The Searchers

The Searchers (1956)

Timing: 1:59 (119 min)

7.697/10
1552

7.213/10
7072

7.8/10
103000

All about film

Video 7

Photo 101

Actors and characters

Release date

1956-05-16

Country

United States

Production

Warner Bros. Pictures, C.V. Whitney Pictures

Genre

Western

Budget

$3 750 000

Revenue

$0

Website

Director

John Ford

Actors

John Wayne, Jeffrey Hunter, Vera Miles, Ward Bond, Natalie Wood, John Qualen, Olive Carey, Henry Brandon, Ken Curtis, Harry Carey, Jr.
All actors and roles (10)

Scenario

Producer

C.V. Whitney, Patrick Ford, Merian C. Cooper

Operator

Winton C. Hoch

Composer

Max Steiner

Artist

Audition

Editing

Jack Murray, Lowell J. Farrell
All team (43)

• The film was included in the National Film Registry of the Library of Congress in 1989.
• The film tops the American Film Institute's list of the best Westerns.
• The film is based on the novel of the same name by Alan Le May (1954) about the events of the Texan-Indian Wars.
• “The Searchers” became John Ford’s first Western in five years. After a series of failures, he considered giving up directing.
• Although the Western takes place in Texas, Ford, as was his custom, filmed in Monument Valley (Utah).
• The innovative widescreen VistaVision technology was used for filming.
• During a break in filming, John Wayne found Bela Archuleta crying in one of the wigwams. When asked what was wrong, she replied that she would have to miss her son's wedding because of the shooting schedule. Wayne demanded that filming be stopped for a few days and personally arranged for Archuleta to fly to California for her son's wedding.
• During filming, one of the Native American children fell ill with pneumonia, and John Wayne called for his own plane and ordered the pilot to take the child to the hospital. For this, the Navajo tribe gave him the nickname "Man with the Big Eagle".
• During the filming of this movie, Natalie Wood was still in school, and sometimes John Wayne and Jeffrey Hunter (who played Martin in the film) had to pick her up from school before shooting. Wood’s classmates were simply shocked.
• The filming of the scene where John Wayne’s character talks about finding and burying Lucy (played by Pippa Scott) was not without its problems due to Ward Bond’s sudden urge to shave. Wayne acted flawlessly, but the camera suddenly turned off. Wayne asked the operator what was wrong, but then the camera started working again, and filming continued. The camera was fine, but Bond had pulled the plug as he decided to shave at that moment, using an electric razor. No one on the set said anything to Ford, as he might have inflicted physical harm on Bond in a fit of rage. Several years later, after Bond’s death, operator Winton S. Hoch explained what had happened to Ford. According to Hoch, Ford turned pale with anger and was speechless for a moment.
• The scenes of the bison hunt were filmed in one of the reserves in Canada. John Ford learned that the reserve administration was shooting animals sick with brucellosis and asked to be allowed to send a film crew to the location.
• “The Searchers” was John Ford’s first Western in five years. After a series of failures, he considered quitting directing.
• During filming, one of the young Native American children fell ill with pneumonia, and John Wayne summoned his own plane and ordered the pilot to take the child to the hospital. For this, the Navajo tribe gave him the nickname “Man with the Big Eagle.”