# Why is "The Searchers" Such a Great Movie? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [December 31, 2007, 7:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-the-searchers-such-a-great-movie/431830 "2007-12-31T19:19:12Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![\_Jake\_1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/_/439d5e/32.png) [@\_Jake\_1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/_Jake_1)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2007, 7:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-the-searchers-such-a-great-movie/431830/1 "2007-12-31T19:19:12Z")
I’m an enormous fan of the western genre, and I can’t for the life of me understand why The Searchers is frequently selected as the best western of all time. (For example, it’s the highest ranked western, at #12, on the AFI’s 100 Movies list.) I’ve watched it many, many times, and it’s a good movie, but in my opinion, it isn’t nearly as good as Rio Bravo, Stagecoach, The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance, Once Upon a Time in the West, Red River or even Unforgiven. I’ve read about anti-racism message conveyed by the film and the debate over whether Ethan’s secretly in love with his sister-in-law, and neither of those themes raise the movie to a higher level for me. Am I missing something more about the film, or am I just one of those people who likes another film more? ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2007, 8:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-the-searchers-such-a-great-movie/431830/2 "2007-12-31T20:14:16Z")
[You’re not the only one.](http://www.slate.com/id/2145142/) I think it’s OK, but hardly as good as other westerns, or other John Ford westerns. I have the same feeling about it that I do about **Vertigo** – another OK film that’s been overhyped to death. ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2007, 8:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-the-searchers-such-a-great-movie/431830/3 "2007-12-31T20:23:15Z")
Frankly, it bores the crap out of me, and I love westerns. Give me “The Ox-Bow Incident”, or “Unforgiven” any time over “The Searchers”. ---
**Author:** ![RikWriter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/49beb7/32.png) [@RikWriter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RikWriter)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2007, 8:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-the-searchers-such-a-great-movie/431830/4 "2007-12-31T20:33:34Z")
[QUOTE=_ **Jake** _] I’m an enormous fan of the western genre, and I can’t for the life of me understand why The Searchers is frequently selected as the best western of all time. (For example, it’s the highest ranked western, at #12, on the AFI’s 100 Movies list.) I’ve watched it many, many times, and it’s a good movie, but in my opinion, it isn’t nearly as good as Rio Bravo, Stagecoach, The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance, Once Upon a Time in the West, Red River or even Unforgiven. [/QUOTE] WTF do you mean “EVEN Unforgiven?” Unforgiven is not just one of the greatest westerns ever, it’s one of the greatest movies ever. ---
**Author:** ![outlierrn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/outlierrn/32/3005_2.png) [@outlierrn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/outlierrn)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2007, 8:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-the-searchers-such-a-great-movie/431830/5 "2007-12-31T20:53:12Z")
You can place me in the underwhelmed/overhyped seats ---
**Author:** ![C\_K\_Dexter\_Haven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/b2d939/32.png) [@C\_K\_Dexter\_Haven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/C_K_Dexter_Haven)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2007, 8:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-the-searchers-such-a-great-movie/431830/6 "2007-12-31T20:59:33Z")
I really like THE SEARCHERS, but I wouldn’t rank it #1. I think the opening sequences (before the burning of the cabin) is extremely dense with layers of relationships, hidden depths, etc. I think the main reason people like it would have to do with the thematic aspects: man vs nature, dealing with change, dealing with changing racial relationships, coming to grips with one’s own mortality, etc. However, I think it’s largely a matter of personal taste. If it comes to a movie to watch over and over again, I’ll take RED RIVER or RIO BRAVO any time. If you want to lead a bookclub discussion, however, films like THE SEARCHERS or THE MAN WHO SHOT LIBERTY VALANCE are golden. ---
**Author:** ![AuntiePam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/f19dbf/32.png) [@AuntiePam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AuntiePam)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2007, 9:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-the-searchers-such-a-great-movie/431830/7 "2007-12-31T21:12:03Z")
It’s one of my favorites. I like the scope, the scenery, the music, John Wayne and Ward Bond. There were parts I didn’t like – Vera Miles was way over the top – and the comedic parts are a bit jarring, like they belonged in a different movie. Would you have liked it better without the romantic subplot? ---
