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Awix (3310 KP) rated The Searchers (1956) in Movies

Oct 8, 2020

The Searchers (1956)

1956 | Drama, Western

7.9

(7 Ratings)

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Landmark western (very nearly literally) from John Ford. When his brother's family are killed by Comanches and his nieces taken prisoner, soldier Ethan Edwards (Wayne) and his brother's adopted son set off in pursuit. The son wants to rescue the girls, but just what does Edwards have in mind...?

On one level this is another colourful, slightly cheesy and rather sentimental 1950s western - but on another it has a darkness to it which is quite surprising, for all that this moral ambiguity arguably eventually consumed the genre. It's a film about racism and an obsessive desire for vengeance - the Native Americans in this film are given a degree of depth and generally treated respectfully, but the film is honest about the savage conflict between them and the colonial population, and Wayne's mania for revenge, though understated, is clear. The film's subtexts about the importance of family and what it means to be an American are well-presented, though no doubt problematic for many modern viewers. Still, this is a hugely important and influential western and probably a great movie too.

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Haley Mathiot (9 KP) rated Girl Meets Boy: Because There Are Two Sides to Every Story in Books

Apr 27, 2018

The cover and summary were misleading for this book. I expected stories that were related to different interesting meetings and occurrences, screwy relationships, typical teen drama.

Instead I got a very strange and rather awkward mix of sex-addicts, homosexuals, transgender, and native Americans.

I'm not saying I don't like those stories, I'm just saying I wasn't expecting it.

The above reasons are not why I didn't like the stories: those are just facts about the characters. The stories themselves just didn't seem to connect to me, I couldn't relate to any of them. Maybe it's because I'm one of those weird girls with a completely functional romantic relationship, but a lot of the content in this book was just like "uh… why are they acting like that?"

Anyway, it felt awkward. that's the only word I can use to describe it. Some of them were good, some of them sucked. Most of the writing was mediocre.

I guess all I can say is… this is probably the worst short story collection I've ever read. Sorry, I wanted to like it… It was just awkward.

*This review is copyright Haley Mathiot and Amazon Vine*