John Wayne and John Ford. Should be a no brainer, right?
Well...
While I liked The Searchers, it seemed to me to be hit-or-miss. Wayne really was great when he played a racist (hates Indians) loner, fresh off the confederate battlefield named Ethan Edwards, but the script jumping years at a time made the film feel... disconnected (?).
Edward's nieces are kidnapped by Comanche Indians and he and their adopted brother, Martin Pawley, (who's 1/8 Indian) set off to find them. It takes years (12 if I remember correctly) for them to complete their search and back stories play out showing Edward's obsession affecting the people around him and becoming Pawley's obsession as well.
High points for me were the beautiful Natalie Wood as the kidnapped niece and Hank Worden as the goofy Mose Harper.
Two beeps.
