The Searchers (1956) ft. Kristin Battestella
- Thomas Duncan
- 2 days ago
- 5 min read
Guest:
Kristin Battestella - A Film Critic for In Session Film, Search Magazine, and Keith Loves Movies
@kbatzkrafts on IG, @thereforereview on Twitter, Letterboxd, @kbatzreviews on YouTube
Previously on Ben-Hur (1959)
CLP Contributor
Cast:
John Ford, Director
Frank S. Nugent, Writer
Winton C. Hoch, Cinematography
Jack Murray, Editing
Max Steiner, Music
John Wayne as Ethan Edwards
Jeffrey Hunter as Martin Pawley
Vera Miles as Laurie Jorgensen
Ward Bond as Rev. Capt. Samuel Johnson Clayton
Natalie Wood as adult Debbie Edwards
John Qualen as Lars Jorgensen
Olive Carey as Mrs. Jorgensen
Henry Brandon as Chief Scar
Ken Curtis as Charlie McCorry
Harry Carey Jr. as Brad Jorgensen
Antonio Moreno as Emilio Gabriel Fernández y Figueroa
Hank Worden as Mose Harper
Beulah Archuletta as Wild Goose Flying in the Night Sky (Look)
Background:
Based on the novel of the same name from 1954, The Searchers was released on May 16, 1956.
On an estimated budget of $3.75 million, the film would gross roughly $4.8 million to finish outside the top 10 films of the year.
Critics at the time were mostly positive, but it was not nominated for a single Oscar that year.
Later assessments have been effusive with The Searchers ranking highly on most major publications of the best Westerns or the best films overall for a number of years.
The Searchers, in the BFI's decennial Sight & Sound polls, was ranked in 1972 as 18th; in 1992, 5th; in 2002, 11th; in 2012, 7th.
In 2006, Writers Guild of America West ranked the film's screenplay 97th in WGA’s list of 101 Greatest Screenplays.
Entertainment Weekly also named it the best Western.
In 2008, the French magazine Cahiers du Cinéma ranked The Searchers number 10 in their list of the 100 best films ever made.
The Searchers was one of the original 25 films selected for preservation in the US National Film Registry in 1989.
The AFI has ranked it on the following lists:
The Searchers ranked #56 on the Cinema Legacy Poll list from 2025.
The Searchers currently holds an 87% among critics on RT, a 94 score on Metacritic, and a 3.9/5 on Letterboxd.
Plot Summary: The Searchers is a powerful Western directed by John Ford. The film stars John Wayne as Ethan Edwards, a bitter and restless Civil War veteran who returns to his brother’s Texas home after years away. When a Comanche raid destroys the family and kidnaps his young niece Debbie, Ethan sets out on a long, obsessive search to find her. He is joined by his adopted nephew, Martin Pawley, played by Jeffrey Hunter.
As the years pass, the search takes Ethan and Martin across harsh desert landscapes and through dangerous encounters. Martin begins to question Ethan’s growing hatred and his true intentions if they ever find Debbie, now played as a teenager by Natalie Wood. The film explores themes of revenge, racism, and redemption, building toward a final confrontation that tests Ethan’s humanity.
Did You Know:
A significant portion of the film's plot is revealed on a throwaway prop. Just before the Indian raid on the Edwards homestead, the tombstone of Ethan's mother that Debbie hides next to reveals the source of Ethan's glaring hatred for Comanches. The marker reads: "Here lies Mary Jane Edwards killed by Commanches May 12, 1852. A good wife and mother in her 41st year."
Beulah Archuletta (Look) was found crying in one of the tipis by John Wayne in between shooting scenes. When Wayne asked her why she was crying, she responded that she was going to miss her son's wedding because she was filming her scenes at the time. Wayne stopped production of the film for a few days and flew her to California so that she could attend the wedding.
During filming, a Navajo child became seriously ill with pneumonia and needed urgent medical attention. John Wayne had his own airplane on location and had his pilot take the little girl to a hospital. For his deed, the Navajos named him "The Man With The Big Eagle".
Natalie Wood was still a student in high school when this film was being made, and, on several occasions, John Wayne and Jeffrey Hunter had to pick her up at school. This caused a good deal of excitement among Wood's female classmates.
