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WARNER

MOVIE INFO

Director:
John Ford
Cast:
John Wayne, Jeffrey Hunter, Vera Miles, Ward Bond, Natalie Wood, John Qualen, Olive Carey, Henry Brandon
Writing Credits:
Alan Le May (novel), Frank S. Nugent

Tagline:
The story that sweeps from the great Southwest to the Canadian border in VistaVision!

Synopsis:
An embittered frontiersman engages in an extensive and obsessive search for his niece, abducted years ago by Indians who killed her family in retaliation for a massacre in their village.

Box Office:
Budget
$3.750 million.

MPAA:
Rated NR

DISC DETAILS
Presentation:
Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1
Audio:
English Dolby Digital Monaural
French Dolby Digital Monaural
Spanish Dolby Digital Monaural
Subtitles:
English
Spanish
French
Closed-captioned
Supplements Subtitles:
None

Runtime: 119 min.
Price: $14.98
Release Date: 10/31/2006

Bonus:
• Introduction with Patrick Wayne
• Audio Commentary with Filmmaker Peter Bogdanovich
• “The Searchers: An Appreciation” Documentary
• “A Turning of the Earth: John Ford, John Wayne and The Searchers” Documentary
• “Behind the Cameras” Vintage Featurettes
• Trailer
The Assassination of Jesse James By the Coward Robert Ford Trailer


PURCHASE @ AMAZON.COM

EQUIPMENT
Panasonic TC-P60VT60 60-Inch 1080p 600Hz 3D Smart Plasma HDTV; Sony STR-DG1200 7.1 Channel Receiver; Panasonic DMP-BD60K Blu-Ray Player using HDMI outputs; Michael Green Revolution Cinema 6i Speakers (all five); Kenwood 1050SW 150-watt Subwoofer.

RELATED REVIEWS


The Searchers [Blu-Ray] (1956)

Reviewed by Colin Jacobson (May 26, 2015)

Before I first saw 1956's The Searchers back in 2000, I'd heard quite a few positive comments about it. Since it reunited John Wayne and director John Ford - who worked so wonderfully together in Stagecoach - I figured it had a lot of potential.

Now that I've seen the film a few times, I honestly don't understand the fuss. While the movie seems mildly entertaining, I can't find anything to make it stand out from any of a number of other Westerns in the same era. The film appears fairly predictable and mediocre for the most part.

The Searchers tells the tale of an Indian-hating Civil War veteran named Ethan (John Wayne) who returns to his extended family after the end of the conflict. Soon after his arrival, Comanches lure away the menfolk and attack the farm. They kill some of the inhabitants and kidnap others, which prompts Ethan and some of the rest to pursue them.

This becomes a virtual crusade for Ethan and Martin Pawley (Jeffrey Hunter), an adopted nephew who Ethan disavows because he has some Indian blood. The tale follows the two of them as they stalk the vicious Comanche chief Scar (Henry Brandon) who apparently maintains possession of the girls.

Such a tale of obsession and revenge should turn into powerful stuff, but it feels vaguely bland and unsatisfying here. Much of that results from a genuinely poor performance from Hunter. Wayne was never any great acting talent, but he at least provides a strong presence and can hold his own within the limits of his abilities.

Hunter, however, creates a wholly unsatisfying presence and he seems far too broad and emotive for the most part. He really hams it up throughout the story and makes any sense of tension or drama dissipate quickly. Hunter needs to be a more emotional and human contrast to the almost Terminator-esque presence of Ethan, but his bug-eyed over-delivery makes him seem unbelievable and weak.

Would The Searchers have functioned radically better with a better actor as Martin? Almost certainly, but I still don't know if I'd understand the appeal. More poor casting affects other roles, such as with Scar. The presence of a made-up white man with blue eyes does not add to the realism in the movie. I've heard comments that blue-eyed Indians existed, and I don't doubt that, but I don't think any of them looked quite so Caucasian. Although Brandon's acting doesn't hurt the film - he has little to do other than glower - the silliness of his appearance detracts from the story.

Ford makes the movie look pretty as we pass through some lovely vistas, but I feel little sense of urgency or desperation. The protagonists just seem to stumble along from year to year in their unwavering search for the girls, and not much of interest occurs. Although we do get some taste of the lives they've left behind to pursue their mission, these parts generally get played for laughs and don't resonate with me.

I won't call The Searchers a bad movie, because it's not. However, I do think it seems mediocre and disappointing considering the virtually unanimous raves the film receives. From what I saw, it comes across as nothing more than just another decent Western.


The Blu-ray Grades: Picture A-/ Audio B/ Bonus B

The Searchers appears in both an aspect ratio of approximately 1.85:1 on this Blu-ray Disc. I found it hard to believe they filmed The Searchers almost 60 years ago, as this transfer made it look brand new.

Sharpness seemed very strong. Barely a smidgen of softness ever cropped up as the film progressed. Instead, the movie looked concise and crisp at almost all times. The image showed no jagged edges or shimmering, and only a slight hint of edge enhancement occurred. Print flaws were absent in this clean presentation.

Despite the arid, dusty setting of The Searchers, colors looked excellent. A brownish tint dominated, but the film still found opportunities for brighter tones. When these appeared, they stood out in a terrific manner. The various hues were rich and full.

