By Joseph Rossi for Curtains Up
It is awards season. With all the prestige and accolades piled onto one or two films there are always a few gems that go unnoticed. There are no real reasons why some great films don’t get academy credit and some bad films do (list is way too long to fit here). But it happens. But those snubbed films are in an elite club that includes Chaplin’s MODERN TIMES, James Whale’s THE BRIDE OF FRANKENSTEIN, and Kubrick’s PATHS OF GLORY; great movies that some would call ground breaking, revolutionary or controversial. Most of the time it’s the more popular, safe and or audience friendly films that get the award and the more interesting films are left to find an audience on the video store shelf. Not always a bad thing though. Longevity goes beyond winning an academy award.
One of the greatest oversights in motion picture history was the omission of John Ford’s western, THE SEARCHERS. Starring John Wayne as the iconic Ethan Edwards, this 1956 film is considered to be one of greatest westerns ever made; it is one of the greatest films to ever come out of Hollywood as well as John Ford’s masterpiece. The film contains scenes of stunning visual beauty as well as a performance by Wayne that many believe to be superior to his Oscar winning role in True Grit (it is, trust me). Its influence can be found in the work of many of the greatest directors of today. Directors like Tarantino, Scorsese, Spielberg and George Lucas have made their love of THE SEARCHERS and Ford’s brilliance known. We see through their films, from Star Wars to Kill Bill, how Ford’s use of the frame, inspired them to create homage to the great director and his inspirational picture.
Wayne plays Edwards, an ex -confederate soldier who spends several years tracking down the Comanche Indians who killed his brother’s family and kidnapped his beloved niece Debbie. Wayne, usually the heroic, all American hero, the original GI-Joe, plays a character so unfamiliar to us (and to himself as well), that even his most famous assets, his jocularity and his patriotism, seem to be coming from a place deep in the darkest recesses of America’s past. Edwards is a racist. Pure and simple. His reasons are mostly left to our interpretations; Ethan’s past is always in question, mostly commented on by the supporting characters. His hatred for the Comanche is only heightened after the barbaric murder of his family. His partner in his quest is Martin Pawley; his brother’s adopted “half breed” of a son. Played with wonderful mix of melancholy, pride and loyalty by Jeffery Hunter, Pawley’s Native American lineage makes him the perfect foil for the racist Edwards; their relationship borders between the comic and the uneasy.
Much as been said of Ford’s portrayal of the Comanche. With their menacing glares, blatant buffoonery, and a background score that screams EVIL, Ford’s Native Americans don’t pass American History 101. Not that it really mattered in the old Hollywood system. Audiences wanted to see the good versus the bad. And not that it mattered to John Ford. He kept making movies his way; didn’t even matter to him that the main antagonist in The Searchers wasn’t even played by an authentic Native American. The imposing German born actor Henry Brandon got the role and played it with real malice. Evil had no place in Ford’s American West. It had to be thwarted by America’s most recognized vision of heroism, The Cowboy. That solitary image of the cowboy atop his horse, looking for a place to stake a claim, was so powerful in cinema’s heyday that it fed America’s belief in the American dream; that a man can make it within the wilds and still create a sense of community by building a home, starting a family. That’s Ford’s America.
But the director, then 62 at the time of the film, was a very intuitive filmmaker and keen observationalist. Interviews might make him seem like a gruff no nonsense man who just makes movies; Ford would agree to that assessment. But underneath THE SEARCHERS (as well as his other films), subtext screams of social issues dealing with class and race. The treatment and genocide of Native Americans hangs throughout the film but like all master filmmakers, Ford never beats the audience over the head with subtext nor does he spoon feed. One could say he made a social exercise disguised as entertainment; and if the moviegoers take more than just memories of shadows and light home, better for them.
Many applaud Ford’s filmmaking style. He favours a more traditional, composed style that says more about the art of filmmaking than a variety of quick cuts and handheld camera moves. No one uses the frame as well as John Ford. The first shot of the film sets the visual and thematic tone. The door of a frontier home opening to reveal a vast wilderness beyond; in the foreground, a woman, symbol of refinement, family, civilization; in the background, the cowboy, the symbol of the west, the wild, the uncontrollable. One slow dolly move coupled with perfect composition and lighting conveys it in one shot. Then there’s his use of his favourite location, Monument Valley, Utah. With its craggy and towering rock formations that inspire awe as well as intimidation, the landscape is used more as a character then as just a setting. And then the films powerful final image of Ethan Edwards, simply framed within a doorway, looking into a loving home, knowing that he could never be truly happy or at ease within the confines of four walls. Edwards is the Wild West. He belongs in the vast, empty, lawless openness. Once again Ford uses one shot with no cuts and coveys the emotions of pride, love, acceptance and loneliness. By using the simplest of filmmaking techniques, Ford creates an scene of such complexity that we have to watch it more than once to fully notice and appreciate the nuances that are peppered throughout.
I don’t know why this film was never really honoured at the time of its release. Maybe audiences in 1956 had enough of westerns. Today the film is more popular than ever. Every time there is a list of the greatest films ever made, The Searchers is on it. Maybe there are more important things other then a gold statue.
