The Searchers

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1 hr. 59 min.

Western

List

87%

98 Reviews

Tomatometer

88%

25,000+ Ratings

Audience Score

In this revered Western, Ethan Edwards (John Wayne) returns home to Texas after the Civil War. When members of his brother's family are killed or abducted by Comanches, he vows to track down his surviving relatives and bring them home. Eventually, Edwards gets word that his niece Debbie (Natalie Wood) is alive, and, along with her adopted brother, Martin Pawley (Jeffrey Hunter), he embarks on a dangerous mission to find her, journeying deep into Comanche territory.

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Critics Consensus

The Searchers is an epic John Wayne Western that introduces dark ambivalence to the genre that remains fashionable today.

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John Z

This is a truly great Western film by John Ford. Not to be missed!

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

04/05/24

Full Review

AgustÃn R

The movie is a western beatiful

Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars

03/29/24

Full Review

Mike P

Intense western/actioner from John Ford; stars John Wayne, Jeffrey Hunter, Vera Miles and Natalie Wood.

Rated 4.5 out of 5 stars

03/10/24

Full Review

Mike P

Legendary John Ford Western/Actioner stars John Wayne and Jeffrey Hunter; who play desperado vigilante cowboys... In the old west... They're both members of the Edwards family; a large clan of Homesteaders from Texas... And they're on the prowl to find their relative, Natalie Wood, who's been kidnapped by the Comanche Tribe. Most of this plays like a buddy-cop detective story set in the Old West; it's a Starsky and Hutch for the 1800s. Fascinating and enthralling; infused with alot of intensity and darkness...And unexpected humor...And inspite of many cringe moments; the movie is actually pretty morally complex. There's also a great cast; with a young Vera Miles and Jeffrey Hunter in particular leaving a strong impression... I don't know if it's one of the best movies ever made...But it is very good.. Overall: 👍 recommended

Rated 4.5 out of 5 stars

03/10/24

Full Review

Ciaran T

John Wayne being the ultimate badass on a cheif called scar

Rated 4.5 out of 5 stars

02/09/24

Full Review

Stan L

Hollywood critics are right, it's a Masterpiece. Could have been an early Stanley Kubrick movie if it was made in the 1960s....But John Ford was just as meticulous.

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

01/14/24

Full Review

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John Ford

Director

John Wayne

Ethan Edwards

Jeffrey Hunter

Martin Pawley

Natalie Wood

Debbie Edwards (older)

Vera Miles

Laurie Jorgensen

Ward Bond

Rev. Capt. Samuel Johnston Clayton

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Jean Yothers

Orlando Sentinel

The story is appealing, the action is exciting and the expanse of scenery in VistaVision and Technicolor is truly awe-inspiring.

Mar 25, 2024

Full Review

Helen Bower

Detroit Free Press

Ford has achieved an extraordinary effect. There is the sense of time passing, yet the picture never drags. There is continued action, yet the picture conveys in almost leisurely fashion the life of isolated families in the remote early West.

Mar 25, 2024

Full Review

Jack Moffitt

Hollywood Reporter

[The Searchers] is undoubtedly one of the greatest Westerns ever made. For sheer scope, guts and beauty I can think of no picture... to compare with it. In it John Wayne delivers a performance that tops his great performance in The High and the Mighty.

Mar 25, 2024

Full Review

Jay Carmody

Washington Star

It is in keeping alive this seemingly endless [quest] that Ford's genius asserts Itself. He has landscape to work with, and colored film and a Vista-Vision camera. With these he can achieve miracles and, to the picture's great advantage, he does.

Mar 25, 2024

Full Review

Francois Truffaut

Arts (France)

John Ford symbolizes an age of Hollywood, the one when good health prevailed over intelligence, craftiness over sincerity. This age has gone; Elia Kazan's and Nicholas Ray's movies make more money than John Ford's, poetry triumphs over entertainment.

Mar 25, 2024

Full Review

William R. Weaver

Motion Picture Herald (Exhibitors Herald)

The Searchers is one of the great ones -- one of the greatest of the great pictures of the American West.

Mar 25, 2024

Full Review

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Synopsis

In this revered Western, Ethan Edwards (John Wayne) returns home to Texas after the Civil War. When members of his brother's family are killed or abducted by Comanches, he vows to track down his surviving relatives and bring them home. Eventually, Edwards gets word that his niece Debbie (Natalie Wood) is alive, and, along with her adopted brother, Martin Pawley (Jeffrey Hunter), he embarks on a dangerous mission to find her, journeying deep into Comanche territory.

Director: John Ford
Executive Producer: Merian C. Cooper
Screenwriter: Alan Le May, Frank S. Nugent
Distributor: Warner Bros. Pictures
Production Co: Warner Brothers
Genre: Western
Original Language: English
Release Date (Theaters): May 16, 1956, Original
Release Date (Streaming): Oct 24, 2008

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