The Searchers
John Wayne ’s classic 1956 westernThe Searchersis one of the most influential flick ever made , and it ’s inspired everything fromStar WarstoTaxi Driver . manoeuver by westerly genre trailblazer John Ford , The Searchersrevolves around Civil War veteran Ethan Edwards , who ’s been struggling to discover a young intent in life since the death of the war . When his niece is kidnapped in the night , he embarks on an incredible year - farsighted journeying to find her . Ethan ultimately realizes he ca n’t have a decent , quiet , peaceful lifespan , and that he belongs out on the frontier , seeking justice and payback .
From Martin Scorsese to Steven Spielberg , a lot of young cinephiles were inspired byThe Searcherswhen they watched it as a kid , and many of those unseasoned cinephiles read that inspiration in their later filmmaking career . The musical theme ofThe Searchersare so strong and cinematic that their influence has extended far beyond the western genre . Its influence can be seen in the heroic war dramaLawrence of Arabia , the post - apocalyptic actionerMad Max 2 : The Road Warrior , and the moralistic vigilante thrillerHardcore , among many others .
For more movies like these , please check out the bestmovies on Peacockand the bestmovies on Max .
John Wayne ’s unforgettable performance in the Western genre have produce some of the most memorable scenes of his life history .
10The Missing (2003)
A Father’s Quest In The Modern Frontier
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Cast
When Ron Howard last put his postage stamp on the western music genre in 2003’sThe Missing , he took plenty of inspiration fromThe Searchers . The Missingis basically a remaking ofThe Searchers , with an even bleaker take on its themes of retaliation , justice , and fractured family dynamics . countersink in New Mexico in 1885,The Missingcenters on a medicine adult female on the frontier who reluctantly teams up with her estranged male parent to find her abduct daughter .
Tommy Lee Jones play the Wayne role as the grizzled , senesce hitman who embarks on the hunting , diametrical Evan Rachel Wood as the missing little girl and Cate Blanchett as her mother . The Missingis very much on the same track asThe Searchers , but it alsorectifies one ofThe Searchers ’ biggest problems with a more respectful portrayal of Native Americans . The Missing ’s authentic Apache idiom has been widely praised .
9Rogue One: A Star Wars Story(2016)
Star Wars' Epic Prequel Assembles A Motley Crew
When Disney resolve to start making spin - off picture rig in theStar Warsuniverse , its first order of business organization was a prequel explain how the Rebels get a hold of the Death Star blueprints before the event of the original motion-picture show . Rogue Onedirector Gareth Edwards drew aspiration from a wide kitchen stove of source in form the film . The climactic battle scenery are inspired by Vietnam War movies likeApocalypse Nowand Chirrut Îmwe is based on the title character inThe Tale of Zatoichi .
Theopening scene ofRogue Onemirrors that ofThe Searchers . Young , hog - tailed Jyn Erso is hidden by her parents when their homestead is attacked by Director Orson Krennic and his majestic cronies . likewise , at the beginning ofThe Searchers , vernal Debbie is protected by her parents when their homestead is attacked by the Comanches .
8Who’s That Knocking At My Door (1967)
Explororing Personal Conflict and Cultural Identity
Martin Scorsese is one of the world ’s most noted fans ofThe searcher , and the influence of Ford ’s westerly masterpiece can be seen all over Scorsese ’s study . It ’s reference heavily in Scorsese ’s first ever feature of speech picture , Who ’s That Knocking at My Door . The taradiddle revolves around a Catholic Italian - American adult male wrestling with the rage and insecurity he feel after learning about something ugly that happened in his girlfriend ’s past . That has nothing to do withThe quester , but the lead eccentric is obsessed with Ford ’s movie .
When Harvey Keitel ’s J.R. take on Zina Bethune ’s “ The Girl ” on the Staten Island Ferry , he regales her with his comprehensive depth psychology ofThe Searchers . J.R. ’s fixation withThe Searchersties into his fixation with maleness and the insecurity he feel when that masculinity is gainsay . It ’s a lot deep than just a movie reference .
7Hardcore (1979)
A Quentin Tarantino Favorite
In Quentin Tarantino ’s bookCinema Speculation , he discusses the parallels betweenThe Searchersand Paul Schrader ’s gamy neo - noir thrillerHardcore . He even speaks to Schrader himself about the film ’s inspiration . Hardcorestars George C. Scott as a conservative Midwestern man of affairs whose girl goes on a church hideaway to California and does n’t add up back . While searching for her in Los Angeles , the father is horror-stricken to learn that his girl has set out working in the grownup film industry .
Much likeThe Searchers , Hardcoresees a stoic antihero attempt to save a youthful female congeneric who ultimately does n’t desire to be saved . And much likeThe Searchers , Hardcorecontrasts traditional conservative values with radical new large-minded belief . accord toCinema Speculation , Hardcorewould’ve been more likeThe Searchersif the studio had n’t forced Schrader to admit a well-chosen ending .
6Mad Max 2: The Road Warrior (1981)
Survival and Redemption in a Desolate Australian Wasteland
In a recent interview withVanity Fair , director George Miller named allthe expectant influences on theMad Maxmoviesin term of their themes and aesthetic . He lean a wide variety of moving-picture show , ranging fromBen - HurtoSafety Last!toHowl ’s Moving CastletoOnce Upon a metre in the West . One of Miller ’s biggest influence on the look of the post - apocalyptic wasteland and onMax ’s characterization as a vengeful solitary - wolf warrior wasThe Searchers .
