The Searchers starring John Wayne (1956)

The Searchers starring John Wayne

Bridgeport Public Library, 925 Bridgeport, CT, retrieved from second floor, movies section, in the "S" category

Date movie was made: 1956

Major Actors:

Jeffery Hunter

Vera Miles

Ward Bond

Natalie Wood

Story Writer

Alan LeMay

Director:

John Ford

Story/Summary

The Searchers is about an Ex-Confederate soldier who has a skill in hunting sets out a rescue mission to rescue his niece from a band of Indians who murder his family and try to turn the soldier's niece into one of their own. Story of a film is a short summary of it it about or what to expect (Goodykoont, Jacobs, 2011)

Plot

This story is about an ex-confederate soldier who goes on a hunt to rescue his niece from a tribe of Indian Comanches who massacred his family out of revenge. This movie was set in a time frame of 1868 in Texas, three years after the end of the civil war and when revolts from the natives erupted occasionally. The ex-confederate, named Ethan, returns to his brothers house out in the open terrain of Texas. Ethan's brother, with his wife, two daughters and son are very happy to see him. After some catching up, laughs and settling in, Ethan began to return to humanity which was a slow process after years of intensive fighting.

Yet family enjoyment was cut short when a Texas Ranger arrivals looking for a few able men to respond to reports of an Indian revolt in the area threatening some of the local families. Little does Ethan and the Rangers know that the worse was yet to reveal itself. The Rangers were tricked to set out on a hunting mission, witch the Indians designed to lure them out away from the ones they were supposed to be protecting. As Ethan and the Rangers release the trap, it was too late. Ethan's family was murdered and his youngest niece was taken captive. A man who looses his family has nothing left but revenge.

Ethan then sets out to find his niece and kill the one responsible for the death of his family. It was a long 5 years of struggle, pain, and fighting as the search for his niece continued to almost no positive outcome. Ethan kept on the pursuit, never giving up. He was determined to find his niece no matter the cost.

The sight of his niece both excited him and angered him as he realizes that his niece was living as one of the Comanches. According to Ethan, any whites living as an Indian is forever and Indian. Ethan had to struggle with himself not to kill the only kin he had left. Even a man of vengeance can humble himself. Ethan kills the Comanches and returns his niece back home. Ethan understood how love is a strong healing force for all kinds of scares. Plot are the stings of events that create the story (Goodykoont, Jacobs, 2011)

The plot is set in Chronological order. The story is about am ex-soldier who comes home to live a peaceful but is force to kill for the death of his family by Indians. The movie begins with the arrival of an ex-confederate soldier to a home of his brother and family. They having a good time because one of their kins returns home after year of service. Then, the ex-soldier's family get massacred by Indians after setting out to respond to reports about an Indian raid.

Before I watched the movie, I read the summary of the story on the back of the movie cover. The plot of the movie begins the way the story tells it.

This was a heart felt and tragic story. The ex-soldier's family were very nice people. Took care of their own. This was the ideal family everybody wants. A group filled with love and laugh. Kids playing innocent pranks on each other and neighbors treating themselves as they were all one big happy family. Also understand that family is the most import part of a persons security and health as they grow. They are the ones who you deeply love and will go to war if any of them were harmed. Once you loose family, you loose a huge part of yourself.

This form of story telling was more gloomy. The audience was first shown the lives American families living in the Texas frontiers. They seemed to be peaceful people. Then, their lives were taken in one of the most ugly fashions. My heart was still in pain watching the remainder of the movie.

If the story begin with the soldier already on a vengeance hunt, and no indication of what the his family was like, the audience would be more in-tuned to the action than the chronological effect.

References

http://lcweb2.loc.gov/ammem/cwphtml/tl1865.html link the shows that dates of the American Civil war

Goodykoontz, B., & Jacobs, C. P. (2011).Film: From watching to seeing. San Diego, CA: Bridgepoint Education, Inc.This text is a Constellation™ course digital materials (CDM) title.