Top 250 Challenge: 241

The Searchers (1956)
Number 229 on IMDb's Top 250

Ethan Edwards (John Wayne), returns from the Civil War to the Texas ranch of his brother, hopes to find a home with his family and to be near the woman he obviously but secretly loves. But a Comanche raid destroys these plans, and Ethan sets out, along with his half-breed nephew Martin (Jeffrey Hunter), on a years-long journey to find the niece (Natalie Wood) kidnapped by the Indians under Chief Scar (Henry Brandon). But as the quest goes on, Martin begins to realize that his uncle's hatred for the Indians is beginning to spill over onto his now-assimilated niece. Martin becomes uncertain whether Ethan plans to rescue Debbie...or kill her. Hilarity ensues.

Trivia: In the climactic scene, John Wayne and Natalie Wood run up the side of a hill in Monument Valley, Utah... and come down the other side of the hill in the Bronson Canyon area of Griffith Park, Los Angeles (1,200 miles away). Lana Wood played young Debbie Edwards and Natalie Wood, who was Lana's older sister by eight years, played teenage Debbie Edwards. Natalie Wood was still a student in high school when this film was being made, and on several occasions both John Wayne and Jeffrey Hunter had to pick her up at school on days when she was required on the set. This caused a good deal of excitement among Wood's female classmates. The role of a young cavalry officer, Lt. Greenhill, is played by Patrick Wayne, John Wayne's son.

A significant portion of the film's labyrinthine plot is revealed on a throwaway prop that most casual viewers rarely notice. Just before the Indian raid on the Edwards homestead, the tombstone that Debbie hides next to reveals the source of Ethan's glaring hatred for Native Americans. The marker reads: "Here lies Mary Jane Edwards killed by Commanches May 12, 1852. A good wife and mother in her 41st year." Sixteen years earlier, Ethan's own mother was massacred by Comanches. According to John Wayne in a 1974 interview, John Ford hinted throughout the movie that Ethan had had an affair with his brother's wife, and was possibly the father of Lucy and Debbie. This meant Ethan's thirst for vengeance stemmed not from the murder of his brother, but of the woman Ethan had loved. This was so subtle that many viewers at the time missed it altogether.

A good western with a lot of Hollywood western cliches, not the least of which is having German born actor Henry Brandon (Obviously not Native American) as the Comanche Chief. The cinematography of this movies was spectacular with large dramatic rock buttes from monument valley as a backdrop (except for the fact that the story took place in Texas and, although Texas is amazingly beautiful, it doesn't have the landscape of the movie (being a native Texan, I had to point that out). But do you blame the movie makers? It was stereotypical Hollywood wild west. Westerns used to be a staple in Hollywood and were probably the most filmed genre ever, but they will never return to the popularity they once held and that is really a shame.

Next Up: No Man's Land, another war movie...kind of...if you consider the Bosnian/Serbian conflict a war.