No. 96: The Searchers

The Searchers (1956)

Starring: John Wayne, Vera Miles, Jeffrey Hunter

Director: John Ford

Awards: None… How is that possible?!

Fred and Ginger, Bogart and Bacall, Hepburn and Tracy…great screen teams, right? Well, in my opinion, there’s no better team than John Wayne and John Ford. Sure, they never acted together in front of the cameras. Fine, they didn’t have some catchy duo name. What they did have was real friendship, and you could see it in the love they put into their movies.

The Searchers is commonly regarded as one of - if not the - best Western ever made, as well as one of the best movies, period. I agree with both claims. Why? Well, you can read my list at the end of the post, or you can go watch the movie yourself. My vote is for you doing both!

Ethan Edwards (Wayne), a racist Native American-hating soldier, returns to his brother’s home to reunite with his family. After he's drawn out of the house by a ruse, the nearby Comanche tribes go on a killing spree. Ethan finds his brother’s house burned down, and everyone's dead but his two kidnapped nieces, Debbie and Lucy. The tribe eventually kills Lucy, but keeps Debbie. Ethan and his nephew Martin (Hunter) chase the kidnappers and after five years of searching they find Debbie, who’s now part of the Comanche tribe. They lose her and return home, where Martin is reunited with his maybe-fiance (Miles) and Ethan prepares for a final showdown with the Comanches. In a tense ending scene they do find Debbie, and Ethan brings her home. What happens to Ethan? Well, he strides off by himself. Who knows.

This movie is so gorgeous and so brilliant that it’s inspired many other movies (and… music?). One familiar example is in Star Wars: A New Hope. The scene where Luke comes home to find a fiery house and his aunt and uncle’s smoking bodies? Straight from The Searchers. The desert scenes from Lawrence Of Arabia? Yeah, David Lean studied John Ford. There was also a band called The Searchers, and Buddy Holly wrote a song based on Wayne’s catch phrase in the film, “That’ll Be The Day.” Who knew?

While there's a lot of funny trivia about this film, the overall movie is anything but funny. Wayne as Ethan Edwards is brilliant - the quintessential anti-hero, but the character is sometimes so erratic and painfully biased that it hurts to watch. Unsurprisingly, the Native Americans are portrayed as caricatures, shown as tomahawk-throwing scalping beasts. And then there’s the deeper message. By the end of the movie, you realize that wanting to save Debbie isn't what drives Edwards; he’s driven by rage, and his own prejudice. John Ford was trying to make a serious comment about racism, and he succeeded. It’s just not easy to watch.

In short, if you like:

* The Duke
* John Ford
* Absolutely GORGEOUS cinematography
* Crying
* Badly stereotyped Native Americans
* Cowboys

Then you’ll like The Searchers. Believe me, this is a movie anyone can like, and everybody should like.

I can’t even write about the next movie without being scared: No. 95, Pulp Fiction (1994), starring John Travolta and Samuel L. Jackson. I'm not a big fan of splattering brains. Know how I said I was going to faint watching Unforgiven? Pshh. That was nothing. Well, at least you’ll have fun reading about me passing out. Stick around and read about it… I guess?

No. 97: Bringing Up Baby

Bringing Up Baby (1938)

Starring: Katharine Hepburn, Cary Grant

Director: Howard Hawks


Screwball comedy – the phrase makes you think of everything from throwing pies to rapid-fire dialogue. In general, funny stuff. Are these things still funny today? Do obscure 1930’s jokes still make people laugh? Most screwball comedies seemed hilarious when they were made, but many don’t stand the test of time. Well, let me tell you folks, Bringing Up Baby goes above and beyond the test. I’ve seen it at least three times before, and watching it again still made me laugh out loud.

Professor David Huxley (Grant), a paleontologist, accidentally meets Susan Vance (Hepburn) and quickly gets mixed up in her various hare-brained schemes. Toss a leopard named Baby into the mix and soon David is missing his own wedding, off to Connecticut with Susan and Baby, and has lost the precious last bone of his museum’s Brontosaurus. Susan falls in love with Huxley, who is utterly oblivious and wants to return to his rather chilly fiancé in New York. After several wacky mishaps Huxley makes it back but is jilted by his fiancé. When Susan tracks Huxley down to bring him the missing bone, he realizes he loves her too, and all is settled atop the shaky Brontosaurus.


After three viewings of Bringing Up Baby I consider myself an expert, so let’s look at my expert opinions.

1) This movie is quite, quite good.
2) This movie is very funny, and has withstood time and changing senses of humor.
3) It should totally be higher up on the list. Really.
4) Cary Grant is never cuter or funnier than when he’s wearing glasses and perched on top of a dinosaur skeleton.

There are so many reasons to love this movie, and so few reasons not to. Unless you’re my dad, who usually has great taste in movies. For some reason, he doesn’t like Katharine Hepburn comedies. This is how our conversations go:

Me: Dad, how can you not like any Katharine Hepburn comedies. They’re classics.

Dad: Ehh…she’s annoying.

Me: No Dad. It’s her style of acting, it’s supposed to be funny!

Dad: No. It’s annoying.

Me: That’s irrational! You can’t just dismiss all those movies because you don’t like her voice.

Dad: Yes. I can.

So he’s not the most open-minded viewer when it comes to Kate. But if you keep an open mind to this movie, I guarantee you’ll find something you like.

In short, if you like:

* Katharine Hepburn talking a mile a minute
* Cary Grant in amazing nerd glasses
* The cutest leopard you will ever see
* Cary Grant’s fluffy negligee (long story, watch and find out)
* Great supporting actors, like Barry Fitzgerald and May Robson
* Brontosauruses (Brontosauri?)

…then you’ll definitely like Bringing Up Baby. And if you don’t like those things and are a cold-hearted humorless person, I still want you to watch it, it’s that good. You won’t regret it. And if for some crazy reason you don’t like it, you can come gloat in my face along with my anti-Katharine-Hepburn-comedy dad.

Love you Dad!

Even though it makes me sob, I love our next movie, No. 96. The Searchers (1956), starring John Wayne and directed by John Ford. One of the most beautiful films ever made, with a heartbreaking story and wonderful performances from all. Stick around and read about it!