?The Searchers?, great Western!

[FredCDobbs]

One of the best Westerns ever made, thanks to the individual talent of:

 

John Wayne ... Ethan Edwards

Jeffrey Hunter ... Martin Pawley

Vera Miles ... Laurie Jorgensen

Ward Bond ... Rev. Capt. Samuel Johnston Clayton

Natalie Wood ... Debbie Edwards - age 15

John Qualen ... Lars Jorgensen

Olive Carey ... Mrs. Jorgensen

Henry Brandon ... Chief Cicatriz - Scar

Ken Curtis ... Charlie McCorry

Antonio Moreno ... Emilio Gabriel Fernandez y Figueroa

Hank Worden ... Mose Harper

Beulah Archuletta ... Wild Goose Flying in the Night Sky (Look)

Dorothy Jordan ... Martha Edwards

Pippa Scott ... Lucy Edwards

Patrick Wayne ... Lt. Greenhill (as Pat Wayne)

Lana Wood ... Debbie Edwards (younger)

Peter Mamakos ... Jerem Futterman (uncredited)

 

This was a very realistic Western too. No big saloons, no saloon fights, no ?dancing girls?, no town at all, no ?big boss? who controls the town, no stagecoach robbery or bank or train robbery, no middle of the street shootouts between cowboys.

 

This film lacks many standard Western clich?s, which helps make it great.

 

Notice that each of the actors has a distinctive personality and not of the usual kind for a Western. There was a good mix of English, Spanish, and Indian languages, which is the way it really was in the old Southwest.

 

The Indians in the film were mostly Navajos, wearing their annual ?pow wow? costumes. This tribe owns the property at Monument Valley, where most of the film was made. The Navajo phrase, ?Ya tah hey?, generally means, ?hello?, but an Indian told me that a more direct literal translation would be ?long time no see?. The Western Indians generally don?t say ?hello? on a regular basis if they see each other frequently, like every day or so. But, due to the long time between Indian visits between each other, the term ?long time no see? has become the modern version of ?hello?. Among the Navajos, if they meet again after seeing each other yesterday or several days ago, or last week, they usually don?t say anything as a greeting, but a slight up and down nod of the head is the same as a ?hello? greeting.

 

By the way, Mae Marsh is in the film:

 

Mae Marsh ... Dark Cloaked Woman at Fort Guarding Deranged Woman (uncredited)

 

She was the younger daughter (Flora Cameron) in ?Birth of a Nation? (she?s the girl who jumped over the cliff in that film).

[CitySlicker]

There are some who claim *The Searchers* is one of the best American films made, period. I tend to agree ...

[Dwrud]

Love the Duke!!!

Did you know that a group of young men in the 60's in Britain were so impressed after seeing this film they named their band "The Searchers"?

[fredbaetz]

Anyone who loves "The Seachers" { as I do } owes it to themselves to read the book by Alan LeMay. I finally read it last year and was happy I did. There are some major changes from the book to the film, the book at least to me has a more honest ending, but I still get chills when the Duke says "Lets go home Debbie". LeMay was a profilic writer and he captured the Southwest and the ways of life very well.Another of his works was filmed by John Huston as "The Unforgiven". He co wrote screenplays for C.B. DeMille's "Reap the Wild Wind" and "Northwest Mounted Police" among others. He wrote the novel "Useless Cowboy" which was turned into a Gary Cooper film "Along Came Jones". He wrote and directed "High Lonesome" which I always considered sort of a western film noir. So if you can check some of his work out....

[MyFavoriteFilms]

Supposedly, Ron Howard's 2003 western THE MISSING is a reworking of THE SEARCHERS. I don't know about that...maybe. LOL

[CitySlicker]

I'm not sure Howard's *The Missing* is a reworking of *The Searchers* as much as it is a tribute to the Ford film ... I really liked *The Missing*, and Howard was interviewed several times and said he did borrow some themes from *The Searchers*, which he holds in high regard.

 

I'd like for viewers to look for something in *The Searchers*, as well as a few other of Ford's Westerns, including, I think, *Fort Apache* and even *McClintock!*

 

In these films, as part of his stock company, he uses two Native Americans who are, in my estimation, IDENTICAL TWINS. I am almost POSITIVE one of the twins appears in McClintock, as the Indian chief who calls him "MacLin" and says "Big party." He is evident in the scene at the mudhole, when the Indians leave the area after the fight is finished. He wears a red shirt.

 

This Native American actor -- and his twin, I believe -- appear in several scenes in *Fort Apache*, and they are especially noticeable when in one scene the Apaches attack from a ridge.

 

Does anyone know about these two men and if they are TWIN brothers? I have NEVER seen them credited in a film of Ford's (they also were in *Cheyenne Autumn*).

[MyFavoriteFilms]

I don't know about the Native actors...but MCCLINTOCK is not a John Ford film. This is around the time that the John Ford stock company becomes the John Wayne stock company. MCCLINTOCK is directed by Andrew McLaglen, the son of actor Victor McLaglen. Andy would go on to direct Duke quite a few times in westerns and in other genres.

[CitySlicker]

Thanks for the correction re: *McClintock!* ... I knew it wasn't Ford but did not write it correctly.

 

Fact is, many of Ford's stock company player stuck with Wayne and appeared in many of his later films, including the Native American character actors ... I'd certainly love to find out if the two were indeed twins.

[MyFavoriteFilms]

Sure...glad to be of help.

[FredCDobbs]

"The Searchers" will be on TCM Thursday March 10 at 10pm Eastern time.

[nitratefiend]

Uh, Fred...don't take it amiss, but are you sure about the time? Online schedule says 8:00 p.m. EST. That's also what my local cable listing shows.