**Author:** ![ElvisL1ves](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5daacb/32.png) [@ElvisL1ves](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElvisL1ves)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2007, 9:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-the-searchers-such-a-great-movie/431830/8 "2007-12-31T21:37:24Z")
Another Meh vote here. Slack story, noncredible characters and situations, one-dimensional acting. So it’s John Ford. So what? Shakespeare wrote some crap himself. ---
**Author:** ![River\_Hippie](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/river_hippie/32/26_2.png) [@River\_Hippie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/River_Hippie)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2007, 11:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-the-searchers-such-a-great-movie/431830/9 "2007-12-31T23:05:51Z")
Saw it a couple years ago after reading some rave reviews. Didn’t really care for it. Unforgiven however, is one of my favorites. ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2007, 11:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-the-searchers-such-a-great-movie/431830/10 "2007-12-31T23:24:42Z")
Funny thing about _The Searchers_ is that it feels like a mediocre movie with a lot of corny acting, but I’ll be damned if I can stop myself from watching it whenever it’s on! Maybe I just get a kick out of seeing how westerns used to be made before the 60s. ---
**Author:** ![RickJay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bb73d2/32.png) [@RickJay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RickJay)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2007, 11:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-the-searchers-such-a-great-movie/431830/11 "2007-12-31T23:43:49Z")
There’s a lot of brilliance in “The Searchers,” and yet a lot of dated crud and filler, too. I find it a very frustrating movie; for a few minutes I marvel at how wonderful it is and then suddenly it’s schlocky, then it’s great again, then schlocky. I find movies like that, that have memorable, brilliant parts interspersed among bad parts, tend to be remembered fondly because over time you forget the schlock. ---
**Author:** ![NDP](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ndp/32/55_2.png) [@NDP](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NDP)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2008, 12:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-the-searchers-such-a-great-movie/431830/12 "2008-01-01T00:06:18Z")
[QUOTE=RealityChuck] I think it’s OK, but hardly as good as other westerns, or other John Ford westerns. I have the same feeling about it that I do about **Vertigo** – another OK film that’s been overhyped to death. [/QUOTE] It’s interesting that you mentioned **Vertigo** when discussing **The Searchers** because I think a lot of the appeal of both films today has to do with the way the films inadvertently twist and alter the images present-day viewers have of their stars James Stewart and John Wayne. In the case of Stewart, most people today view him as the innately decent All-American everyman from movies like **Mr. Smith Goes to Washington** , **It’s a Wonderful Life** , or even **Anatomy of a Murder**. **Vertigo** seemingly takes that persona and shows us some of the darker aspects underneath such a character. Stewart’s Scotty Ferguson may be the “good guy” in the movie but he’s also deeply neurotic, psychologically damaged, and disturbingly manipulative in the way he remakes Kim Novak’s character (who clearly has serious self-esteem issues) into his ideal image of a woman. Part of the reason **Vertigo** works as a thriller is the unsettling feeling one gets by watching good ol’ Jimmy Stewart mentally unravel and do some not-very-nice-things to Kim Novak. If Hitchcock had cast a lead actor who didn’t have the same screen image of stability as Stewart (say, for example, Montgomery Clift), the movie would not be as effective to audiences today. Likewise, **The Searchers** takes the familiar screen image of John Wayne and shows the darkness that lies underneath. The name “John Wayne” automatically conjures up the image of the straight-shooting patriotic (and occasionally bellicose) cowboy who won the West. **The Searchers** inadvertently plays on that image and takes it to its logical next step by depicting Wayne’s Ethan Edwards as also a violently anti-Indian racist who thinks nothing of desecrating Native American corpses with the hope of getting back at them in the afterlife. In fact, up until the last second, we’re fairly convinced that Ethan will likely kill Natalie Wood’s character for “turning Indian” when he finally finds her. While it’s true in the end that Ethan does not do this, his “reformation” is only partial. The famous last scene of the movie when we see Ethan stand in the doorway of the house of Wood’s family and then turn around to walk into the dusty whirlwind as the door closes behind him is meant to show that his character is so consumed and damaged by hate and vengeance that he’s exiled himself from humanity. Incidentally, I don’t think **The Searchers** is John Ford’s best film. **The Grapes of Wrath** is better. ---
