Recently we watched John Wayne’s, “The Searchers” which was a thrilling old western about settlers in Texas who are dealing with territorial disputes with Native American tribes that live in the area. The movie takes place over multiple years, and many of the characters are much older in the later scenes of the movie. It follows a cowboy named Ethan and his partner, they are looking for a little girl that was taken in a raid by a tribe, and now they are hoping to find her; dead or alive.
As for my expectations before the movie, I thought that there would be more shooting and stuff, but other old westerns truly pick up the slack for this movie. I honestly think the restrained shooting made fight scenes more intense. When too many fight scenes happen in a project, the viewer might be desensitized of deaths, making character deaths less significant. But as for all the bases that must be covered to make a movie an old western, The Searchers fits into it all. There were horses racing, revolvers and hunting rifles shooting, a damsel in distress, a whole lot of drinking, and a guy that gets a girl in the end. It is an excellent example of an old western, John Wayne had an incredible performance.
Joe's Blog 