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List Price: $39.98 | | Label: Warner Home Video
Salesrank: 38591
Released: June 6, 2006 |
| Our Price: $7.75 |
| Used Price: $7.73 |
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MPAA Rating: NR (Not Rated)
Media: DVD |
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Editorial Review:
Working together for the 12th time, John Wayne and director John Ford forged The Searchers into a landmark Western offering an indelible image of the frontier and the men and women who challenged it. Wayne plays an ex-Confederate soldier seeking his niece, captured by Comanches who massacred his family. He won't surrender to hunger, thirst, the elements or loneliness. And in his five-year search, he encounters something unexpected: his own humanity. Beautifully shot by Winton C. Hoch, thrillingly scored by Max Steiner and memorably acted by a wonderful ensemble including Jeffrey Hunter, Vera Miles, Natalie Wood and Ward Bond, The Searchers endures as "a great film of enormous scope and breathtaking physical beauty" (Danny Peary, Guide for the Film Fanatic).
DVD Features:
Audio Commentary:Commentary by Peter Bogdanovich
Documentaries:Behind the Cameras (4-parts): Meet Jeffrey Hunter, Monument Valley, Meet Natalie Wood, Setting Up Production
Documentary:A Turning of the Eart: John Ford, John Wayne, and the Searchers
Interviews:The Searchers: An Appreciation
Introduction:Intro by Patrick Wayne
Theatrical Trailer:The Searchers Trailer The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford Trailer
Description of The Searchers (Ultimate Collector's Edition):
A favorite film of some of the world's greatest filmmakers, including Martin Scorsese and Steven Spielberg, John Ford's The Searchers has earned its place in the legacy of great American films for a variety of reasons. Perhaps most notably, it's the definitive role for John Wayne as an icon of the classic Western--the hero (or antihero) who must stand alone according to the unwritten code of the West. The story takes place in Texas in 1868; Wayne plays Ethan Edwards, a Confederate veteran who visits his brother and sister-in-law at their ranch and is horrified when they are killed by marauding Comanches. Ethan's search for a surviving niece (played by young Natalie Wood) becomes an all-consuming obsession. With the help of a family friend (Jeffrey Hunter) who is himself part Cherokee, Ethan hits the trail on a five-year quest for revenge. At the peak of his masterful talent, director Ford crafts this classic tale as an embittered examination of racism and blind hatred, provoking Wayne to give one of the best performances of his career. As with many of Ford's classic Westerns, The Searchers must contend with revisionism in its stereotypical treatment of "savage" Native Americans, and the film's visual beauty (the final shot is one of the great images in all of Western culture) is compromised by some uneven performances and stilted dialogue. Still, this is undeniably one of the greatest Westerns ever made. --Jeff Shannon
The Searchers (Ultimate Collector's Edition) Reviews:
JOHN FORD Film: Western, on DVD. 
2009-12-23 - John Ford and John Wayne team up again to make another Western film, they also worked together on Stagecoach. This film also stars, Natalie Wood, and Vera Miles. A well made drama, with the old West as the backdrop, realistic looking, and good use of color and camera techniques, plus a lot of action.
Texan
2009-12-19 - John Wayne delivers one of his finest performances in this movie. I've lost count of how many times I've watched it. And I'll watch it again. The scenery, however, is not Texas but Monument Valley in Utah. Nevertheless, it is amazing photography and beautiful.
I know I'm being unfair 
2009-12-13 - Watched disc one of this movie for the first time last night and couldn't get into it. When they start on the search and the young man Martin says: we are going so we can get them back aren't we? He sounds like an 10hr old not an 18 year old, as though repeating a script line he just learned two days ago and couldn't get the emotional intent right. As the movie progress I kept wondering will this boy ever grow up.
It was highly rated but seemed almost corny in the simpleness of the portrayals. I'm not a fan of Western's but it struck me how Larry McMrutry's mini-series Lonsome Dove had so much more subtle interplay in personalities and expression of character. (Lonsome Dove is at its transcendent best in part 1 but gets a little tragic as it continues). As far as westerns, or American history in drama, I also found Mitchner's Centennial more riveting.
However I'm sure I'm being unfair. John Ford was a legendary film maker with vision and conscience. Very very likely the films we like today were made by people standing on the foundations and creative innovation of those early films and directors.
Best John Wayne/John Ford Movie
2009-10-26 - This is the best John Wayne John Ford! If I had a son I would have named him Ethan Edwards. Each time I watch this classic I see more definition in the characters...their prejudices, their motivations are fascinating. The movie was casted perfect without exception. The Blu-ray version is an absolute must, it makes you feel like you could just walk into the screen. I envy people who have never experienced this movie.
ONE OF THE BEST BLU-RAYS OUT THERE
2009-10-24 - First, this was the finest performance in Wayne's career. He's darker and more bitter than any of the other role he's played before. This is also the first time John Ford and Wayne teamed up in a color film shot in Vista-vision 70mm which is brilliantly remastered to Blu-Ray. The details are so crisp and clear. Patterns in the cloth and every grove in every mountain can be seen. The story is very dark and at points disturbing to watch, but the story is just great. Jeffery Hunter does a great job in this film next to his performance of Jesus Christ in MGM's " King of Kings ". Other Ford Favorites such as Ward Bond, Harry Carey Jr.. Hank Worden as Ol'Mose Harper, also make notable apperence in this picture along side a very young Natalie Wood. This a must for any Wayne/Ford fan who wants to own a fantastic Blu-ray for their collection.
