THE SEARCHERS (1956)
4K Ultra HD + Blu-ray
Label: Warner Archive
Region Code: Region-Free
Rating: Unrated
Duration: 118 Minutes 45 Seconds
Audio: English 2.0 DTS-HD MA Dual-Mono with Optional English Subtitles
Video: Dolby Vision (HDR10) 2160p Ultra HD Widescreen (1.85:1)
Director: John Ford
Cast: John Wayne, Jeffrey Hunter, Vera Miles, Natalie Wood, Ward Bond
The Searchers (1956), adapted from a 1954 novel by Alan LeMay, was the 12th film that teamed-up John 'The Duke' Wayne (The Shootist) and iconic western director John Ford (Rio Bravo), and it's unmistakably their best pairing. In it Wayne plays an ex-Confederate soldier Ethan who years after the end of the Civil War returns to the ranch of his brother Aaron (Walter Coy, Cult of the Cobra), where he is warmly received by his brother, as well as his wife Martha (Dorothy Jordan, The Wings of Eagles), daughters Lucy (Pippa Scott, telefilm Bad Ronald) and Debbie (Lana Wood, Nightmare in Badham County) and son Ben (Robert Lyden). He is less enthused by the arrival of Aaron's adopted son, Martin Pawley (Jeffrey Hunter, Brainstorm), who is one-eighth Cherokee, which is the first indication of Ethan's deep-seated hatred for Native Americans. That disposition doesn't improve when Texas Ranger/preacher Captain the Reverend Samuel Johnson Clayton (Ward Bond, 3 Godfathers) arrives and announces that the Comanches have been raiding a neighbor's cattle, he deputizes the men, amassing a small posse to wrangle the thieves and return the cattle. The Comanches are lead by Chief Cicatriz (Henry Brandon,
Assault on Precinct 13), dubbed locally as "Scar" because of a signature facial scar, and the posse realize too late that the cattle raid was staged to lure the men away from the homestead, enabling them to launch a murderous raid that takes the lives of Aaron, his wife Martha, and their son Ben, while Debbie and her older sister Lucy have been abducted by the Comanches and take away, the homestead burned to the ground.
This leads to a five year search for the girls by a determined Ethan who is accompanied by Martin, both men steadfast and resolute to rescue their family from the grips of the vicious Comanche. This is a flick that continues to impress with each watch, and while Wayne's character here is often dubbed as a straight-up racist, it is as with most things, layered and complicated, there's more to consider, like the massacre of his family, and the taking of his young nieces. There's little doubt that he has hate in his heart for the Comanche, and Scar in particular, but that hate is informed by life experiences. Now, I should also note that experience includes fighting for the Confederates during the Civil War, so again, it's layered, not black and white.
The film is perhaps most remembered for Ethan's extreme hatred towards the Comanche turning on his niece Debbie, the few years older version now played by Natalie Wood (Rebel Without a Cause), who after years of brainwashing at the hands of her captors, now considers herself a member of the tribe, which drives Ethan to almost shoot her point blank rather then let her live as a Comanche, his years long search turning to an assassination quest.
It's a fascinating western, chock full of the typical Texas-Indian Wars settlers versus raiding Native Americans, but it's portrayal of Wayne's racist Comanche-hating "hero" is layered and full of interesting subtext that elevates everything beyond mere face value. On top of that Wayne give sone of his best performances ever, and the supporting cast is terrific, especially the steely blue-eyed Jeffrey Hunter as Martin sort of becomes the hero of the picture. There's also some on display that enhances the more dramatic elements, like Martin unexpectedly finding himself married to an Indian bride Look (Beulah Archuletta, How the West Was Won), after a trade-misunderstanding, which comes as news to his lady-in-waiting Laurie Jorgensen (Vera Miles, Psycho, Psycho II), who reads about it in a letter he sends home detailing his exploits. There's also some comedy by way of a kind village idiot Mose (Hank Worden, McLintock!), who is actually the one that ultimately leads the Ethan, Martin and the Texas Rangers to Debbie's whereabouts. The film was also shot using Paramount's proprietary 3-strip color VistaVision, and it looks wonderful, Monument Valley has never been shot so well as it was here, every scene looks like a painted picture, plus we get a terrific score by Max Steiner (Caged).
