John Wayne was the face of the Western genre for decades, and his filmography boasts some of the best, most iconic entries in the entire genre to date. Though some of his works and ideologies have not aged especially well in the years since his super-stardom, John Wayne remains one of the most acclaimed and recognizable Hollywood actors of all time.
Though Wayne has a plethora of iconic Western films from over the years, there are a few that stand out especially among the rest. His work with director John Ford was arguably his most consistent and engaging, with films like Stagecoach, The Quiet Man, and The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance all standing as some of the finest films of their respective eras. Perhaps John Wayne’s most iconic film, however, is one that holds a special place in his heart that fans might not realize — 1956’s The Searchers.
The Searchers Is One Of The Greatest Westerns Ever Made
The Film Is The Definitive John Wayne Western
Director John Ford directed dozens of films over his long career, and perhaps his most famous work is 1956’s The Searchers, a beautiful epic focused on a morally ambiguous search party on the hunt for missing children. As the story progresses, however, it becomes clearer and clearer that the characters’ intentions are not so simple. They are not just looking for the missing children, but they are also looking for violence, for revenge. John Wayne’s character, Ethan Edwards, is one of the actor’s very best roles, and the complexity of the protagonist is one of the things that makes The Searchers hold up so well today. Sure, there are aspects of the film that feel dated and poorly handled, but those things don’t cancel out the utter masterclass that is the rest of the film.
Utilizing his persona of the prototypical “good guy” to the film’s advantage, John Wayne’s Ethan is mean, gruff, and blinded by hatred and racism. After his family is killed by Native Americans and his nieces are kidnapped by the same group, he puts aside all else in his life and focuses his efforts on a quest for revenge. Violent, bleak, and morally complicated, The Searchers is far less clear-cut than many casual fans of the Western genre realize. There are so many people who see the classic Westerns of the 40s and 50s and assume that they were all trope-filled, simplistic adventures featuring noble cowboys battling villainous Natives. This couldn’t be further from the truth. As far back as Westerns have been around, they have explored the entire spectrum of human morality and emotion.
A Civil War veteran searching for any kind of purpose in the post-war world, Wayne’s Ethan is one of his most emotionally complex, compelling characters. As the film progresses and his motives become more and more questionable, audiences find themselves simultaneously pulling away from Ethan, all while still genuinely caring about his mental and moral descent. He isn’t a good man, but he isn’t exactly a bad man either. He lives and exists in a strange kind of middle ground, neither allowed to enjoy the spoils and splendor of “civilized” society, nor bask in the violent apathy of greed and villainy. He’s caught between two worlds. Of course, this is perfectly exemplified by the iconic final shot of The Searchers — depicting Ethan as he’s left outside in the wake of the film’s events, too wild to come inside, but too domesticated to ever be truly happy alone.
John Wayne’s Connection To His Character Became A Family Affair
Among His Seven Children, One Son Is Named After His Most Iconic Character
There are certain characters in the Western genre that have stood the test of time since their original inception. Clint Eastwood’s “Man With No Name” from the Dollars Trilogy, Paul Newman and Robert Redford’s titular characters from Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, and John Wayne’s own Rooster Cogburn from the original True Grit have all stood out as icons of the genre over the years. However, one of the most famous of all is undoubtedly Wayne’s Ethan Edwards from The Searchers. With The Searchers perhaps being John Ford’s most iconic film in the Western genre, it makes sense that its iconic starring character would remain a staple of the genre.
Though John Wayne passed away in 1979, his legacy has survived for decades, thanks in no small part to his children. Keeping their father’s legacy and impact on the world alive and well, John Wayne’s adult children have all gone on to utilize their standing and positions to benefit people in a myriad of ways. Wayne’s youngest child, specifically, shares an interesting connection with the iconic screen star’s filmography — his name is Ethan Wayne, named after Ethan Edwards from The Searchers. Seemingly, the only child of John Wayne to be named after one of his characters, Ethan’s name signifies the importance of the 1956 film to his father, John. Though his birth name was John Ethan Morrison, the son of the screen legend simply goes by Ethan Wayne — the fact that he was named after both his father and the most iconic character he ever played, however, shows that John Wayne’s commitment to the world of moviemaking was as important to him as his children.
A slightly bizarre and unfortunate aspect of having named his child after his The Searchers character is the fact that John Wayne might not have actually realized himself the kind of person he was portraying in the film. With the movie’s themes and ideas so broadly explored and stated, one would think that the star of the picture would be able to understand the kind of moral decay that his character was suffering from, and engage with the work on that level, but John Wayne seemingly engaged with The Searchers only as a piece of pulp adventure. Naming his child after the morally ambiguous, violent, hateful anti-hero that he played years prior, even if it was his most iconic role, seems odd. It’s a wonderful thing to share the work and the art that one is proud of with their family, but the name Ethan, in association with John Wayne and his filmography, is loaded with complicated meaning.
The Searchers’ Legacy Is Undeniable
The Iconic Western Remains A Pillar of The Genre
Practically every Western made in the wake of 1956’s The Searchers is, in some way or another, taking inspiration or direct influence from the John Ford masterpiece. It stands as one of the most confidently constructed, terrifically photographed, and spectacularly performed films in the genre, and there is good reason that it remains one of the most beloved entries in the Western canon. There are plenty of films from the era that have fallen by the wayside in the decades since, and many of them starred John Wayne himself, but The Searchers stands high above so many other performances by the icon, and it deserves its spot in film history.
With so many films (even many non-Westerns) taking direct influence from The Searchers, it should practically be required viewing for anyone interested in film history, filmmaking, or the Western genre at all. Direct shots from The Searchers have been riffed on, ripped off, or reimagined by countless filmmakers over the years, and that is a mark of the film’s indescribable impact on the film medium. While films in the Western genre before The Searchers certainly built the genre into what it is today, The Searchers perfected it. Even in the aftermath of the “Spaghetti Western” era kicked off by Sergio Leone and Clint Eastwood with A Fistful of Dollars, The Searchers remains as effective and engaging as ever.
The Western genre might have somewhat fallen out of style in recent years, with only a handful of truly compelling Westerns releasing each year, but its impact on film history and the art of moviemaking is absolutely undeniable. Westerns might not ever be as big as they once were, but that doesn’t mean they won’t continue to influence artists for decades to come. John Wayne, despite his complicated personal and political history, remains one of the most important stars in Hollywood history, and his emotional and personal connection to his role in The Searchers indicates that his artistic expression was much deeper than meets the eye. His gruff, no-nonsense character might not have been the most altruistic man in cinema history, but the fact that Wayne chose to name his child after his most important role is a beautiful showing of love and legacy.