The Searchers: Loneliness, Racism, and Humanity in the West

I've watched "The Searchers" a hundred times mostly in the same setting, on the television sitting alone in my living room, I don't mind, that's the way I like most of my favorite movies, you have the time to yourself to soak it all in. The best experience watching "The Seachers" was on my dad's widescreen televison where you can really appreciate the epic scale and VistaVision of the film, to this day it is the best film I've seen on widescreen television. However the most interesting experience I had watching "The Searchers" took place in my college film class about three years ago. I came in to the film with a biased view already knowing it was one of the greatest films of all time and I was kind of excited about seeing it with a group of film students, many of whom had never seen it. I wanted to see their take on the film and was hoping for a bit of a discussion afterwards. During the film there were many strange pauses and awkward silences by the group, when the film ended I went up to the instructor and told him it was one of my favorite films. One of the students stopped me and said to me "You liked that film? Really brings the little Hitler out in you."

I was a little surprised by that remark, did this person really think that about the film and about me? Did he actually see the same film as me? That moment and that remark really stuck with me through the years, I'm not even sure if the instructor prepared everyone properly for the film, what they knew was it was a western starring John Wayne and directed by John Ford, some of the scenes were said to have influenced "Star Wars". Now I understand that perhaps they were just trying to get the younger generation excited about seeing an old John Wayne western, perhaps they weren't prepared for the strong racial overtones the film took and the unlikable characterizations of John Wayne's character, now I feel they walked away with the wrong impression of the film. But "The Searchers" has had that conflicted history all its life and people still interpret it the wrong way.

I don't believe "The Seachers" is a racist film, but a film about a racist. I also don't believe John Ford was a racist himself but he was brave enough to make a film where he chose to deal with the issues, however uncomfortable openly and honestly.

Ford was 61 years old when he made "The Searchers" he was no longer a young man, the film was a darker, edgier more pessimistic view of the world than his earlier films, I think his films never saw the world in black and white, but "The Searcher's" introduced a new complexity that wasn't in his earlier work. The story is of Ethan Edwards (Wayne) a former civil war hero who comes home to his brother's farm three years after the war ended, his whereabouts since then are left unsaid or unknown. There is also an unspoken romance between Ethan and his brother's wife Martha. Ethan lives on the farm in peace for one day until his world is turned upside down. The farm is attacked by a group of Comanche Indians led by their leader Scar (Henry Brandon). Martha is killed along with Ethan's brother and their son, the daughters have been taken prisoner and so begins the search.

We first see Ethan's racism in his reaction to his searching companion Martin Pawly (Jeffery Hunter) who is one-eighth Cherokee. We get the impression Ethan doesn't like him even though he is the one who found and saved Martin as a boy. We later see other examples of racism when the searching party finds a dead Indian hidden beneath a rock, Ethan shoots the dead man's eyes out because in Comanche custom, without their eyes they are forced to wonder the Earth unable to find the spirit land, and perhaps in the most angry and hate filled moment, when Ethan and Martin come across a herd of buffalo, Ethan shoots at them in a fit of rage in order to starve the Indians out.

Perhaps it is how we are suppose to feel about Ethan Edwards that has caused most of this film's controversy, are we suppose to hate him for his racism, pity him for his anger and loneliness, or admire him because of his bravery and heroism. John Ford takes all of these aspects and makes the film purposely ambiguous. For me Ethan Edwards has always been one of the most fascinating cinematic characters in American film, he's a conflicted human being, he loves his niece Debbie the one he's trying to find but he's driven to murderous rage at the fact that she's been living among people he despises.

I think there was also a reason Ford put the character of Martin Pawly in the film to sort of act as an audience member. At times Martin hates Ethan just as much as Ethan hates him, he almost kills him in order to protect Debbie, but at times there is a father/son bond that builds between the two and even towards the end of the film Ethan writes a will which would leave all of his belongings to Martin.

Ethan never becomes the embodiment of any one ideal like other characters in John Ford and John Wayne's canon, but I do think he becomes the embodiment of other things that make up America, some of them are good and some are still being struggled with today. Ethan is a loner which is presented perfectly in the film's final shot. It shows the inside of a home, everyone walks in it but Ethan. This shot has been talked about so many times, needless to say in it Ethan remains distant, illusive and disappearing in the western dust, he does not come in, perhaps because he cannot be accepted yet.