My Best of the Year in Film: 1956
The Year: 1956
The Film: The Searchers
Directed by John Ford. Written by Frank S. Nugent based on a book by Alan Le May.
Starring John Wayne, Jeffrey Hunter, Vera Miles, Ward Bond, Natalie Wood, and Henry Brandon as Scar.
When we usually think of revisionist westerns, we usually think of the darker, cynicism of New Hollywood-era (1970s) westerns or the complete deconstructionism of 1992's Unforgiven. But The Searchers is as much a revisionist western as any of those films. John Wayne, here as our "hero" Ethan Edwards, is a harsh and violent man. As just one example of his unerring cruelty and capability for evil vengeance: "By what you preach... none. But, what that Comanche believes--ain't got no eyes... can't enter the spirit land... has to wander forever between the winds. You get it, Reverend." To shoot out the eyes of a dead man to spite his beliefs, not your own, is the harshest you get with this man, this very unlikable protagonist. The Searchers has a bit of a reputation as a racist film. And it's hard to argue with that. It certainly is a product of its time. But it's also a film focused so intensely on Ethan. This is Ethan's viewpoint; Ethan is a racist; the film's narrative is focalized through Ethan. It's important to not falling into intentional fallacy by assuming we know what (sorry to assume some auteur theory with these terms) the authorial intent was. We must not assume that the apparent message is something that the filmmakers agree with. There is also cynicism and the inherent message to consider.
I'd also like to address a bit of beautiful symbolism the film uses. Now this was an era where films were transitioning to widescreen aspects, and not all films were yet using these. The Searchers uses a process called Vistavision. The film begins and end with the framing from inside the homestead. That is the doorway seen from the inside looking out effectively darkens the sides of the frame, referencing a standard fullscreen aspect ratio. As the camera leaves this homestead doorway, it opens up the frame but also metaphorically, in reverse at the end, the framing kept the bad world out. And the bad world arrives with John Wayne and at the end when again the bad world is made separate, John Wayne must remain outside the homestead. His evils will forever separate him from the civility of the new era, as the frontier, and the west come to an end.
The Film: The Searchers
Directed by John Ford. Written by Frank S. Nugent based on a book by Alan Le May.
Starring John Wayne, Jeffrey Hunter, Vera Miles, Ward Bond, Natalie Wood, and Henry Brandon as Scar.
When we usually think of revisionist westerns, we usually think of the darker, cynicism of New Hollywood-era (1970s) westerns or the complete deconstructionism of 1992's Unforgiven. But The Searchers is as much a revisionist western as any of those films. John Wayne, here as our "hero" Ethan Edwards, is a harsh and violent man. As just one example of his unerring cruelty and capability for evil vengeance: "By what you preach... none. But, what that Comanche believes--ain't got no eyes... can't enter the spirit land... has to wander forever between the winds. You get it, Reverend." To shoot out the eyes of a dead man to spite his beliefs, not your own, is the harshest you get with this man, this very unlikable protagonist. The Searchers has a bit of a reputation as a racist film. And it's hard to argue with that. It certainly is a product of its time. But it's also a film focused so intensely on Ethan. This is Ethan's viewpoint; Ethan is a racist; the film's narrative is focalized through Ethan. It's important to not falling into intentional fallacy by assuming we know what (sorry to assume some auteur theory with these terms) the authorial intent was. We must not assume that the apparent message is something that the filmmakers agree with. There is also cynicism and the inherent message to consider.
I'd also like to address a bit of beautiful symbolism the film uses. Now this was an era where films were transitioning to widescreen aspects, and not all films were yet using these. The Searchers uses a process called Vistavision. The film begins and end with the framing from inside the homestead. That is the doorway seen from the inside looking out effectively darkens the sides of the frame, referencing a standard fullscreen aspect ratio. As the camera leaves this homestead doorway, it opens up the frame but also metaphorically, in reverse at the end, the framing kept the bad world out. And the bad world arrives with John Wayne and at the end when again the bad world is made separate, John Wayne must remain outside the homestead. His evils will forever separate him from the civility of the new era, as the frontier, and the west come to an end.
Labels: best of the year in film, cynicism, deconstruction, film review, frontiers, john ford, john wayne, new hollywood, racism, revisionism, the searchers, unforgiven, western
posted by justin | 9:00 a.m.
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