The Searchers

This was, as Andy said, “just a great movie”. It had everything you would expect from a good western and, for that matter, from any good story. Having seen the first three minutes in our previous class I had the opportunity to predict where the story might go. I was way off. I had thought due to the subtly detailed opening of the film, where John Wayne’s character Ethan returns ‘home’, that it was going to be about a roving, reckless rogue trying to settle down but perhaps realising that it is too late and his only real home is in the saddle. As it turns out, the introduction of Aaron’s family is not loaded with so much information in order to set-up their story but to set-up their sudden removal from Ethan’s story. That is the inciting incident of the film and therefore we need as much information about them and Ethan’s relationship with them as we can get as this must last us for the duration of the narrative and give us a foundation for Ethan’s motivations and actions. The set-up is skilfully implemented and, like the Indians in the film, John Ford misdirects us, setting us off on the wrong trail before galloping into the main narrative.