1 00:00:31,900 --> 00:00:34,802 From Frank Nugenfs screenplay: 2 00:00:35,937 --> 00:00:39,073 "The camera frames and moves with a lone horseman. 3 00:00:39,240 --> 00:00:40,542 He is Ethan Edwards. 4 00:00:40,708 --> 00:00:43,545 A man as hard as the country he is crossing. 5 00:00:43,711 --> 00:00:47,215 Ethan is in his 40s with a three-day stubble of beard. 6 00:00:47,382 --> 00:00:51,052 Dust is caked in the lines of his face and powders his clothing. 7 00:00:51,219 --> 00:00:52,787 His saddle is Mexican... 8 00:00:52,954 --> 00:00:57,592 ...and across it he carries a folded serape in place of the Texas poncho. 9 00:00:57,759 --> 00:01:00,995 Strapped onto his saddle roll is a saber and scabbard... 10 00:01:01,162 --> 00:01:03,865 ...with a gray silk sash wrapped around it. 11 00:01:04,032 --> 00:01:07,101 Rider and horse have come a long way.“ 12 00:01:07,268 --> 00:01:09,337 John Milius. 13 00:02:18,673 --> 00:02:22,844 In 1954, The Saturday Evening Post ran a serial by Alan Le May... 14 00:02:23,011 --> 00:02:25,279 ...called “The Avenging Texans." 15 00:02:25,446 --> 00:02:27,649 It centered on an obsessive, 10-year quest... 16 00:02:27,815 --> 00:02:31,285 ...to find a girl taken hostage in a Comanche raid. 17 00:02:31,452 --> 00:02:34,222 Later published in book form as The Searchers... 18 00:02:34,389 --> 00:02:37,725 ...it was optioned by producer Merian C. Cooper. 19 00:02:37,892 --> 00:02:41,029 Working in conjunction with Cornelius Vanderbilt Whitney... 20 00:02:41,195 --> 00:02:42,497 ...a millionaire industrialist... 21 00:02:42,664 --> 00:02:44,999 ...who had backed the fledgling Technicolor company... 22 00:02:45,166 --> 00:02:47,635 ...the two men envisioned the project as an ideal way... 23 00:02:47,802 --> 00:02:52,440 ...to reunite John Ford and John Wayne in a Western setting. 24 00:02:55,443 --> 00:02:58,980 Ford hired Frank Nugent to draft a script. 25 00:02:59,147 --> 00:03:01,416 With a budget of two and a half million dollars... 26 00:03:01,582 --> 00:03:04,986 ...Ford divided the production into two parts. 27 00:03:05,153 --> 00:03:08,256 While John Wayne was still completing Blood Alley for Warners... 28 00:03:09,157 --> 00:03:11,559 ...Ford sent a company in care of his son Patrick... 29 00:03:11,726 --> 00:03:15,096 ...with stand-ins for Wayne and Jeffrey Hunter, to Alberta, Canada... 30 00:03:15,263 --> 00:03:20,702 ...and Gunnison, Colorado in early 1955 for filming of the snow scenes. 31 00:03:20,868 --> 00:03:23,337 Gunnison was chosen for its exceptional cold. 32 00:03:24,372 --> 00:03:26,107 Temperatures in the region had been known... 33 00:03:26,274 --> 00:03:28,509 ...to fall more than 30 degrees below zero. 34 00:03:28,676 --> 00:03:32,580 Essential in story terms to delineate the grueling nature of the search. 35 00:03:47,361 --> 00:03:52,233 On May 31st, 1955, construction began in Monument Valley. 36 00:03:52,400 --> 00:03:54,368 The mythic landscape that became... 37 00:03:54,635 --> 00:03:57,004 ...John Ford's specific geography of the West. 38 00:03:57,171 --> 00:04:01,609 Ford, Wayne and the key cast members bunked at Goulding's Trading Post. 39 00:04:02,043 --> 00:04:05,480 The remainder were billeted in the tent city that was set up on the valley floor... 40 00:04:05,947 --> 00:04:09,317 ...to house and feed the nearly 300 people involved in the picture. 41 00:04:09,517 --> 00:04:14,322 Even by the 1950s, the 20th century had not imposed on the area. 42 00:04:14,522 --> 00:04:17,391 There were no roads, no phones and little water. 43 00:04:18,392 --> 00:04:21,529 The almost daily windstorms would whip the valley's red dust... 44 00:04:21,696 --> 00:04:23,364 ...into suffocating clouds. 45 00:04:24,565 --> 00:04:27,435 Monument Valley was the farthest spot from a railroad... 46 00:04:27,602 --> 00:04:30,505 ...in the entire United States. 