Audio/Video: The Searchers (1956) arrives on region-free 4K Ultra HD from Warner Archive, their first foray in the UHD format, the restoration done by Warner Bros. Motion Picture Imaging comes from a scan of the original VistaVision camera negative with extensive manual clean-up and color-correction utilizing WGC Dolby Vision (HDR10). The results are absolutely stunning. The grain field is thin and tight, details of stubbled faces and period clothing look wonderfully crisp, the three-strip VistaVision cinematography by Winton C. Hoch (Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea) impresses in every sequence, from the blue skies to the rugged rocky terrain of Monument Valley and it's many signature outcroppings it's thing of rugged beauty. The disc is well authored, there are no issues with compression that I noted, a very tight presentation, and surely the definitive presentation, in it's theatrical widescreen aspect ratio. No revisionist Dolby Atmos remix for this one, but we do get a rock solid English DTS-HD MA 2.0 dual-mono track, that does the job just fine, The sound stage here is limited and front heavy, so the 2.0 track sounds perfectly fine to my ears. There's some minor hiss on the track in a couple of dialogue spots, but otherwise it's clean, amply crisp, and the terrific Max Steiner score impresses. The track includes optional English subtitles.
For it's 4K Ultra HD debut Warner Archive load this one up with a terrific set of archival extras. We get a wonderful Audio Commentary by Director/John Ford Biographer Peter Bogdanovich, a legendary filmmaker in his own right, giving a solid and authoritative accounting of the film, noting Ford's technical merits and economical visual storytelling throughout.
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We also get the 31-min The Searchers: An Appreciation featuring filmmakers Curtis Hanson (L.A. Confidential), Martin Scorsese (The Departed) and John Milius (Conan the Barbarian) laying on some thick appreciation for the film. I miss these sort of filmmaker discussions about films, I feel like these have sort of become a thing we don't often get but i love hearing filmmakers discuss their love and appreciation for specific films. The 33-min 1996 documentary A Turning of the Earth: John Ford, John Wayne and The Searchers offers insights into the adaptation and production of the films; a 2-min Archival 1996 introduction by John Wayne's son, 44-second The Searchers World Premiere in Chicago: Newsreel Coverage; 22-min of Vintage Behind the Cameras Segments from the Warner Bros. Presents TV Series including Meet Jeffrey Hunter, Meet Natalie Wood, Monument Valley, Setting Up Productions; 12-min of Outtakes; and the 3-min Original Theatrical Trailer.
The 2-disc 4K UHD.BD arrives in a dual-hubbed black keepcase with a single-sided sleeve of artwork featuring the original movie poster illustration, which is replicated on the slipcover. Warner Archive do not often include slipcover, in fact, the only previous one I am aware of, at least the only one in my collection, was the Colt. 45 - The Complete Series Blu-ray set, and I love that they go all-out for their first 4K UHD with a Slipcover.
Special Features:
- Featurette: The Searchers: An Appreciation (31:01)
- 1996 Documentary A Turning of the Earth: John Ford, John Wayne and The Searchers (33:11)
- Archival 1996 introduction by John Wayne's son and The Searchers (1:52)
- Audio Commentary by Director/John Ford Biographer Peter Bogdanovich
- The Searchers World Premiere in Chicago: Newsreel Coverage (0:44)
- Vintage Behind the Cameras Segments from the Warner Bros. Presents TV Series: Meet Jeffrey Hunter, Meet Natalie Wood, Monument Valley, Setting Up Productions (21:49)
- Outtakes (11:41)
- Original Theatrical Trailer (2:47)
- Slipcover
The Searchers (1956) is inarguably one of the best westerns, heck, best films period, ever made, an impeccable film given an impeccable restoration by Warner Archive. This is a truly remarkable restoration from the Warner Archive, one that sets the bar pretty high for future 4K endeavors, and I cannot wait to see what comes next from them on the 4K format - this is an essential release!
Screenshots from the Warner Archive Blu-ray:
Extras:
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