Black levels appeared dark and deep, and shadow detail usually was appropriately heavy. At times low-light shots could look overly thick, but those occasions occurred due to "day for night" photography. Hat technique almost inevitably results in dim shadows, so I couldn’t fault the transfer for the problems that came from the source.

Really, I couldn’t fault the transfer for much of anything. I found it to provide a consistently fantastic image that should absolutely stun fans. I don’t know if the flick ever looked this good on the big screen.

The film's Dolby Digital monaural soundtrack seemed more than acceptable for its age. Dialogue appeared a bit thin at times, but was fine given the restrictions of the era’s technology. Lines always sounded acceptably crisp and lacked any edginess or problems with intelligibility. Effects were reasonably accurate. No distortion popped up as the elements appeared pretty clean and firm.

Music might have been a little bass-heavy, but the score was fairly solid. Those aspects of the track seemed smooth and full when I factored in the age of the material. Some background noise could be heard during the film but not to a terrible degree. Overall, the sound seemed pretty solid for a film of this one’s vintage.

How did the Blu-ray compare to the 2006 DVD release? Audio was identical, but the visuals showed nice improvements. While the DVD offered solid picture for its format, it couldn’t compete with the clarity and definition of this appealing Blu-ray.

The Blu-ray replicates all the disc-based extras from the 2006 DVD. We start with an Introduction from Patrick Wayne. John Wayne’s son chats for one minute, 52 seconds as he tells us a little about his dad, John Ford, and the film. This ends up as a general piece without much value.

The set also presents an audio commentary from filmmaker Peter Bogdanovich. He offers a running, screen-specific discussion. For the most part, Bogdanovich offers annotated narration. He tells us a little about John Wayne, director John Ford and other cast and crew. He also chats about the movie’s story and themes, cinematic techniques, and locations. The best parts come from his memories of interactions with Ford.

However, Bogdanovich often does little more than describe the action along with a few minor thoughts about what he sees. He provides the occasional insight but not much more than that. We get a fair amount of dead air, so this turns out to be a lackluster commentary at best and a dull one at worst.

With that we move to The Searchers: An Appreciation. This 31-minute, one-second documentary features the standard mix of movie clips, archival materials, and interviews. We hear from filmmakers Curtis Hanson, Martin Scorsese and John Milius.

During “Appreciation”, the various filmmakers discuss their early encounters with Searchers and comment on various aspects of the flick that impressed them then and now. They also discuss technical elements of the film and give us a dissection of the different parts of the flick. This means that talk about technical issues as well as character, story, and tone. In addition, they dig into subtext, themes, interpretation and allusions as well as reflections on director Ford and racial issues.

“Appreciation” offers the kind of discussion I thought we’d get from the commentary. The filmmakers show their obvious affection for the film as they open it up to interpretation and dissection in a number of ways. Though their opinions still don’t make me think highly of the flick, I like hearing how they feel.

Next comes A Turning of the Earth: John Ford, John Wayne and The Searchers. A 33-minute, 10-second documentary, it presents notes from Milius, Patrick Wayne, director’s son Dan Ford, and actors Pippa Scott, Harry Carey Jr. (read by Peter Rainer) and Lana Wood. Note that they don’t appear on-camera. Some of the material comes from a narrator, and the other participants show up as voice-overs as well.

“Earth” looks at the story that inspired the film and its path to the screen. We follow the location scouts, shooting in Monument Valley and facts about that area. From there we learn about story influences, the atmosphere on the set, performances, and filming various scenes. The show progresses through Ford’s work and his relationship with Wayne, stuntmen and the use of Navajo.

“Earth” acts as a somewhat unconventional documentary, but it proves fairly satisfying. It doesn’t light upon all of the issues I’d like, but it gives us reasonably good insight into the areas it discusses. I admit I could live without some of the jerky shots and odd transitions; why’d the documentary’s producers try to make it look like the opening credits to Se7en? Though we see too many movie clips for my liking, there’s enough useful content and interesting shots from the set to make this one winning.

Some vintage elements come via four Behind the Cameras featurettes. These include “Meet Jeffrey Hunter” (four minutes, two seconds), “Monument Valley” (6:01), “Meet Natalie Wood” (5:50) and “Setting Up Production” (5:55). Originally aired as part of a mid-Fifties television show called Warner Brothers Presents, all of these present some details from the set of The Searchers. None of them are terribly fascinating, but they provide a fun look at TV promotional materials of the time. “Valley” and “Production” are probably the best since they give us some decent material from the set. The other two are little more than excuses to show lots of movie clips.

The package ends with trailers for Searchers and The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford

My opinion falls in the minority, but I just don’t feel impressed with The Searchers. When I first watched the film and offered that impression, I got e-mails that told me to view it again. I’ve now seen The Searchers four times and nothing’s changed my opinion. The Blu-ray offers excellent visuals along with good audio and an erratic but generally informative set of supplements. With a low list price of less than $15, this Blu-ray is a steal.

Note that The Searchers can be purchased on its own or as part of a five-film “John Wayne Westerns Collection”. This also includes Fort Apache, Rio Bravo, The Train Robbers and Cahill: United States Marshal. It retails for $54.95, so it’s a good deal if you want all five of the movies.

To rate this film visit the original review of THE SEARCHERS

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