Fresh
A rip-snorting Western, as brashly entertaining as they come.
Bosley Crowther, New York Times
The Searchers
He had to find her... he had to find her...
1956 · 1h 59m · Approved
Western
Directed by
John Ford
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The Searchers
Overview
As a Civil War veteran spends years searching for a young niece captured by Indians, his motivation becomes increasingly questionable.
Director and cast
- John Ford Director
- John Wayne as Ethan Edwards
- Jeffrey Hunter as Martin Pawley
- Vera Miles as Laurie Jorgensen
- Natalie Wood as Debbie Edwards (older)
- Ward Bond as Rev. Capt. Samuel Johnston Clayton
- John Qualen as Lars Jorgensen
- Olive Carey as Mrs. Jorgensen
- Henry Brandon as Chief Cicatrice (Scar)
- Ken Curtis Cast
- Harry Carey Jr. Cast
Critics on Rotten Tomatoes
Top critics, in their words
87%
Tomatometer
Fresh
Some fine vignettes of frontier life in the early southwest and a realistic presentation of the difficulties faced by the settlers in carving out a homestead in dangerous Indian country.
Ronald Holloway, Variety
Fresh
Through the central image of the frontier, the meeting point of wilderness and civilization, Ford explores the divisions of our national character, with its search for order and its need for violence, its spirit of community and its quest for independence
Dave Kehr, Chicago Reader
Fresh
There is perhaps some discrepancy in the play between Wayne's heroic image and the pathological outsider he plays here (forever excluded from home, as the doorway shots at beginning and end suggest), but it hardly matters, given the film's visual splendou
Derek Adams, Time Out
Fresh
Contains scenes of magnificence, and one of John Wayne's best performances.
Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times
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