The Searchers
by John Ford
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DVD details
Actor: Jeffrey Hunter, John Wayne, Natalie Wood, Vera Miles, Ward BondDirector: John Ford
Brand: TURNER HM ENTERTAINM
Cinematographer: Winton C. Hoch
Editor: Jack Murray
Producer: Merian C. Cooper
Producer: Patrick Ford
Writer: Alan Le May
Writer: Frank S. Nugent
DVD: 2 Sides, Region Code 1
Audio: English (Original Language), Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono; French (Original Language), Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono; English (Subtitled); Spanish (Subtitled); French (Subtitled); Spanish (Dubbed), Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono
Format: AC-3, Anamorphic, Black & White, Closed-captioned, Color, Dolby, DVD, Full Screen, NTSC, Widescreen
Picture Format: Anamorphic Widescreen, 1.85:1
Running Time: 119 minutes
DVD Release Date: 1997-10-29
Audience Rating: NR (Not Rated)
Studio: Warner Home Video
DVD Reviews of The Searchers
DVD Review: I know I'm being unfair
Summary: 2 Stars
Watched disc one of this movie for the first time last night and couldn't get into it. When they start on the search and the young man Martin says: we are going so we can get them back aren't we? He sounds like an 10hr old not an 18 year old, as though repeating a script line he just learned two days ago and couldn't get the emotional intent right. As the movie progress I kept wondering will this boy ever grow up.
It was highly rated but seemed almost corny in the simpleness of the portrayals. I'm not a fan of Western's but it struck me how Larry McMrutry's mini-series Lonsome Dove had so much more subtle interplay in personalities and expression of character. (Lonsome Dove is at its transcendent best in part 1 but gets a little tragic as it continues). As far as westerns, or American history in drama, I also found Mitchner's Centennial more riveting.
However I'm sure I'm being unfair. John Ford was a legendary film maker with vision and conscience. Very very likely the films we like today were made by people standing on the foundations and creative innovation of those early films and directors.
DVD Review: Best John Wayne/John Ford Movie
Summary: 5 Stars
This is the best John Wayne John Ford! If I had a son I would have named him Ethan Edwards. Each time I watch this classic I see more definition in the characters...their prejudices, their motivations are fascinating. The movie was casted perfect without exception. The Blu-ray version is an absolute must, it makes you feel like you could just walk into the screen. I envy people who have never experienced this movie.DVD Review: ONE OF THE BEST BLU-RAYS OUT THERE
Summary: 5 Stars
First, this was the finest performance in Wayne's career. He's darker and more bitter than any of the other role he's played before. This is also the first time John Ford and Wayne teamed up in a color film shot in Vista-vision 70mm which is brilliantly remastered to Blu-Ray. The details are so crisp and clear. Patterns in the cloth and every grove in every mountain can be seen. The story is very dark and at points disturbing to watch, but the story is just great. Jeffery Hunter does a great job in this film next to his performance of Jesus Christ in MGM's " King of Kings ". Other Ford Favorites such as Ward Bond, Harry Carey Jr.. Hank Worden as Ol'Mose Harper, also make notable apperence in this picture along side a very young Natalie Wood. This a must for any Wayne/Ford fan who wants to own a fantastic Blu-ray for their collection. DVD Review: Movie is a classic, blu ray treatment of it doesn't add much
Summary: 4 Stars
I have always loved John Wayne movies,and considered "The Searchers" to be one of the best. My opinion of that remains unchanged, however, I didn't see much different between the standard DVD version and the blu ray version of this movie. My TV, TV cables, and blu ray player are all top of the line and I have watched other blu ray discs on it and have been wowed by the detail and clarity. This movie didn't really offer much more then the standard DVD version. It's only priced a few more dollars above the standard DVD so its not that much of a risk and if you want the newest version of this movie, you will have it, but if you want to save a few bucks and get the same quality picture just go with the Standard DVD version. I don't think this is anyone's fault, I just think that the movie technology of the 1950's doesn't convert well to Blu ray, but thats just one guys opinion. Either way the movie is excellent.DVD Review: Ford's one and only classic Western--the model for other films
