The Searchers (1956)

..and why not?
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Matt Wilson
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Re: The Searchers (1956)

Postby Matt Wilson » 14 Aug 2018, 21:12

A masterpiece to be sure, and influential to so many filmmakers as well. Kurosawa, Lucas, Spielberg, Scorcese, etc. The humor rather detracts from the overall excellence of the picture to me, and the scenes with Look strike me as being, well, racist, to be honest - so I try to overlook that when viewing the film. Also, this film seems to get all the kudos, but Ford made a handful of others which, if not just as good, are damn near close: The Quiet Man, The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance, The Grapes of Wrath, My Darling Clementine, Stagecoach, How Green was my Valley, et al. Then there's another whole category of movies whose quality might be just below that top tier, but are still great: She Wore a Yellow Ribbon, Young Mr Lincoln, Fort Apache, The Long Voyage Home, Drums Along the Mohawk, Rio Grande, The Iron Horse, The Informer, They Were Expendable, Wagon Master, etc. That last bunch would be an A-list career for anyone else.

Welles said he ran Stagecoach many times while preparing for Citizen Kane.

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Matt Wilson
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Re: The Searchers (1956)

Postby Matt Wilson » 15 Aug 2018, 15:54

Pansy Puff wrote:
Matt Wilson wrote:, and the scenes with Look strike me as being, well, racist, to be honest - so I try to overlook that when viewing the film..

Are the scenes racist or are the characters racist? Ethan obviously is, and Marty might be one-eighth Cherokee but he's imbibed in a white way of viewing the world too.


You're supposed to think it's funny how they treat her. When she tries to come into Martin's bed area at night because she think's they're married, and he kicks her out and she falls down the hill - it's played for laughs. You're supposed to think it's amusing how an overweight, American Indian would presume that a decent, God-fearing white man would consider sleeping with her.

Like I said before, it's the supposed humor of the picture which doesn't work.

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mentalist (slight return)
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Re: The Searchers (1956)

Postby mentalist (slight return) » 16 Aug 2018, 00:47

Great movie, never get tired of it. Prefer Stagecoach as far as Ford westerns go but that's just a preference not a judgement on the better movie. The small touches, the framing, the landscapes, subtle use of the camera, the familiar stock company actors. It's all there in Stagecoach as well. Ford worked and treated Wayne like a dog (hate that phrase) but got the performance he wanted
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The Modernist
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Re: The Searchers (1956)

Postby The Modernist » 18 Aug 2018, 11:14

I have to say I've always found it overlong and monotonous. It's a brave film for the time, and has all sorts of interesting sub-texts, so I can get how it's come by its reputation, but it's not a film I particularly enjoy.


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