47 00:04:33,574 --> 00:04:37,378 There's a truth to The Searchers. There's a sense of the West. 48 00:04:37,545 --> 00:04:41,249 You feel, somehow, the loneliness of the Texan out there on a limb... 49 00:04:41,415 --> 00:04:45,419 ...living year after year in the vast grandeur of the unconquered prairie. 50 00:04:45,586 --> 00:04:47,321 It rings true. 51 00:04:47,488 --> 00:04:49,590 The stark landscape and the house at the beginning... 52 00:04:49,757 --> 00:04:52,727 ...the unremitting power of nature's indifference... 53 00:04:52,894 --> 00:04:56,030 ...is absolutely at the heart of our American experience. 54 00:04:56,697 --> 00:04:58,599 The characters are harsh and wonderful. 55 00:04:58,766 --> 00:05:00,968 They speak to us of who we are. 56 00:05:01,135 --> 00:05:05,072 Maybe not the good side always, but I don't think that's necessary. 57 00:05:05,306 --> 00:05:07,842 The great Westerns have always had that honesty about them... 58 00:05:08,242 --> 00:05:10,511 ...that other movies don't have. 59 00:05:14,182 --> 00:05:18,019 The Searchers is also based on an incident from Western history. 60 00:05:18,186 --> 00:05:20,321 On December 18th, 1860... 61 00:05:20,521 --> 00:05:22,757 ...a band of Texas Rangers and civilian volunteers... 62 00:05:22,924 --> 00:05:26,561 ...attacked the Pease River camp of the Comanche leader Peta Nocona. 63 00:05:27,762 --> 00:05:29,864 Nocona and his warriors were away hunting... 64 00:05:30,064 --> 00:05:32,200 ...so all of the Indian victims were women. 65 00:05:32,366 --> 00:05:35,570 One woman, however, was spared because her eyes were blue. 66 00:05:35,736 --> 00:05:38,906 Through an interpreter, she revealed that she was in fact white... 67 00:05:39,073 --> 00:05:40,975 ...and her name was Cynthia Ann Parker. 68 00:05:41,142 --> 00:05:45,012 She had been kidnapped at the age of 9, almost 25 years earlier. 69 00:05:45,179 --> 00:05:47,014 Her family had never stopped looking for her... 70 00:05:47,181 --> 00:05:49,550 ...but she had become the wife of Peta Nocona... 71 00:05:49,717 --> 00:05:51,252 ...and refused to leave her tribe. 72 00:05:51,419 --> 00:05:54,055 One of her sons grew up to become one of the most famous figures... 73 00:05:54,222 --> 00:05:55,923 ...in frontier history: 74 00:05:56,090 --> 00:05:59,427 The feared Comanche war chief Quanah Parker. 75 00:05:59,594 --> 00:06:01,596 John Milius. 76 00:06:11,739 --> 00:06:13,407 Harry Goulding, a trader... 77 00:06:13,574 --> 00:06:17,879 ...had first set eyes on Monument Valley in 1921 when he was rounding up sheep. 78 00:06:18,479 --> 00:06:20,348 Two years later, he and his wife laid claim... 79 00:06:20,548 --> 00:06:24,185 “in 640 acres at the base oi Tsay~Kissi Mesa... 80 00:06:24,352 --> 00:06:28,256 ...and began trading with the Navajo indigenous to the reservation. 81 00:06:28,422 --> 00:06:30,925 The Navajo families eked out a meager living... 82 00:06:31,092 --> 00:06:33,594 ...predominantly from sheep and horses. 83 00:06:33,761 --> 00:06:37,098 Wool weaving and other crafts were sold to the outside world. 84 00:06:37,498 --> 00:06:40,134 For them, Ford would become a benefactor... 85 00:06:40,301 --> 00:06:43,271 ...bringing employment and investment into the area. 86 00:06:43,471 --> 00:06:49,210 In time, they would refer to him as Natani Nez, “Tall Leader.“ 87 00:07:12,033 --> 00:07:14,602 My dad always said that he introduced Ford to Monument Valley... 88 00:07:14,769 --> 00:07:18,339 ...after he had worked on a picture there in the '20s. 89 00:07:18,506 --> 00:07:20,241 But Ford had other ideas. 90 00:07:20,408 --> 00:07:22,877 He claimed that Harry Goulding camped out in his office... 91 00:07:23,044 --> 00:07:26,747 ...beseeching the director to visit this great Western location. 92 00:07:26,914 --> 00:07:31,285 Eventually Ford agreed, in part just to get the guy off his doorstep. 