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THE SEARCHERS
(1956)
John Ford’s best collaboration with John Wayne is one
of the greatest Westerns of all time. The Duke plays a bitter
and obsessive Civil War veteran who embarks on a five-year
search for his niece (Natalie Wood), who has been abducted
by Comanche warriors.
The Searchers
raises the issue of
racism toward Native Americans – uncommon in the genre
at the time – and the stunning Monument Valley vistas are a
textbook example of how to shoot landscapes.
SHANE
(1953)
Conflict between ranchers and homesteaders was common
in the Wild West, and usually resolved by the arrival of a
mysterious gunslinger/stranger. Here it’s Alan Ladd, who must
overcome an opportunistic cattleman and his ruthless hired
gun (Jack Palance). The age-old confrontation between good
and evil is the heart of the film, but Shane proves to be a more
complex character than most Western stereotypes, while still
embodying the noble, mythic qualities of the heroic drifter.
THEWILD BUNCH
(1969)
“We’ve got to start thinking beyond our guns. Those
days are closing fast,” declares Pike (William Holden), who
leads a bunch of old time outlaws fromTexas into Mexico,
with a band of bounty hunters in hot pursuit. Like the old
gunfighters who would ride off toward a new social and
political order, Sam Peckinpah’s violent classic ushered in a
new era for the genre, one that continues to have a major
influence on the modern action movie.
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