25. The Searchers

Maybe the greatest final shot of any Western. Up there with the great final shots of any film.

This is not one my grandfather ever showed me. I should’ve asked why when I had the chance. He had a lot of John Wayne films, but maybe he didn’t like this one. Or maybe he just didn’t think I would like it. It’s not for me to know.

Wayne’s Ethan Edwards is an unambiguous racist. His whole goal in the film is to kill his niece who was taken by Native Americans in a raid. He doesn’t see her as worth saving, being tarnished by association. He’s especially focused on the idea that white women who have (willing or unwilling) sex with Comanches are impure and no longer considered white in his eyes.

He’s a real shitbag. And lest we forget about the man behind the character:

“I don’t feel we did wrong in taking this great country away from them… Our so-called stealing of this country from them was just a matter of survival. There were great numbers of people who needed new land, and the Indians were selfishly trying to keep it for themselves.”

-John Wayne, Playboy Interview (May 1971)

While it might not be a massive antiracist triumph of a film, I don’t think it’s subtle about one point in particular that refutes Edwards’ racism. In the end, Ethan cannot stay in the domestic space. He’s not welcome there, and returns to wandering.

His skills were useful in reuniting a family, but that’s all he was good for. His violence and hatred serve as a barrier blocking him from finding a place to call home.

It’s not exactly a Hate Has No Home Here sign in the front yard. But there is a story here about a soldier so fueled by hate that he doesn’t know what to do without a war to fight.