Reportedly this film was seen in a theater in Texas by Buddy Holly and his friends in the summer of 1956. They were so impressed with Ethan's (John Wayne) repeated use of the phrase "That'll be the day" that they used it as the title for their now standard rock song, which they composed soon after.
Steven Spielberg, Martin Scorsese, George Lucas, Jean-Luc Godard, John Milius, Bruno Delbonnel, and Paul Schrader regard this as one of the films that has most influenced them and have all paid some form of homage to it in their work.
Best Performance: John Ford (Director)/Winton C. Hoch (Cinematography)/John Wayne (Ethan)
Best Secondary Performance: John Wayne (Ethan)/Ward Bond (Reverend)
Most Charismatic Award: Vera Miles (Laurie)/John Ford (Director)/Winton C. Hoch (Cinematography)
Best Scene:
Ethan Comes Home
Returning to the Edwards Farm
Ethan Finds Lucy
Martin's Last Letter
Wedding Night
Favorite Scene: Wedding Night/Finding Lucy/Martin's Last Letter
Most Indelible Moment: Ethan Comes Home/Finding Lucy
In Memorium:
Neil Sedaka, 86, American singer ("Breaking Up Is Hard to Do", "Laughter in the Rain") and songwriter ("Love Will Keep Us Together").
Bobby J. Brown, 62, American actor (The Wire, We Own This City).
Lauren Chapin, 80, American actress (Father Knows Best)
Sondra Lee, 97, American actress (Hello, Dolly!, Peter Pan, Sunday in New York)
Robert Carradine, 71, American actor (Revenge of the Nerds, The Big Red One, Lizzie McGuire)
Best Lines/Funniest Lines:
Martin: I hope you die!
Ethan: That'll be the day.
Reverend Clayton: You wanna quit, Ethan?
Ethan: That'll be the day.
Mose Harper: Thank you for the hospitality of your rocking chair, ma'am.
Ethan: What you saw wasn't Lucy.
Brad: But it was, I tell you!
Ethan: What you saw was a buck wearin' Lucy's dress. I found Lucy back in the canyon. Wrapped her in my coat, buried her with my own hands. I thought it best to keep it from ya.
Brad: Did they...? Was she...?
Ethan: What do you want me to do? Draw you a picture? Spell it out? Don't ever ask me! Long as you live, don't ever ask me more.
Ethan: Figure a man's only good for one oath at a time; I took mine to the Confederate States of America.
Reverend Clayton: Mount! M-O-N-T-E! Mount!
Laurie Jorgensen: Do you know what Ethan will do if he has a chance? He'll put a bullet in her brain. [pause] I tell you, Martha would want him to.
Martin: Only if I'm dead.
Reverend Clayton: Well, the prodigal brother. When did you get back? Ain't seen you since the surrender. Come to think of it, I didn't see you at the surrender.
Ethan: I don't believe in surrenders. Nope, I've still got my saber, Reverend. Didn't beat it into no plowshare, neither.
Debbie Edwards: I remember, from always. At first I prayed to you: "Come and get me, take me home." You didn't come.
Martin: But I've come now, Debbie.
Debbie Edwards: These are my people. Go. Go, Martin, please!
Martin: What if you'd missed?
Ethan: It never occurred to me.
Laurie Jorgensen: The late Mr. Futterman? That means he's dead, doesn't it?
Ethan: A fella could mistake you for a half-breed.
Martin: Not quite, I'm eighth Cherokee, the rest is Welsh and English. Least that's what they tell me.
Reverend Clayton: I say we do it my way. That's an order!
Ethan: Yessir. But if you're wrong don't ever give me another.
Chief Scar: Two sons - killed by white men... For each son, I take many scalps...
The Stanley Rubric:
Legacy: 8
Impact/Significance: 6.83
Novelty: 8
Classic-ness: 8.33
Rewatchability: 6.33
Audience Score: 8.25 (77% Google, 88% RT)
Total: 45.74
Remaining Questions:
What happens to Debbie?
Do Laurie and Martin get together?
Where does Ethan go?
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