93 00:07:31,552 --> 00:07:33,521 Patrick Wayne. 94 00:07:40,094 --> 00:07:44,298 Ford made Monument Valley the image of the West. 95 00:07:44,465 --> 00:07:45,800 What's interesting about Ford... 96 00:07:45,967 --> 00:07:49,337 ...is that he was physically in love with the American continent. 97 00:07:49,503 --> 00:07:52,106 Not just love of country like you're taught in school... 98 00:07:52,306 --> 00:07:54,642 ...but love of the earth, love of the dirt, the sky... 99 00:07:54,809 --> 00:07:57,178 ...and you can see it in all his films. 100 00:07:59,814 --> 00:08:02,016 He loved Monument Valley and the American West... 101 00:08:02,183 --> 00:08:04,218 ...the prairie, more than anything. 102 00:08:04,385 --> 00:08:06,754 There's nothing more beautiful in the world than that. 103 00:08:06,921 --> 00:08:10,391 Nothing that's more dramatic. 104 00:08:10,558 --> 00:08:14,128 He would always get a low angle, a low horizon, the wind blowing grass. 105 00:08:14,295 --> 00:08:17,732 And if possible, it would be a lighter color than the sky. 106 00:08:17,898 --> 00:08:21,035 These are images no one else could get on film. 107 00:08:21,202 --> 00:08:24,338 He was genuinely having a love affair with the land. 108 00:08:25,740 --> 00:08:27,341 John Milius. 109 00:09:40,948 --> 00:09:44,185 Monument Valley in those days was quite primitive. 110 00:09:44,351 --> 00:09:46,220 All of the women were installed at Goulding's... 111 00:09:46,387 --> 00:09:48,155 ...and all the men were on the valley floor... 112 00:09:48,322 --> 00:09:52,993 ...in this huge sort of tent city that glowed at night with campfires... 113 00:09:53,160 --> 00:09:57,231 ...and well, frankly, a certain amount of drinking and gambling and carousing. 114 00:09:57,398 --> 00:09:58,732 Great fun. 115 00:09:58,899 --> 00:10:00,768 Pippa Scott. 116 00:10:01,502 --> 00:10:03,070 Ford was in his element... 117 00:10:03,237 --> 00:10:05,706 ...on his favorite location with a cast and crew... 118 00:10:05,873 --> 00:10:08,375 ...filled with long-time friends and family. 119 00:10:08,542 --> 00:10:10,911 His son Patrick was associate producer. 120 00:10:11,078 --> 00:10:13,781 Olive Carey and Harry Carey Jr. played mother and son. 121 00:10:14,482 --> 00:10:18,285 Sisters Natalie and Lana Wood shared the role of Debbie. 122 00:10:21,355 --> 00:10:23,524 What John Ford wanted from me... 123 00:10:23,691 --> 00:10:27,628 ...was terror at the thought of what was about to happen. A rape. 124 00:10:27,795 --> 00:10:33,534 And a kind of savagery that everyone in this remote area knew about. 125 00:10:34,135 --> 00:10:37,204 Dorothy Jordan, who played my mother, was a friend of Ford's. 126 00:10:37,371 --> 00:10:40,107 He took her aside and told her to really slug me. 127 00:10:40,274 --> 00:10:42,309 She hauled off with a roundhouse. 128 00:10:42,476 --> 00:10:46,914 I had a bruise on my cheek for days after. Pippa Scott. 129 00:10:47,114 --> 00:10:49,483 - Ma, I can't-- - Lucy! 130 00:11:03,497 --> 00:11:05,733 For me, Pippa's scene was rather frightening. 131 00:11:05,900 --> 00:11:07,968 I remember being very unnerved by it. 132 00:11:08,135 --> 00:11:09,737 You know, she was a little bit too good. 133 00:11:10,437 --> 00:11:14,074 Especially to the point of view of an 8-year-old child. 134 00:11:14,241 --> 00:11:17,678 There was a real sense of gut-wrenching terror to it... 135 00:11:17,845 --> 00:11:20,814 ...that I know I reacted to very strongly. 136 00:11:20,981 --> 00:11:24,652 I was well aware that it was all make-believe... 137 00:11:24,818 --> 00:11:27,188 ...but I was still just beginning to learn about acting... 138 00:11:27,354 --> 00:11:30,524 ...and I found all performers to be such interesting people. 139 00:11:30,724 --> 00:11:32,092 I remember for some reason... 