The Searchers (1956) 1080p BluRay x264 EAC3-SARTRE + Extras

If John Ford is the greatest Western director, The Searchers is arguably his greatest film, at once a grand outdoor spectacle like such Ford classics as She Wore a Yellow Ribbon (1949) and Rio Grande (1950) and a film about one man's troubling moral codes, a big-screen adventure of the 1950s that anticipated the complex themes and characters that would dominate the 1970s.

John Wayne plays Ethan Edwards, a former Confederate soldier who returns to his brother Aaron's frontier cabin three years after the end of the Civil War. Ethan still has his rebel uniform and weapons, a large stash of Yankee gold, and no explanations as to where he's been since Lee's surrender. A loner not comfortable in the bosom of his family, Ethan also harbors a bitter hatred of Indians (though he knows their lore and language well) and trusts no one but himself. Ethan and Martin Pawley (Jeffrey Hunter), Aaron's adopted son, join a makeshift band of Texas Rangers fending off an assault by renegade Comanches.

Before they can run off the Indians, several homes are attacked, and Ethan returns to discover his brother and sister-in-law's daughter Debbie kidnapped. With obsessive determination, Ethan and Martin spend the next five years in a relentless search for Debbie -- and for Scar (Henry Brandon), the fearsome Comanche chief who abducted her. But while Martin wants to save his sister and bring her home, Ethan seems primarily motivated by his hatred of the Comanches; it's hard to say if he wants to rescue Debbie or murder the girl who has lived with Indians too long to be considered "white."

John Wayne gives perhaps his finest performance in a role that predated screen antiheroes of the 1970s; by the film's conclusion, his single-minded obsession seems less like heroism and more like madness. Wayne bravely refuses to soft-pedal Ethan's ugly side, and the result is a remarkable portrait of a man incapable of answering to anyone but himself, who ultimately has more in common with his despised Indians than with his more "civilized" brethren. Natalie Wood is striking in her brief role as the 16-year-old Debbie, lost between two worlds, and Winton C. Hoch's Technicolor photography captures Monument Valley's savage beauty with subtle grace. The Searchers paved the way for such revisionist Westerns as The Wild Bunch (1969) and McCabe & Mrs. Miller (1971), and its influence on movies from Taxi Driver (1976) to Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977) and Star Wars (1977) testifies to its lasting importance.

Sample Clip (Download for actual quality)

https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B77BuxFtBmKtMndEWFhJTVVBeFk



Extras

Patrick Wayne Introduction - A short intorduction to the film by John Wayne's son Patrick Wayne, who also had a small role in the film (2mn, 480p)

The Searchers: An Appreciation - This half hour documentary has filmmakers Curtis Hanson, John Milius, and Martin Scorsese talking about how much this movie affected them when they first saw it and how it influenced their style. (31mn, 480p)

A Turning of the Earth: John Ford, John Wayne, and the Searchers - In this documentary, voice-overs are placed over scenes from the film and behind the scenes footage to tell the story of the film's production. (33mn, 480p)

Behind the Camera - Four segments aired on TV to promote the film when it was first released theatrically. Made to air after WB movies, these feature host Gig Young who interviews Jeffrey Hunter and Natalie Wood as well as taking a look at the Monument Valley shooting locations as well as discussing how difficult it was shooting at such a remote location. (22mn, 480p)

Theatrical Trailer - An original trailer from 1956 (3mn, 480p)

Commentary with Peter Bogdanovich - Filmmaker and historian Peter Bogdanovich gives some background on the film and insight into Ford's technique.