After 15 years of resurrecting classics (and cult classics) on DVD and Blu-ray, Warner Archive has finally jumped on the 4K Ultra HD bandwagon. It seems fitting that the label kicks things off with something iconic. And westerns don’t get much more iconic than 1956’s The Searchers.
Before going any further, I should probably qualify my review by confessing I’ve never been a massive John Wayne fan. He starred in some great films, to be sure, but they weren’t necessarily great because of him. Wayne’s career was similar to Ozzy Osbourne’s…perfunctory talent, but surround yourself with the right people and you become a legend. He’s sure as hell surrounded by the right people in this one.
But in revisiting The Searchers for the first time in years, I gotta admit Wayne is pretty damn impressive here. It’s probably the closest he ever came to actually disappearing into a character, playing an enigmatic and cynical ex-soldier. Ethan Edwards’ years-long quest to rescue his niece and kill the Comanche who kidnapped her (after slaughtering the rest of her family) reveals a dark complexity that’s absent from most of Wayne’s other characters.
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| Duke's picnic shirt. |
But if not his best, The Searchers remains an easy film to appreciate. Historically speaking, you’d be hard pressed to name another western as influential as this one. Watching with hindsight, you can spot aesthetic and narrative elements of The Searchers in countless other films by notable directors (and not just westerns). And speaking of aesthetics, the simple artistry of that immersive opening shot immediately establishes The Searchers as, not simply a western, but an epic western. Conversely, later scenes obviously done on a soundstage tend to break the spell, however briefly.
But hey, what the hell do I know? The Searchers is widely considered one of the greatest westerns of all time and is certainly treated as such with this outstanding 4K restoration. The movie looks tremendous, revealing a lot of texture and color accuracy in the various settings (and probably why certain scenes look so “stagy”). There’s also an additional Blu-ray with the feature film - which also looks pretty good - and a solid selection of vintage bonus features…as well as a couple of brand new ones.
EXTRA KIBBLES
4K & BLU-RAY COPIES
FEATURETTES - The Searchers: An Appreciation and A Turning of the Earth: John Ford, John Wayne and The Searchers are a couple of 30 minute retrospectives.
AUDIO COMMENTARY - By filmmaker Peter Bogdanovich.
INTRODUCTION BY PATRICK WAYNE - John’s son.
OUTTAKES - Raw footage from the film, appearing for the first time here.
THE SEARCHERS WORLD PREMIERE IN CHICAGO - This is newly unearthed, too (though it’s less than a minute long).
BEHIND THE CAMERAS - This is a series of short promotional featurettes made during the film’s production.
TRAILER
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