Had enough of 2020? Life on the prairie was no picnic either. Let's take a look back at The Searchers.

My interest in the The Searchers began some years back as I was leafing through an old Hollywood book for an image to paint. One photo that captured my attention was of an old western, The Searchers, starring John Wayne. The still photo takes place at the end of the film where Wayne, as Ethan Edwards, stands apart from the rest of the cast looking out onto an open prairie and to an uncertain future now that the search (not to mention the movie) was over. I love that now iconic image and hope the painting did it justice. Of course, after the paint had dried I just had to watch the movie. I am pleased to write that the film did not disappoint. John Wayne was at his best and it was great to see Jeffrey Hunter and Natalie Wood in co-starring roles. And if you loved the movie as much as I did, I highly recommend a book about the film called The Searchers: The Making of an American Legend by Glenn Frankel. In his book you will learn about the true story The Searchers was based upon (that being the 1836 abduction of 9 year old Cynthia Ann Parker by Comanche warriors on the edge of the Texas frontier), the myths that sprang from the true story, and the subsequent novel The Searchers by Alan LeMay that the film was based upon. After reading Frankel’s book, I checked out LeMay’s novel from the library. I expected a dime store western (boy is that a dated reference), but what I got was an astonishing novel that is not only about the search for a kidnapped girl, but also a novel about revenge and racism and the possibility of redemption in a hard land with changing times ahead. It’s no wonder that the book was made into a film so soon after its publication. As a western, I would have to rank it right up there with True Grit by Charles Portis (its movie also starring John Wayne!) and any of Cormac McCarthy’s classic novels such as Blood Meridian and No Country for Old Men, and Shane by Jack Schaefer. I confess I’ve only read the beginning of Larry McMurtry’s Lonesome Dove, which I know is a favorite of many. I hope to pick that one up again soon. So now am I finally done with The Searchers? With such a fascinating history of Native Americans and the prairie settlers alike, and with the excellence of artistic representation thus far, I just don’t know if I ever can be.

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The movie classic High Noon has quite a backstory. Read this review:

High Noon: The Hollywood Blacklist and the Making of an American Classic by Glenn Frankel

High Noon is one of my favorite western-themed movies along with The Searchers and both versions of True Grit. What I didn't know about High Noon was that many of its principle developers -- producer, actors, screenwriter, etc...-- were involved either directly or indirectly in the Hollywood blacklist scare of the 1950's. Many concerned citizens and lawmakers alike had great fear of communist influence in American industry and culture, and came down brutally hard on Hollywood in particular. If you had any personal history with the Communist party or were even left-leaning, your career was in great jeopardy. There were even whispers of new concentration camps being developed if the scourge of communism could not be eliminated. Basically, you lived in a free country -- but perhaps not quite as free as you once thought. 

Many of the great Hollywood legends appear in this book, from Gary Cooper to John Wayne to Bogie & Bacall to the powerful studio heads and two future Presidents of the United States. Some individuals distinguished themselves with great courage while others caved under intense pressure and named their friends and associates to government investigators. Under all of that suspicion, however, High Noon was made and became a Hollywood classic, mirrored the times in many ways. It's been nearly seventy years later and yet the film still resonates. It's timeless. It's High Noon.