The Searchers by John Ford

Fri Nov 07, 2025

Screening

John Ford, The Searchers, 1956. Image courtesy Warner Bros. Pictures.

John Ford, The Searchers, 1956. Image courtesy Warner Bros. Pictures.

John Ford, The Searchers, 1956. Image courtesy Warner Bros. Pictures.

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When Fri Nov 07, 2025

Price $15 ($12 Walker members and seniors, free for students)

For Ethan Edwards, a confederate Civil War veteran portrayed by John Wayne, peace is fleeting, and he soon has a new mission: to rescue his niece from the Comanche. Vengeful, racist, and unrelenting, Edwards has no home but the contested landscapes he traverses along his quest. The Searchers crafts an essential reflection of white settlement and masculinity, frontierism, and representation, and serves as a record for examining the myths of the American West and prejudices that still need to be overcome today. The film, presented in a new 4K restoration, remains a pinnacle example of the Western genre and simultaneously exists as a troubling document of the genre director John Ford helped define. 1956, US, DCP, 119 min.

Artist, writer, and series curator Leila Weefur will introduce the film.

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Bio

John Ford is regarded by many as one of the most important and influential filmmakers in the history of cinema. His career spanned more than 50 years, during which he directed 142 theatrical films and won four Academy Awards, more than any other director. Many of Ford’s films are considered classics, including Stagecoach (1939), The Grapes of Wrath (1940), How Green Was My Valley (1941), They Were Expendable (1945), The Searchers (1956), and The Man Who Shot Liberty Valence (1962). Ford helped to launch and promote the careers of leading actors, including Harry Carey, John Wayne, James Stewart, Henry Fonda, and Maureen O’Hara.

Accessibility, Content, and Sensory Notes

This film includes racism, violence, gunfire, murder, and references to sexual assault.

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