Leonard Maltin On THE SEARCHERS
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- čas přidán 4. 10. 2009
- Leonard Maltin talks about the classic Western film THE SEARCHERS during an interview for AFI's 10 Top 10 (2008).
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I know its widely considered one of the best westerns ever made and one of the best movies ever, but I still feel its underrated. There are so many layers to it, pretty much every character is nuanced with some depth... even the characters that are usually dismissed as "silly comic relief". Each time I watch, and it feels more and more like a masterpiece and the characters make more sense. When I see superficial reviews decrying racism in it or something, I just shake my head. So much more to it
I feel it was the realest cowboy movie.
Watch it for the 50th time and you will think it is better still. Maltin is right. This film has so many layers one never tires of watching it. I practically have the dialog memorized having seen the film for the first time in 1961and every time I watch it I get tears in my eyes. It is one of the most emotionally powerful films I've ever seen. Few films honestly knock your socks off but this one truly does that.
I met Hank Worden in a dinner on WIlshire Blvd back in the 80's. He was down on his luck and pretty much invisible to the Westside Yuppies. Doing my best John Wayne impersonation I sidled up to the table and said, Well...Mose Harper...You're still creakin' around." Without missing a beat Worden looked slowly up from the table and said "Ethan?"
He invited me to sit down and for 30 minutes he regaled me with John Wayne and John Ford stories. I was a "regular" and told the casher and manager that I would pick up his tab whenever he came in and not to tell Hank who was doing it. I ran into him there once more, a few months later, and again we had a wonderful time talking about Ford, Wayne , Ben Johnson, Harry Carey Jr., Woody Strode and Ken Curtis.
The only one left of John Ford's Stock Company now I believe is Pat Wayne. I don't believe Vera Miles was considered part of the "stock company".
Thanks for doing that for Hank
The Searchers is a masterpiece i have the two disc special edition dvd
I think that happens with most of the films we love, you notice something new every-time you watch it.
I saw this movie, thought it was good. Then I watched this video, watched it again, and thought it was amazing.
just the incredible scenery is worth the price of admission. the characters are just as incredible. john wayne really worked his butt off in this movie
greatest western of all time wayne best performance ever total and utter classic
By far his best movie and Natalie Wood how gorgeous !
John Wayne made a lot of films in his career "for monetary reasons" (as one of the people who worked with him phrased it). These were formula films with similar casts of characters. Because of these films - there were a lot of people who thought John Wayne couldn't act.
John Wayne could act when he wanted to do it - and he does it here.
.
When John Ford saw the Duke in RED RIVER, he said, "I didn't know the big sonuvabitch could act!"
Someone pointed out that the medal Ethan leaves with Debbie is one that was awarded to Confederate veterans who'd fought for Mexico's Emperor Maximilian! (It's a big clue to what Ethan was doing after Appomattox...)
It took a while for his one to be recognized for the masterpiece that it is. At the time of its release The Shootist didn't gain much attention either and that one is considered to be one of the Dukes finest. John Ford Henry Hathaway and Howard Hawks knew how to make a movie and get the most out of an actor.
Old Mose (Hank Worden) is my favorite character in the film (because you can't really like Ethan Edwards (Wayne). As Shelly10538 put it, a rockin' chair by the fireplace. And Ethan Edwards' exit through the doorway in the final scene is iconic.
"Won't tell you!" >:^b
A guarantee of a rockin chair by the the fire was real luxury to people back in this setting.
Visually stunning. Many of the character look as if they stepped out of a Frederick Remington or Charley Russell painting.
You nailed it!
Tarantino showed it and Sergeant Rutledge at the new Beverly cinema maybe 2016. One of the great nights.
the way each actor and actress seem to overlap as in real life they are there with out presence this more than any time when wayne says good bye to his brothers wife and ward bond is eating saying so much without words
@blavia77
I've watched THE SEARCHERS perhaps 100 times (no lie), and am still learning. But then, I feel the same way about other John Ford movies. Nearly all of them. He wasn't the first winner of the American Film Institute Life Achievement Award for nothing.
The only guy to win the Best Director Oscar four times, and none of them was for a western! (Unless you count THE GRAPES OF WRATH...)
The Searchers will haunt you.
I'll have to watch this again in the future. I saw it today and the only emotional reaction I had was to that beautiful opening shot. Other than that, I was bored with the rest of the film. I couldn't connect with it. May have been my state of mind, the environment at the moment, I don't know, but I just couldn't find much to like. I'll wait another few years.
@TrevorKingKwong
Be patient. It commands multiple viewings. There is so much going on that one viewing, even several, aren't enough. It is a jigsaw puzzle that requires becoming familiar with the individual pieces, one viewing after another, in order to appreciate the whole. And once you're there, you see the seamlessness and then wonder, "Why wasn't I this impressed the first time I watched it?"
Maybe the same will be said of Man of Steel
John Wayne lived inside the movie, very complicated movie..
Scar, the indian chief, has blue eyes.
Quanah Parker, the greatest of all Comanche war chiefs, inherited his blue eyes from his captive mother, Cynthia Ann Parker.
Natalie Wood's makeup is ridiculous. The film is still great!
@FGalaxie Not a common trait among native american leaders, I suspect. Just pointing that out, because it disrupts an otherwise interesting film for me.
If it weren't for the scenery in that movie; it would've been mediocre. Love Monument Valley.
I watched this film last week for the first time at 55 years old and I have to say I was quite disappointed. I've heard such great things about this film for decades and it just didn't live up to my expectations. I found the film predictable and formularic. I didn't find the mistreatment of the Indian sqaw at all funny,yet it was meant to be for laughs. I dislike the villain portrayed by an obvious white man also. I've seen many John Wayne films that were much better. This film is not a good film imo,and I have no intentions of watching it again.
Whenever you watch a movie that you expect to be great (because you've heard great things about it), you will always be disappointed.
Tend to agree kennethwilliams. All too often, many critics like movies because many critics like movies. Then many viewers like movies because many critics like them, and sadly it becomes a religious matter. Love monument valley, took my kids there bc of John Ford. The Duke and Natlie Wood and Mr Ford transcend life itself. Despite being well lensed, my recollection was i was continuously disturbed by the protagonist's relentless anti Indian sentiment. I suppose many people laugh or over look it. Likely a good study in cinemetography however.