The American Spectator

Reader Mail

(Page 3 of 17)

p>This is a great movie that should have won an Oscar from John Wayne, but so should The High and the Mighty. Thanks for letting me know that a new edition is out. The Searchers is also a great book. Somewhat dark in its mood, but actually even better that the movie. br> -- D. Tracey /p>

In Mr. Higgins's otherwise fine piece, as in many examinations of the film, I think too much is made of Ethan Edwards' presumed racism, and too little is made of what I see as the genuine cause of his rage.

Mr. Higgins says merely that when Ethan and the posse return to the homestead from the Indians' decoy raid they find the family "slaughtered -- all except the youngest, Debbie, who's been carried off by the Indians." That's basically true, but a bit simplistic. There were two young girls -- very young Debbie, and a teenage girl who was, I think, Debbie's sister. Debbie was carried off, as was presumably the older girl. Only a bit later in the film do we learn from Ethan that the older girl had also been murdered back at the homestead, and that he had secretly buried her. Upon hearing this, the older girl's beau (played by Harry Carey Jr.) presses Ethan for more information, to which Ethan replies (this is close to an exact quote): "Don't ask me what I saw back there! Don't ever ask me! As long as you live don't ask me!" The clear implication is that the older girl had been horribly abused before being murdered. When the full import of this registers with the young beau, he essentially loses his mind in an instant, and goes charging alone into the Indian camp, only to be shot down before he gets halfway there.

p>Yes, the Ethan Edwards character displayed a racism towards the Indians (back then how many white men did not?). But Ethan was more consistent with the "live-and-let-live-but-don't-cross-me" characters typically played by The Duke than many observers see, or are willing to acknowledge. It wasn't racism that drove Ethan on for five years, it was the search for revenge against the people who had slaughtered and raped his own. br> -- C. /p> p> The Searchers is a complicated film that I am happy to have in my library. It is true that John Wayne plays a racist but it is also true that his family has adopted a part Indian Jeffrey Hunter who is completely accepted by all in the community -- except his "Uncle" Ethan. I find the last shot of the film telling: Debbie returns and is embraced by the community and the door to the cabin closes, shutting Ethan and his demons outside in isolation. I always thought that one of those demons was hinted at in an unspoken back-story, the fact that Ethan had been in love with his brother's wife. His hatred was fueled in part by her savage death. I find

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