The Searchers is a film filled with some odd extremes. It has such a great central character with John Wayne giving an exceptional performance. Anything involving directly around Ethan's obsession, and personal search is outstanding. There are also a few side characters that are terrific when involved directly with Ethan such as Ward Bond's character and Henry Brandon's chief Scar though he only shares one real scene with Wayne. The rest of the supporting cast is not particularly good with some downright bad performances in there. There's too many distractions, particularly the romantic subplot, which takes away so much from the strength of Ethan's personal story. It goes back and forth from masterful to cookie cutter western scenes. I think the film is best summed up by its ending scenes. The final showdown with Chief Scar is underwhelming, as Ethan is not the focus, but you could not ask for a better final shot than the one in this film which is focused directly on him.
4/5
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