Skip to content

Read More

Seen, Heard & Whispered: A new weekly column by Washington Times Editor-at-Large Alex Swoyer

TRENDING:
Donald Trump
Advertisement

#20 The Searchers (1956) Director: John Ford Stars: John Wayne, Jeffrey Hunter, Vera Miles , Natalie Wood. The Searchers is a 1956 American Technicolor VistaVision Western film directed by John Ford, based on the 1954 novel by Alan Le May, set during the TexasIndian Wars, and starring John Wayne as a middle-aged Civil War veteran who spends years looking for his abducted niece (Natalie Wood), accompanied by his adoptive nephew (Jeffrey Hunter). Critic Roger Ebert found Wayne's character, Ethan Edwards, "one of the most compelling characters Ford and Wayne ever created". The film was a commercial success, although it received no Academy Award nominations. Since its release, it has come to be considered a masterpiece, and one of the greatest and most influential films ever made. It was named the greatest American western by the American Film Institute in 2008, and it placed 12th on the same organization's 2007 list of the 100 greatest American movies of all time. Entertainment Weekly also named it the best western. The British Film Institute's Sight & Sound magazine ranked it as the seventh best film of all time based on a 2012 international survey of film critics and in 2008, the French magazine Cahiers du cinéma ranked The Searchers number 10 in their list of the top 100 best films ever made. In 1989, The Searchers was deemed "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant" by the United States Library of Congress, and selected for preservation in its National Film Registry; it was in the first cohort of films selected for the registry.

#20 The Searchers (1956) Director: John Ford Stars: John Wayne, Jeffrey Hunter, Vera Miles , Natalie Wood. The Searchers is a 1956 American Technicolor VistaVision Western film directed by John Ford, based on the 1954 novel by Alan Le May, set during the TexasIndian Wars, and starring John Wayne as a middle-aged Civil War veteran who spends years looking for his abducted niece (Natalie Wood), accompanied by his adoptive nephew (Jeffrey Hunter). Critic Roger Ebert found Wayne's character, Ethan Edwards, "one of the most compelling characters Ford and Wayne ever created". The film was a commercial success, although it received no Academy Award nominations. Since its release, it has come to be considered a masterpiece, and one of the greatest and most influential films ever made. It was named the greatest American western by the American Film Institute in 2008, and it placed 12th on the same organization's 2007 list of the 100 greatest American movies of all time. Entertainment Weekly also named it the best western. The British Film Institute's Sight & Sound magazine ranked it as the seventh best film of all time based on a 2012 international survey of film critics and in 2008, the French magazine Cahiers du cinéma ranked The Searchers number 10 in their list of the top 100 best films ever made. In 1989, The Searchers was deemed "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant" by the United States Library of Congress, and selected for preservation in its National Film Registry; it was in the first cohort of films selected for the registry.

Featured Photo Galleries

01-Army parade.png

Military parade celebrates Army’s 250th

Cheers and chants rang out Saturday from a crowd of thousands as soldiers manned modern and historic tanks and aircraft for the Army’s 250th anniversary celebration in the District.

20250330 Sabatini-Caps-Sabres 001.jpg

Ovi scores goal 890, Caps lose to Sabres 8-5

Alexander Ovechkin scored goal number 890, but the Washington Capitals fell short, losing to the visiting Buffalo Sabres Sunday afternoon 8-5 at Capital One Arena in Washington D.C., March 30, 2025 (Photos for the Washington Times.)