Summary: 5 Stars
There has been much controversy over the racism depicted in this movie but I think that's part of what makes a compelling Western for its time period. John Wayne, I believe, portrayed one of his first anti-heroes ever (the other being "The Man Who Shot Liberty Valence", another Ford classic) and he even named one of his sons after his character. I've seen this classic on HD Net Movies and the transfer was fantastic--it's as if the movie was made yesterday and not in 1956!! Of course, too accolades from renowned directors such as Akira Kurosawa, David Lean (he resaw this film several times while making "Lawrence of Arabia"), Martin Scorsese, George Lucas (Star Wars owes quite a bit to this), Orson Welles and Curtis Hanson have helped to push this film into the American Film Institute of all time great Westerns. I guess one flaw I had wished Ford would've removed from this classic is the cornball humor involving Vera Miles, Jeffrey Hunter and an actor who's appeared in later "Gunsmoke" as episodes by the name of Curtis!! Anyway outside of this quibble, the virtues of this film outweigh its flaws, Wayne himself turns in perhaps his greatest performance here. Now the question is whether to purchase in HD DVD or Blu-ray (they are both basically similiar as far as I know from previous comparisons)? To update I did purchase the HD DVD version and it's excellent and in answer to the previous reviewer there is a difference between Standard Def and High Def (HD DVD or Blu-ray) and if he has a 720p or 1080p but if not, he would not notice it.
Description of The Searchers
CLASSIC WESTERN ABOUT A MAN ON THE TRAIL OF THE INDIANS WHO SLAUGHTERED HIS FAMILY.A favorite film of some of the world's greatest filmmakers, including Martin Scorsese and Steven Spielberg, John Ford's The Searchers has earned its place in the legacy of great American films for a variety of reasons. Perhaps most notably, it's the definitive role for John Wayne as an icon of the classic Western--the hero (or antihero) who must stand alone according to the unwritten code of the West. The story takes place in Texas in 1868; Wayne plays Ethan Edwards, a Confederate veteran who visits his brother and sister-in-law at their ranch and is horrified when they are killed by marauding Comanches. Ethan's search for a surviving niece (played by young Natalie Wood) becomes an all-consuming obsession. With the help of a family friend (Jeffrey Hunter) who is himself part Cherokee, Ethan hits the trail on a five-year quest for revenge. At the peak of his masterful talent, director Ford crafts this classic tale as an embittered examination of racism and blind hatred, provoking Wayne to give one of the best performances of his career. As with many of Ford's classic Westerns, The Searchers must contend with revisionism in its stereotypical treatment of "savage" Native Americans, and the film's visual beauty (the final shot is one of the great images in all of Western culture) is compromised by some uneven performances and stilted dialogue. Still, this is undeniably one of the greatest Westerns ever made. --Jeff Shannon
A favorite film of some of the world's greatest filmmakers, including Martin Scorsese and Steven Spielberg, John Ford's The Searchers has earned its place in the legacy of great American films for a variety of reasons. Perhaps most notably, it's the definitive role for John Wayne as an icon of the classic Western--the hero (or antihero) who must stand alone according to the unwritten code of the West. The story takes place in Texas in 1868; Wayne plays Ethan Edwards, a Confederate veteran who visits his brother and sister-in-law at their ranch and is horrified when they are killed by marauding Comanches. Ethan's search for a surviving niece (played by young Natalie Wood) becomes an all-consuming obsession. With the help of a family friend (Jeffrey Hunter) who is himself part Cherokee, Ethan hits the trail on a five-year quest for revenge. At the peak of his masterful talent, director Ford crafts this classic tale as an embittered examination of racism and blind hatred, provoking Wayne to give one of the best performances of his career. As with many of Ford's classic Westerns, The Searchers must contend with revisionism in its stereotypical treatment of "savage" Native Americans, and the film's visual beauty (the final shot is one of the great images in all of Western culture) is compromised by some uneven performances and stilted dialogue. Still, this is undeniably one of the greatest Westerns ever made. --Jeff Shannon
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