The Searchers Analysis

The Searchers (1956)

Directed by: John Ford
Starring: John Wayne

This is an American Western film, and it is set in 1868 where a Civil War veteran Ethan has to track down the tribe that killed his family, and abducted his niece. One of the key features of a Western film is the quest, here it is to find the tribe and to kill them - so apart from this there usually is a flaw or a void for the Western hero which either gets fulfilled or changed by the end of the film. In this film, it's his racism, and his utter hatred towards Indians, he is ready to even kill his niece when he knows that she has now married into their family, and by the end he somehow stops himself from killing her and takes her home - this is his character arc. The quest for something external leads to some internal changes.

The images are so striking in the film, especially the wide shots capturing the landscapes. The shot after Brad is killed, the shot of two horses with men on and the empty third horse, it felt sad. Apparently, David Lean watched this film multiple times before shooting Lawrence of Arabia, to understand capturing landscapes better. The costumes, locations, props in this setting and this world are so unique that it becomes a whole new genre in itself, and this is the external part, internally - it's usually revenge, quest, money and thematic concepts related to basic survival instincts. 

John Ford's films have been an influence on so many filmmakers in the world, it feels good to watch work which inspired filmmakers whose work we are inspired from. We get to see where the inspiration traces back to - for example Bong Joon-ho is influenced by Scorsese, who was influenced by Truffaut; Woody Allen is influenced by Ingmar Bergman, who considered John Ford to be the greatest filmmaker of all time. I'm sure there would be lot of mutual influences as well, and it's just beautiful to see artists being inspired from art and in turn inspiring others.