John Wayne in The Searchers (1956)

Six-time Academy Award nominee (and four-time winner) John Ford and three-time nominee John Wayne (who won as Best Actor for True Grit in 1969) had worked together for nearly three decades (since Wayne’s earliest appearances as a film extra) when Ford battled with a reluctant studio over casting Wayne as the lead of The Searchers (1956).

Ford’s western epic, famously shot on location in Monument Valley (as well as in Canada, Colorado, Utah and California), is set in the years following the Civil War. Ex-Confederate soldier Wayne spends five years searching for his young niece, played by Natalie Wood, who was captured by the Comanches in a raid in which her family was massacred. Accompanied by his half-Indian nephew (Jeffrey Hunter), Wayne is forced to examine his own prejudices as his relentless pursuit leads him to his niece, only to learn that she has assimilated with her captors.

Stunningly shot by three-time Academy Award winner Winton C. Hoch and powerfully acted by an impressive ensemble of Ford regulars, the film has a thrilling score by Max Steiner (20 Oscar^® nominations and 2 wins). This digital version has been completely remastered and restored from the original VistaVision elements by Warner Bros.

Cast: John Wayne, Jeffrey Hunter, Vera Miles, Ward Bond, Natalie Wood, John Qualen, Olive Carey, Henry Brandon, Ken Curtis, Harry Carey, Jr., Antonio Moreno, Hank Worden, Lana Wood, Walter Coy, Dorothy Jordan, Pippa Scott, Pat Wayne, Beulah Archulett.

Director John Ford; Executive Producer Merian C. Cooper; Screenplay Frank S. Nugent; from the novel by Alan LeMay; Editor Jack Murray; Photography Winton C. Hoch; Art Director Frank Hotaling, James Basevi; Production Design Eugene Lourie; Set Decorator Victor Gangelin; Music Max Steiner; Song “The Searchers” by Stan Jones; Sound Hugh McDowell, Howard Wilson; Special Effects George Brown; Makeup Web Overlander; Hair Dresser Fae Smith, A Warner Bros. release of a C.V. Whitney Picture; VistaVision; 35mm; 119 minutes; 1956.