InMad Max 2 : The Road Warrior , when Max is up on a mound in the dead of dark , keep an eye on the biker gang tent out in the distance , Miller cheer a shaft fromThe searcher . The constitution is much identical toThe Searchers ’ shot of Ethan sitting atop a peck and looking out at the Comanche cantonment . Just like Ethan , Max is a man out of his time , trying to do the right thing .
5Paris, Texas (1984)
An Emotional Road Trip to Familial Reunion
Wim Wenders ’ Palme d’Or - winning 1984 neo - western dramaParis , Texashas been noted for its similarities toThe Searchers . It revolves around a lone recluse who team up with his Word and embarks on a road trip-up to track down his missing wife – the boy ’s mother – who ’s been out of their liveliness for years . This adventure is n’t quite as high - stakes asThe Searchers , but it explore the same themes .
At the clock time of its discharge , Paris , Texaswas lauded for harking back to the grainy , knowledgeable character portraits of the New Hollywood apparent movement in the late ‘ 60s and early ‘ 70s .
At the prison term of its release , Paris , Texaswas lauded for harken back to the gritty , intimate character portrait of the New Hollywood movement in the previous ‘ 60s and early ‘ 70s . In the ‘ 80s , mainstream cinema had return into the commercial housing of trite clichés and Hollywood endings . Paris , Texashas more in vulgar withEasy Rider , Five Easy Pieces , andMidnight Cowboythan the average ‘ 80s film .
Custom Image by Yailin Chacon
4Star Wars: Episode II – Attack Of The Clones(2002)
Anakin’s Tatooine Search Reflects The Searchers' Narrative Arc
George Lucas has incorporatedThe searcher ’ influence into theStar Warssaga from the very root . Luke Skywalker returning to his homestead to find it up in flames following a brutish attack is borrow from Ethan Edwards returning to his brother ’s burning homestead . But Lucas repose onthe influence ofThe Searcherseven thicker when he returned to make the prequel trilogy . A cardinal 2nd - act chronological succession ofStar Wars : Episode II – Attack of the Clonesis practically a mini remake ofThe Searchers .
When Anakin repay to Tatooine , he read that his mother has been abducted by Tusken Raiders . So , he rides off into the desert to track her down and bring her captors to Justice Department . But by the time he get to her , he ’s too late to salvage her . In broad strokes , that ’s incisively what happen inThe Searchers .
3Lawrence Of Arabia(1962)
Lawrence’s Adventurous Role in the Arab Revolt
While he was get up to shoot his epic biopicLawrence of Arabia , David Lean repeatedly watchedThe Searchers(viaMTV ) . Lean refer to Ford ’s movie to forecast out how to shoot desert landscape in the most breathless , cinematic room possible . All of Ford ’s westerns are notable for their shots of desert landscape – he was famous for demand his cameras to Monument Valley – butThe searcher beetle , in fussy , is full of iconic landscape cinematography along Ethan ’s journeying .
Freddie A. Young ’s arresting landscape photography end up being one of the main reasons whyLawrence of Arabiabecame such a darling movie chef-d’oeuvre and such a placeable staple of pop culture . Clearly , those repeat viewings ofThe Searcherspaid off . Now , Lawrence of Arabiais similarly studied by cinematographer and cinematography aficionados to figure out how Lean force it off .
2Saving Private Ryan(1998)
Spielberg’s WWII Echo of The Searchers
When Spielberg took onSaving Private Ryan , The Searcherswas one of the primal touchstones in his glide path to the material . There ’s an obvious parallel between the story of a Civil War veteran seek for his escape niece and the floor of a World War II platoon look for one of their fellow soldiers . Spielberg draw exit the film as a big , bare , cinematicJohn Ford westernset on the innocent field of the Second World War .
Spielberg name this parallel clear when he copies Ford ’s iconic threshold shot fromThe Searchers . When the Army arrive at Private Ryan ’s mom ’s firm to deliver the tidings that another one of her boy has been shoot down in natural process , she ’s framed in the doorway like Ethan Edwards . Saving Private Ryancould be name as a remake ofThe Searchersset during World War II .
1Taxi Driver(1976)
A Veteran’s Dark Rescue Mission in NYC
Before calculate his own gritty , modern - mean solar day retelling ofThe Searchers , Schrader save one for Scorsese . Taxi Drivertakes the introductory premiss ofThe Searchers – a traumatized war veteran embarks on a dark quest to save a young cleaning lady from her captors – and translates it to contemporary New York City . Robert De Niro ’s Travis Bicklereturns from Vietnam with PTSD and insomnia . He takes a job as a cabbie to occupy his time and ends up dress his sights on liberate 12 - year - old sexual practice worker Iris , play by Jodie Foster .
It ’s sluttish to see the parallels : Travis is Ethan , Iris is Debbie , and her despicable pander Sport is the Comanche leader . The Searcherswas already one of the darkest and most trigger-happy westerns ever made . But Scorsese managed to make it even darker and more violent inTaxi Driver .
