Synopsis
As a Civil War veteran spends years searching for a young niece captured by Indians, his motivation becomes increasingly questionable.
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Cast
- John WayneEthan Edwards
- Jeffrey HunterMartin Pawley
- Vera MilesLaurie Jorgensen
- Ward BondRev. Capt. Samuel Johnston Clayton
- Natalie WoodDeborah "Debbie" Edwards
- John QualenLars Jorgensen
- Olive CareyMrs. Jorgensen
- Henry BrandonChief Cicatriz (Scar)
- Ken CurtisCharlie McCorry
- Harry Carey, Jr.Brad Jorgensen
Recommendations
- 100
Austin Chronicle
A meditation on survival, The Searchers is about the loss of faith and the death of heroes. - 100
Chicago Sun-Times
The Searchers contains scenes of magnificence, and one of John Wayne's best performances. - 100
The Hollywood Reporter
This C.V. Whitney production is undoubtedly one of the greatest Westerns ever made. For sheer scope, guts and beauty I can think of no picture of the Indian Wars of the Southwest to compare with it. - 100
The A.V. Club
By the time of The Searchers, Wayne had toughened to match Ford's darker vision. Redemption is still out there, but it has to be fought for, and sometimes winning it doesn't make anyone happier. - 100
TV Guide Magazine
A deeply emotional experience that is also a grand entertainment, The Searchers is a true American masterpiece. - 100
Empire
In 1956 audiences flocked to The Searchers precisely because it was a John Wayne western, and lapped up its mix of Injun-fightin' action, rough comic knockabout and intense, emotional storyline. Seen now, it is all that and much, much more. - 100
Washington Post
Directed by John Ford, The Searchers is widely recognized not only as the greatest American Western but as one of the best Hollywood films of all-time. - 90
Time Out
There is perhaps some discrepancy in the play between Wayne's heroic image and the pathological outsider he plays here, but it hardly matters, given the film's visual splendour and muscular poetry in its celebration of the spirit that vanished with the taming of the American wilderness.