[FredCDobbs]

> {quote:title=nitratefiend wrote:}{quote}

> Uh, Fred...don't take it amiss, but are you sure about the time? Online schedule says 8:00 p.m. EST. That's also what my local cable listing shows.

 

AAAK!

 

*You are right. It's 8 PM Eastern Time!*

 

The new schedule format will not hold my "Mountain Time" listings so I saw Eastern Time on my schedule page and thought it was Mountain Time.

 

Thanks very much for the correction!

[redriver]

HARDCORE, a drama that features George C. Scott looking for his missing daughter, is unabashedly derivative of Ford's classic.

[MissGoddess]

> {quote:title=redriver wrote:}{quote}

> HARDCORE, a drama that features George C. Scott looking for his missing daughter, is unabashedly derivative of Ford's classic.

 

I've never heard of this movie, but George C. Scott is one of a very few actors I can see portraying an "Ethan Edwards" type of character.

[FredCDobbs]

> {quote:title=redriver wrote:}{quote}

> HARDCORE, a drama that features George C. Scott looking for his missing daughter, is unabashedly derivative of Ford's classic.

 

You think so?

 

Scott finds out his daughter is working in the sex business. I think someone, maybe a cop, shows Scott a video of his daughter. He?s a church-going man, but he goes ?underground?, into the sleazy word of inner cities in search of her. He interviews a lot of sleazy characters and finally finds her.

[lzcutter]

MsG,

 

*The Missing* with Cate Blanchett and Tommy Lee Jones is a very effective play on the storyline of *The Searchers*. Blanchett and Jones are terrific.

 

I saw the film a few weeks back on the Encore Western channel and was surprised at how good it is. It is one Ron Howard's most under-appreciated films.

[MissGoddess]

> {quote:title=lzcutter wrote:}{quote}

> MsG,

>

> *The Missing* with Cate Blanchett and Tommy Lee Jones is a very effective play on the storyline of *The Searchers*. Blanchett and Jones are terrific.

>

> I saw the film a few weeks back on the Encore Western channel and was surprised at how good it is. It is one Ron Howard's most under-appreciated films.

 

I'll have to look out for that one, then. I do like Tommy Lee Jones.

 

Enjoyed the TCM employee guest programmer and love that he named his boy "Ethan".

[redriver]

I think someone, maybe a cop, shows Scott a video

 

That's Peter Boyle as a private detective. He acquires the use of a whole movie theatre for this project. Nowadays he'd just pop the video in his laptop. But the other way makes for much better drama. For those interested, this movie was directed Paul Schrader. Schrader is better known as a writer. TAXI DRIVER, BLUE COLLAR, RAGING BULL.

[FredCDobbs]

> {quote:title=MissGoddess wrote:}{quote}

>

> Enjoyed the TCM employee guest programmer and love that he named his boy "Ethan".

 

Yes, me too. He is a nice professional articulate young man, and I love his son's name.

[wouldbestar]

lz: Thank you for the good words about The Missing. Our local critic savaged it when it was first released. I was stupid enough to believe him and stayed away. I will now give it a look as I respect your opinion much more than his.

 

Would you like a laugh? I just realized last week that your "handle" is lower case l and not a capital I which makes you a lynn not iz-which is how I've always called you. You would think I'd have figgured it out sooner as your friends on the Board call you lynn. The two letters do look alike. My real names are mispelled all the time. Glad I finallky have it right.

[lzcutter]

Wouldbe,

 

No problem. As you may have noticed, I answer to many different monikers (lzcutter, izcutter, on occasion FredC calls me izzy, and my personal favorite, TCM Apologist).

 

I hope you like *The Missing*. As I said, it is a good update of the basic story of the *Searchers* and I thought it was really good.

 

Eric Schweig (the younger brother in *The Last of the Mohicans* ) is terrific in the Scar-like role.

[FredCDobbs]

Did you guys see my post about "The Searchers" in the other thread? This is considered to be an "art film" in Italy, where it's known as "Sentieri Selvaggi", "Wild Paths".

 

 

 

See the first Italian text below the video:

 

"uno dei piu bei film nella storia del cinema!!!! grande john wayne e e john ford!!!!!!!!"

 

Translation:

 

"one of beautifulst films in the history of the cinema! large john wayne and john ford!"

 

Italians go nuts over "The Searchers":

 

This next video is about a new version of the film that has a new voice track that has been translated into the Ticino or Ticinese dialect. This is a local dialect belonging to the branch west of the Lombard language. It is spoken in Switzerland in the canton of Ticino, in the canton of Graub?nden, and nearby parts of Italy.

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ztI0-5BN9ac&feature=related

 

Sentieri selvaggi in dialetto ticinese:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I4CfEVHmBTY&NR=1

[fredbaetz]

Izcutter, "The Missing", I agree about it being under rated is on Netflix also..

[nitratefiend]

Fred, I had a similar reaction to the Italians' re-watching it this time on TCM. It struck me as more consciously "artsy" than many other Ford films. There's the unifying effect of those keyhole shots: one at the beginning with Wayne's sister-in-law looking out the door, one at the end with Wayne in a backlit door with total blackness all around it, and one in the middle when Mrs. Jorgensen is looking out her door (and there may be others less obvious that I overlooked). The settings are also beautifully photographed in stunning VistaVision, and provide some solace from the bleak and harsh story. The changing seasons not only show the passge of time, they allow that beautiful snow sequence. In the end, it seemed to me one of those "painterly" films that one might associate with John Huston or the Taviani brothers in Italy. I'll continue to enjoy this film, and the many fine performances in it, but my personal taste prefers Ford films where he conceals his art more than revealing it. That would be "Stagecoach," "Fort Apache," "The Grapes of Wrath," or "The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance." For instance.