The Searchers 4K 1956 Ultra HD 2160p

John Wayne plays former Confederate Army soldier Ethan Edwards, who believes bullets more than words. He is searching for his niece, kidnapped by the Comanches who killed his entire family. He is not afraid of hunger, thirst, or loneliness. During his desperate five-year search, Ethan finds something he never expected to find: his own humanity.

User Review
Ethan Edwards (John Wayne), a former Confederate Army soldier, returns from the Civil War. He comes home to the only person close to him, his sister's (Dorothy Jordan) family. But the joy is short-lived. As a result of an Indian attack, the family perishes. Only a little girl, Deborah (Natalie Wood), Ethan's niece, kidnapped by the Comanches, remains alive. Desperate five-year search for this girl and is devoted to the movie.

From the very beginning, John Wayne's character concentrates all the viewer's attention on himself. The rest of the actors in comparison with him seem no more than extras, shadows. After the horror of the war and especially after the tragedy, Ethan finds himself as if 'on the other side of good and evil'. He has forgotten how to forgive, has become absolutely ruthless and has no mercy for anyone who gets in his way. It doesn't matter if he's Indian or white. Ethan searches for his niece for five years, finally finds her and unexpectedly finds something more - his soul, his own humanity. Although - not completely. He is a stranger even among friends, even among people who sincerely love him. Ethan brings his niece home and does not know what to do next. He stands on the threshold, looks confused at his friends around him, then, silently, shrugs his shoulders, turns his back to everyone and leaves.

It's a good thing that the movie was made in 1956, so there is no trace of 'political correctness' in it. But there is a scene in which Wayne's enraged character shoots out the eyes of a dead Indian with a revolver - shouting: 'Now he'll never find his ancestral land!' There are many other things you won't see in any modern movie. For example, the extermination of an entire Indian tribe by Ethan and friends. A very tough, realistic and at the same time - an unusually touching movie. The movie, in which there are no long lines - you can feel the famous manner of J. Ford. The cruelty of the plot is softened by high quality camerawork (Winston F. Hoch), in particular - strikingly beautiful landscape shots, music (S. Jones, M. Steiner). The mood and emotions are conveyed not by a stream of empty words. but by mise-en-scene, actors' facial expressions, gestures, sometimes just a nod of the head, small details, memorable phrases like: 'They don't swear twice' or 'Let's go home, Debbie'. The scenes with the butt wound, the fight during the wedding, or the comical episode with the young cavalry officer not knowing how to properly handle a saber are just colorful episodes. Episodes, in my opinion, in no way belittling the plot, but removing excessive pathos, giving the movie even more life truth.

In life, what started as an innocent joke can turn out to be a tragedy, or, on the contrary, a tragedy can end up as a ridiculous farce. And the notorious 'violation of the unity of style', for which sometimes reproach the creators of the movie ... who needs it, after all?!

'The Searchers' can be watched simply as a western, as one of many. As an amazingly beautiful, very dynamic and spectacular movie. Or you can watch it as a human drama. The movie allows both approaches. In the second case, in the finale you may feel your throat constricted and tears streaming down your face.

Info Video

Codec: HEVC / H.265 (94.3 Mb/s)
Resolution: Native 4K (2160p)
HDR: Dolby Vision, HDR10
Aspect ratio: 1.85:1
Original aspect ratio: 1.85:1

Info Audio

#English: FLAC 2.0
#English: Dolby Digital 2.0 (Commentary with director Peter Bogdanovich)

Info Subtitles

English SDH, Bulgarian, Czech, Danish, Dutch, Estonian, Finnish, French, German, Greek, Hebrew, Hungarian, Italian, Korean, Latvian, Lithuanian, Norwegian, Polish, Portuguese (Portuguese), Russian, Slovenian, Spanish (Castilian), Swedish, Turkish, Ukrainian.