The Searchers

The 1956 release of "The Searchers" has been described by some as John Ford's attempt to correct the stereotypes about American Indians that he had a large influence in creating. Yet, the movie seems to not clear up hardly any stereotypes and in many ways tends to reinforce the common stereotypes about American Indians. "The Searchers" is really a great film that allows the viewer to become easily intrigued and interested in the storyline of the movie.

The basis of "The Searchers" is that John Wayne's character Ethan Edwards, arrives home from the Civil War, sometime after the war has come to an end. It is unclear what Ethan has been doing since the war ended and the lack of back-story about Ethan adds to the effect of the film and helps to develop his somewhat mysterious and unpredictable character. Not long after his return Ethan's brother, sister-in-law, and young nephew are all killed by a band of Comanche, and this group of Indians also kidnaps his two nieces. Then Ethan, the eldest nieces fiancé and the girls adopted brother who is one eight Indian, set out to find and rescue the young girls. Not very long into the film the fiancé is killed by attacking the group of Indians, after discovering that his young fiancé as been killed. It is never clear throughout the film whether the group of renegade Comanche killed her or if Ethan killed her when he came upon her because she had been raped. Then the girl's mixed blood brother Martin and their Uncle Ethan continue the search for the younger girl Debbie for many years. Throughout the search for Debbie, Ethan repeatedly states that he plans to kill her when and if they find her because the Indians have tainted her. This appears to be his true intentions and his comments also add to the mystery of the eldest nieces death. Eventually, over time Debbie becomes Chief Scar the leader of the straying band of Comanche's wife and when they find her for the second time, Ethan chases her on his horse and is thought that he is going to kill her. It is unclear when he changes his mind about killing Debbie but when he gets a hold of her, rather than killing her he picks her up and carries her as if she is a young child.

There are several interesting features in the characters that develop throughout the film that are related to typical view of American Indians at the time. Martin, the young girls adopted brother who is one-eight Indian exhibits many of these characteristics and is one of the reasons why John Ford's intentions about what he wanted to portray in the film are questionable. There are numerous instances in which Martin's genealogy is brought up and used to describe him in a negative light. Some of these cases include that Ethan will not let Martin consume alcohol because he believes that because he is part American Indian that he will become instantly crazy from a small amount of alcohol, also throughout many parts of the movie Martin position between savage and civilized is also questioned. Additionally, early in the movie Martin rides his horse to death after Ethan tells him that the horses need rest, when Martin does not listen and chooses to return to home, he is the only one in the group who leaves that ends up riding his horse to death, which appears to be aimed at reaffirming the idea that Indians have low intelligence and are incapable of make good choices. Martin also is portrayed as being less literate than the other characters in the movie. This is another point where the stereotypes of American Indians seem to be being supported, because it seems that the only reason that Martin is illiterate is because of his heritage, since he has been raised by a white family since a young age and is only partially Indian.

The American Indian characters in the movie have many very typical stereotype related characteristics. For instance, if they are involved in a conflict the chiefs must put on their headdresses before they can initiate conflict or instruct the men in the group. Additionally, the white men are portrayed as being extremely more skilled in the area of horsemanship than the Indians, for instance the posse that is trying to find the two girls horses swim somewhat easily across the river but the Indian's horse are unable and unwilling to cross the river. Another time when the image of the American Indians is portrayed in the typical negative manner is when Ethan and Martin are at the fort and are shown the white women that have been rescued from the tribe of Indians that have just been massacred and all the women are very clearly insane. It is not explained what has drove them insane but is assumed that it is related to the time that they have spent as captives of the Indians.

The inaccurate and negative ideas about Indians are also shown through the main character Ethan, attitude and actions towards them. Throughout the movie Ethan is portrayed as the unconventional hero. He hates the Comanche and believes very strongly until near the end of the film that if a Caucasian women has sexual relations with an Indian mad that she is tainted and for her own well being and the image o f her family she should be killed. Although, he seems to hate the Comanche he seems to know a lot about them, from their language to their traditions. In the end, because Ethan the one who was the proponent for civilization and against the Indians, is the character that walks away from civilization during the last scene of the movie.