The Searchers

“The Searchers” is not a cowboy movie, it is the cowboy movie. There have been other good cowboy movies and there have been some bad ones too. “The Searchers” captures the quality of the cowboy. The setting is Texas, a rugged, harsh and unforgiving time and place. This is the backdrop for a tragic and heartbreaking incident which sets in motion the search for a lost girl. The searchers are the heroes of the story, two cowboys, one hardened by experience, and one who is about to be. This film by John Ford is an unflinching exploration of two men’s perseverance and determination in the face of overwhelming obstacles. This movie is about love, compassion, family and right versus wrong. This isn’t a Roy Rogers white hat/black hat cowboy movie though. John Wayne, who plays one of the two heroes, shouldn’t be wearing a white hat, and he knows it. What is motivating him on this quest? Is he such a cowboy that all he automatically does what is brave, without thinking about it? I think not. Even with flaws, even in his fallen state, there is something deeper, something that drives him to do what is right. As I watched this film earlier this evening I realized that in many ways the making of this film, just its existence neutralizes all those mediocre, even bad cowboy movies. No, it probably does more than that, ten, no more than twenty years from now “The Searchers” will stand the test of time, while so many other supposed cowboy movies will fade and perhaps even pass from our memories. Truth has an uncanny knack for survival doesn’t it?