| The Searchers | |
|---|---|
 Theatrical release poster by Bill Gold | |
| Directed by | John Ford |
| Screenplay by | Frank S. Nugent |
| Based on | The Searchers 1954 novel by Alan Le May |
| Starring | |
| Cinematography | Winton C. Hoch |
| Edited by | Jack Murray |
| Music by | Max Steiner |
Production company | |
| Distributed by | Warner Bros. |
Release date |
|
Running time | 119 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $3.75 million[2] |
The Searchers is a 1956 American epic Western film directed by John Ford and written by Frank S. Nugent, based on the 1954 novel by Alan Le May. It is set during the Texas–Indian wars, and stars John Wayne as a middle-aged Civil War veteran who spends years looking for his abducted niece (Natalie Wood), accompanied by his adopted nephew (Jeffrey Hunter). It was shot in VistaVision on Eastmancolor negative with processing and prints by Technicolor.[3][4]
The film was a critical and commercial success. Since its release, it has come to be considered a masterpiece and one of the greatest and most influential films ever made. It was named the greatest American Western by the American Film Institute in 2008, and it placed 12th on the same organization's 2007 list of the 100 greatest American movies of all time.[5] Entertainment Weekly also named it the best Western.[6] The British Film Institute's Sight & Sound magazine ranked it as the seventh-best film of all time based on a 2012 international survey of film critics[7][8] and in 2008, the French magazine Cahiers du Cinéma ranked The Searchers number 10 in their list of the 100 best films ever made.[9]
In 1989, The Searchers was deemed "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant" by the United States Library of Congress, and selected for preservation in its National Film Registry; it was one of the first 25 films selected for the registry.[10]
The Searchers was the first major film to have a purpose-filmed making-of, requested by John Ford. It deals with most aspects of making the film, including preparation of the site, construction of props, and filming techniques.[11]
- ^ "Chatter – Chicago". Variety: 62. May 9, 1956.
- ^ Box Office Information for The Searchers. Box Office Mojo. Retrieved December 24, 2013.
- ^ Harris, Robert A. "A Robert A. Harris Interview: Warner's Ned Price on The Searchers". The Digital Bits. Retrieved January 18, 2024.
- ^ Haines, Richard W. (2000). "Technicolor Revival". Film History. 12 (4): 414. doi:10.2979/FIL.2000.12.3.410 (inactive November 1, 2024). JSTOR 3815348. Retrieved January 18, 2024.
{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: DOI inactive as of November 2024 (link) - ^ "Welcome: AFI's 100 Years...100 Movies". American Film Institute. 2008. Archived from the original on July 16, 2011. Retrieved May 28, 2009.
- ^ IMDb Trivia Section
- ^ "Sight & Sound 2012 Polls". British Film Institute. 2012. Archived from the original on August 16, 2012.
- ^ French, Philip (August 4, 2012). "How Hitchcock's Vertigo eventually topped the Sight & Sound critics' poll". The Guardian. London.
- ^ "Cahiers du Cinéma 100 Films". The Moving Arts Film Journal. Archived from the original on July 26, 2016. Retrieved March 10, 2016.
- ^ "ENTERTAINMENT: Film Registry Picks First 25 Movies". Los Angeles Times. Washington, D.C. September 19, 1989. Retrieved April 22, 2020.
- ^ Behind the Camera, Included in the 2005 restored Blu-ray edition