The Searchers (Dir. John Ford; 1956; 119 min; Technicolor)
The Searchers is known as one of Hollywood’s biggest, action-packed, epic Westerns. It complicates the Western myth primarily through the hero, Ethan Edwards (John Wayne), whose bouts of extreme racism and anger toward American Indians suggest he is psychologically imbalanced and is operating on a different level than society. VMFA’s Trent Nicholas and Jeffrey Allison will discuss the Western myth and this movie’s cinematic and revisionist elements.
Co-sponsored by VMFA and the Pocahontas Reframed “Storytellers” Film Festival being held at the Historic Byrd Theatre on November 21–24.