Searching for a secret in “The Searchers”

There’s a notion that the great, old movie directors who got their start in the silent era had something more to offer, because of their experience telling stories visually. John Ford is one example who’s often cited, and with good reason.

Watch the first five minutes of The Searchers. There’s a deep, dark secret in here that explains the entire movie. The answer will be published automatically on Monday at 4 pm ET.
[flv:http://www.dograt.com/Video/2008/OCT/TheSearchers.flv 448 252]

3 thoughts on “Searching for a secret in “The Searchers””

  1. I’ve spent some time in the English Midlands on business, and I immediately took a great liking to the area. I confess I’m drawing a blank of “Last of the Summer Wine.” YouTube has some clips that I’ll check out.

    Ford, Capra and Hitchcock are the three greats, I feel. Mervyn Leroy and Michael Curtiz were highly competent directors, but they were exponents of the studio style and didn’t have obviously individual styles.

    I’m fed up with gangster movies. “The Godfather” holds absolutely no interest for me anymore. “Goodfellas”is not for me. Enough. It’s all crap by its very nature.

  2. Hi Doug! I love John Ford’s movies, especially “Stagecoach” and the John Wayne westerns. I always loved them for the scenic shots of the West and Southwest and feel that you can get more into the story if you can get into the physical surroundings where the filming was done-and feel like you are there. I always thought of John Ford as “The Scenic Director”. That’s why my favorite Britcom is “Last of the Summer Wine” because it uses very scenic long shots and the elderly delinquents in the series go gallivanting all over the countryside, with good reason. Holmfirth, England where alot of filming is done of the show is one place I definitely want to visit. I love the rolling green hills of England and the UK that I’ve seen on TV and in film.

  3. I’m having a flash of deja vu. Didn’t you do this already? Dad actually sent me this for our birthday, along with some other great videos, so I can watch the whole thing tonight and get a jump-start! Wait, I know you sent this to me because I remember seeing the Devil’s Tower (later to be featured in “Close Encounters of the Third Kind”). Wait! I get it. One of the kids is really his; the Duke ain’t just the uncle. OK, Jeff Hunter is his son, right? GAWD, he was cute. OR … Duke’s character had something to do with the kid’s parents’ death …. OK, I’ll wait till tomorrow!

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