a lot about the times and the people

Your videos are great, did you stop making them?

" his niece" Ethan Edwards goes off to fight a war that wasn't his for country that surrenders before he does he comes home to see his brother and his brothers family butchered by animals and hunts them down by the way Debbie is clearly his daughter he betrayed his brother before he left and that's another reason why he has to search for that child

2 years hope I get "once we're warriors"! Also last of the Mohicans is coming up in September!

Ford is my favorite all American director.

What about Sergio Leone...😮

Hey, my man. I LOVE this work you're doing. Are you still doing them?? I haven't seen a new one in a while. Plenty of 50th birthdays await you.

*the climax of the movie makes it a classic*

Thank you for a fine piece of work. An interesting feature of Ford as he matured was his tendency to demolish myths he had himself colluded in, such Fort Apache (1948) and The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance (1962). I wonder what you think of Two Rode Together, with James Stewart and Richard Widmark, which is a very obvious and cynical parody of The Searchers?

Wow! Excellent essay on Ford! And I say that as someone who spent the last month (re-)watching my own 28-movie retrospective of Ford's career.

It's fair for modern audiences to question the treatment of Native Americans in this movie but when people write it off as racist they miss the point which you explain very well. Ethan's hate and intolerance keep him apart from the rest of the community in the end.

Oh man that a treat. I was just about to go through your list as I’m determined to watch them all as I sell my guitar pedals I’ve collected and have somewhat of addiction to buying being a guitarist but nothing like a great John Wayne line. Your edits are getting even better. I watched “ The Town “ last night and was very impressed. 140 films is quite a feat. John Wayne is truly and American hero and his voice has been imitated countless times. I think these Westerns inspired films way outside the genre, especially Tarantino even spanning into comedy as I’ve heard many comedians reference old westerns as a main influence most likely because they grew up on them. Your script for this document is extremely fluid and you’re definitely improving. I hope this channel blows up which I’m sure it will, but it’s always nice to find a channel before it’s gets a ton of followers.

Very nice analysis. Thanks.

This is a real youtube gem. Beautifully done👏👏👏👏👏👏👏

Ford was beyond great. This was a special film. I still remember how shocked I was when I found out John Wayne's real name was Marion Morrison.

He could not stay there because of the romantic connection he had with his brother's wife

I love film history as well. Amazing work Ford did during and after WW2 as well.

The big trail

The Searchers gave us the all time classic record 'That'll Be The Day' by The Crickets

Thanks

I love this. Thanks for creating it and posting it.

Your commentary is spot on. Thank you.

Only remembering this channel now. You hit 1k! Congratulations! I knew you'd get their some day.

For sure ,the greatest western ever !! Cheers !!

Just a quick comment to say I hope you're doing ok.

I wonder if Quentin Tarantino was influenced by John Ford.

I hear you, Coach!

Great video!

The Searchers magnificent, as sure as the turnin of the earth! From a Stranglers fan, No More Heroes says all that needs sayin! Cheers, from Belfast! x

Nice video! Tight and humorous editing, esp how you illustrate audience reactions around 06:30. Just watched Searchers for the first time and one question that lingers is, Did Ethan kill Lucy? Is that why he’s so shaken? He was ready to kill Debbie over her “lost virtue,” so why not Lucy, too, who by then would presumably have been violated?