Reviews

This is definitely not the best Western ever made. It lacks the drama of High Noon and grandeur of The Big Country. Further, John Wayne was never the caliber of actor that Gary Cooper and Gregory Peck were. It might not be better, overall, than Shane. I am not even sure that this is the best of John Wayne's films. In my opinion The Shootist was better in many respects.

The Searchers is certainly much better than True Grit, for which Wayne received his only Oscar, but it may not even rank among the top five westerns. It is unquestionably the best of the John Ford westerns, and one of the top ten westerns of all time. The cast was probably the best of any of Ford's films, and this is the only one I can recall with the sort of sub plots here.

I have seen this film at least five times, and enjoyed it as much this evening as the first time I saw it. This is also probably the only film in which John Wayne's character grew during the film. It might be the only western to inspire a Rock and Roll classic. After seeing The Searchers, Buddy Holly wrote That'll be the Day, which soared to a number one hit. On the subject of music, I am certain that the theme song was sung by the Sons of the Pioneers, but they do not appear in the credits, and the only member of that group to be credited is Ken Curtis, who plays Charlie McCorry.

This film was the most faithful, to the book, of any I have ever seen. It is based on one of Louis L'amour's early western novels, and the first to be made into a film. Aside from Vittorio wearing war paint all the time, the only part which was not really faithful to the book was the final battle where the stereotypical Hollywood Indian battle was substituted for the manner in which Apaches actually fought.

Louis L'amour was the most successful western novelist in history, having sold more than a quarter of a billion books before his death in 1988. Reading the book, Hondo, I often suspected it had been written with John Wayne in mind as Hondo Lane. I cannot picture Glenn Ford as Hondo, as was originally planed.

Much of the dialog was taken directly from the book although much was omitted, and every significant character made it from the book to the film. The only significant negatives were: 1) the fact that the story was condensed into 83 minutes instead of the 100 to 120 minutes, which would have permitted development of some of the minor characters; and 2) the apparent absence of a competent director. Think how much better it might have been if John Ford had directed it. Actually, both my complaints probably boil down to the same thing.

Loretta Lynn has long been one of my favorite country singers. Sissy Spacek became Loretta Lynn and learned to sing her songs so well that it was hard to tell the difference. Sissy earned several Academy Awards in this film, but they could only give her one.