**Author:** ![lissener](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lissener/32/6139_2.png) [@lissener](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lissener)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2008, 12:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-the-searchers-such-a-great-movie/431830/13 "2008-01-01T00:41:32Z")
I’ve expounded on this before, so today I’ll just add in another, perhaps more credible voice: the [capsule review](http://onfilm.chicagoreader.com/movies/capsules/10753_SEARCHERS) contained in this newspaper. ---
**Author:** ![outlierrn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/outlierrn/32/3005_2.png) [@outlierrn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/outlierrn)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2008, 12:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-the-searchers-such-a-great-movie/431830/14 "2008-01-01T00:49:07Z")
[QUOTE=lissener] I’ve expounded on this before, so today I’ll just add in another, perhaps more credible voice: the [capsule review](http://onfilm.chicagoreader.com/movies/capsules/10753_SEARCHERS) contained in this newspaper. [/QUOTE] your welcome to your opinion, of course, but that link is a wank. ---
**Author:** ![vison](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/e47774/32.png) [@vison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vison)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2008, 12:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-the-searchers-such-a-great-movie/431830/15 "2008-01-01T00:55:05Z")
The Searchers? It is to laff. _High Noon._ Now, there’s a Western. Haven’t checked any lists, so don’t know if it’s on any. But I like it, and I saw it when it first came out. In a theatre, that is. As a mere slip of a gal. ---
**Author:** ![lissener](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lissener/32/6139_2.png) [@lissener](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lissener)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2008, 1:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-the-searchers-such-a-great-movie/431830/16 "2008-01-01T01:00:56Z")
[QUOTE=outlierrn] your welcome to your opinion, of course, but that link is a wank. [/QUOTE] It’s this kind of reasoned, insightful debate that makes the Dope the treasure it is. ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2008, 1:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-the-searchers-such-a-great-movie/431830/17 "2008-01-01T01:51:25Z")
[QUOTE=vison] The Searchers? It is to laff. _High Noon._ Now, there’s a Western. Haven’t checked any lists, so don’t know if it’s on any. But I like it, and I saw it when it first came out. In a theatre, that is. As a mere slip of a gal. [/QUOTE] _High Noon_ would be a real gem, were it not for the stinking pile of bad acting called Grace Kelly. How this woman ever wound up on the “best actresses of all time” list is beyond me. ---
**Author:** ![RickJay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bb73d2/32.png) [@RickJay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RickJay)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2008, 2:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-the-searchers-such-a-great-movie/431830/18 "2008-01-01T02:12:37Z")
[QUOTE=lissener] It’s this kind of reasoned, insightful debate that makes the Dope the treasure it is. [/QUOTE] You added nothing to the discussion except “this other guy thinks it’s a great movie.” If you have something to say, say it. The previous link is bang on; _The Searchers_ has been ridiculously overrated by a succession of film students and DVD nerds, who are engaged in a collective refusal to admit that at least forty minutes of the movie is awful. It’s the _Taxi Driver_ of the 1950s, although I realize I’ll catch hell for implying that _Taxi Driver_ isn’t the greatest movie ever. Even I assumed for awhile it (The Searchers) was an all-time classic, until the second time I watched it, upon which I realized how many times I was thinking “Geez, I didn’t remember this part being this, uh, not great.” I felt the same way about _Apocalypse Now_, though I’m not sure what that has to do with anything. _High Noon_ sure wouldn’t be my first choice for Best Western, though. I’d go with _Shane._ ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2008, 2:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-the-searchers-such-a-great-movie/431830/19 "2008-01-01T02:22:37Z")
Nah. _Red River_ is the best Western ever made. _The Searchers_ is great, but not **that** great. ---
**Author:** ![AuntiePam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/f19dbf/32.png) [@AuntiePam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AuntiePam)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2008, 2:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-the-searchers-such-a-great-movie/431830/20 "2008-01-01T02:45:02Z")
But _The Searchers_ is prettier than _Red River_. At least that’s how I remember them. I’ve watched The Searchers several times, Red River just once. But I think Red River is a more personal movie. I think of Red River as the story of two men adjusting to change, and The Searchers as about the whole country making that adjustment. That’s pretty simplistic though. Sorry. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-the-searchers-such-a-great-movie/431830.md?page=2)