Popular reviews

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  Review by Rida ★★½ 278

  Turns out that plenty of racism, sexism, cardboard cutouts masquerading as characters, and stunning cinematography all equal the most revered Western of all time. Well, if I have to watch John Wayne being a self-righteous asshole for two hours, at least I also get to watch some of the most beautiful landscapes in this part of the world. That's a fair bit of recompense.

  The Searchers is a morose, overly serious Western on all counts, but it occasionally also attempts to muscle in a bit of awkward humor during the unnecessary romantic subplot between the daughter of Swedish immigrants and Cardboard Cutout #2, the young man who sets out to be the moral conscience of Cardboard Cutout #1, otherwise known…

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  Review by ScreeningNotes ★★★★★ 23

  The Searchers gives the lie to the supposed heroism of the Wild West mythos. John Wayne plays the same Indian-killing cowboy we've seen him play since the early 1930's, the image of a valiant savior come to rescue a bunch of white folks from the Native American menace, but here he plays it as explicitly racist, calling out the pathological nature of the traditional cowboy's racialized violence. Our heroes of the West were always outlaws who had to ride off into the sunset, but they were glorified outcasts, they were getting rid of the "real" bad guys. The Searchers shows this hero not as an altruistic warrior, but as a murderer whose positive effects on society are less purposeful, more…

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  Review by Neil Bahadur ★★★★★ 1

  This review may contain spoilers. I can handle the truth.

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  Review by nickusen 1

  This review may contain spoilers. I can handle the truth.

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  Review by Frank? 3

  They weren’t lying he was really searching

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  Review by SilentDawn ★★★★½ 3

  86

  Monument Valley as desolate, alien structures which impede an American progression after the civil war. John Ford's mise en scène is so lively, so thoroughly invested in the complexity of the homestead and the lawlessness of the open sky. Particular moments, such as Martin galloping away from Laurie while she clings to a fence, her body facing the camera, bring me to tears. Its formalist beauty comes at a price, with odd bits of slapstick and other 'of its time' elements, but the scale and psychology of its racism is overwhelming and essential to dissecting the cinematic myth of the American west. Not to mention the opening and closing compositions, some of the best of each category.

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  Review by matt lynch ★★★★½

  No longer just the great American western film but now also possibly the great media literacy litmus test.

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  Review by Josh Lewis ★★★★★ 5

  Obviously the accumulation of so many of Ford's own interests with the psychology and camaraderie of military men, with brutal outsiders vs. graceful and warm communities, with the history of this land as both a poetic and elementally expressive monument and vast, lonely wasteland, with simultaneously lyrical and melancholy use of light, geography, gorgeously saturated Technicolor and deep focus VistaVision photography, etc... (Do you need someone else to tell you this one of the most painterly, meticulously framed, staged and blocked movies, and has probably the greatest opening/closing shot ever?) But most intriguing about its reputation as the Great American Western/Movie is how confrontational and shocking it still manages to be about the ugly cowboy "hero" at its center even…

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  Review by SilentDawn ★★★★★ 9

  *Was an 85, now a 100*

  Nothing less than The Great American Movie.

  70mm print was truly inexplicable. Made me see the movie in a whole new way. Continues to grow in majesty and mystery with the passage of time.

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  Review by Jake Cole ★★★★★

  The rage of this film is so overwhelming, an endless slaughter and rape perpetuated by both cowboys and Injuns. More symbolism than normal in a Ford film, especially those shots from the inside looking out, but Ford's mastery of tone, character and place has rarely been better. The reddish glint of sunset turned into a dread-inducing precursor to redskin attack; the sickened distance Wayne's Ethan places between himself and his half-breed adopted nephew; the way Monument Valley seems so infinite but so bordered, its own globe that can be walked until one loops around to where he started. Yes, it has somewhat dubious comic relief scenes, as well as a nominally happy ending, but this is one of Ford's most…

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  Review by Daniel88 ★★★★★ 13

  Europe has Homer's Odyssey, the Americans have John Ford's The Searchers. The movie is the essence of the American west, it's final scene the essence of moviemaking.

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  Review by Mike D'Angelo ★★★½ 2

  66/100

  [originally written on my blog]

  Time to bite the bullet and admit—as much to myself as to you fine people—that I just don't love The Greatest Western. Easiest way to rationalize this heresy is to pick a fight with the ending, which has always felt baldly contrived; I've read heroic interpretations of Ethan's sudden decision to cradle Debbie in his arms, but never a sensible word regarding Debbie's equally sudden (and patently ludicrous) about-face when Martin comes for her. Truthfully, though, the film's disregard for the harrowing reality of an assimilated captive's ordeal is only one of many speedbumps. Martin and Laurie's frustrated romance, for example, while often entertaining for its own sake, doesn't really work as a counterpoint…