140 00:11:32,259 --> 00:11:35,829 ...it was very cold on the stage when we were shooting the window scene. 141 00:11:35,996 --> 00:11:39,366 I was to run up the hill and then crouch down by the grave. 142 00:11:39,533 --> 00:11:42,036 And John Ford told me to act very scared... 143 00:11:42,203 --> 00:11:46,407 ...but I remember looking up at Henry Brandon, who played Scar... 144 00:11:46,574 --> 00:11:49,043 ...and being really in awe of his appearance. 145 00:11:49,210 --> 00:11:52,313 Here was this huge person with the feathers... 146 00:11:52,479 --> 00:11:54,381 ...and the paint and everything. 147 00:11:54,548 --> 00:11:57,518 I was trying to tell myself that I was terrified. 148 00:11:57,685 --> 00:12:00,721 I recall quite vividly looking up and thinking: 149 00:12:00,888 --> 00:12:03,524 "Wow, isn't he an amazing sight." 150 00:12:04,425 --> 00:12:06,293 Lana Wood. 151 00:12:25,813 --> 00:12:29,250 If you're an Indian, you would want to be like Scar. 152 00:12:30,150 --> 00:12:34,488 You'd want to blow that horn and slaughter white settlers relentlessly... 153 00:12:34,655 --> 00:12:38,225 ...take many scalps and have young wives. 154 00:12:38,959 --> 00:12:41,528 You want to look like Scar. 155 00:12:59,546 --> 00:13:01,415 Scar is wonderful because he's a predator. 156 00:13:02,549 --> 00:13:05,519 The Comanche are not jackals, they are lions. 157 00:13:05,686 --> 00:13:08,322 They're not beasts, they're kings. 158 00:13:08,489 --> 00:13:10,557 And they're gonna get you. 159 00:13:11,659 --> 00:13:13,661 Let's go! 160 00:13:27,508 --> 00:13:30,844 Ethan Edwards respects Scar and Scar respects him back. 161 00:13:31,011 --> 00:13:32,813 But they hate each other. 162 00:13:32,980 --> 00:13:36,750 Ethan doesn't care if he dies here among the Comanche arrows and bullets... 163 00:13:36,917 --> 00:13:40,354 ...because he's gotta kill this guy and Scar knows that. 164 00:13:40,521 --> 00:13:42,723 They have no fear of each other. 165 00:13:42,890 --> 00:13:46,427 They're dogs just barely held by the chain. 166 00:13:53,801 --> 00:13:57,338 I think John Ford is the best director who ever lived. 167 00:13:58,072 --> 00:14:00,741 No one else even in his class. 168 00:14:00,908 --> 00:14:02,976 He just knew it. He was a great artist. 169 00:14:03,777 --> 00:14:06,914 He could speak to your heart and it meant something. 170 00:14:07,081 --> 00:14:09,950 No artifice. Nothing between him and you. 171 00:14:10,484 --> 00:14:13,253 He had conservation of line, as the Japanese say. 172 00:14:13,420 --> 00:14:15,022 He could do it in two or three strokes... 173 00:14:15,189 --> 00:14:17,591 ...where it would take other good directors seven or eight... 174 00:14:17,791 --> 00:14:20,394 ...and they wouldn't get it as well. 175 00:14:20,561 --> 00:14:22,696 He's a storyteller, like Homer. 176 00:14:23,630 --> 00:14:25,332 And when Homer got through with a story... 177 00:14:25,499 --> 00:14:28,335 ...you had something you can read forever. 178 00:14:28,502 --> 00:14:30,537 John Milius. 179 00:15:06,373 --> 00:15:10,010 You know, Ford and Wayne were really close personal friends. 180 00:15:10,177 --> 00:15:14,381 John Wayne once said, "John Ford directed my life." 181 00:15:14,548 --> 00:15:17,751 I recently came across a letter dated just after The Searchers... 182 00:15:17,918 --> 00:15:21,054 ...when Wayne was in Japan making Barbarian and the Geisha. 183 00:15:21,688 --> 00:15:23,657 It's a note from Ford to the Duke that says: 184 00:15:23,824 --> 00:15:27,594 "I met Kurosawa some years ago and he's quite a fan of ours. 185 00:15:27,795 --> 00:15:30,831 If you get some time, I know he'd love to meet you.“ 186 00:15:30,998 --> 00:15:32,266 I thought that was interesting. 187 00:15:32,433 --> 00:15:35,769 A fan of ours, as opposed to a fan of mine or yours. 188 00:15:36,336 --> 00:15:37,938 They were that much in synch. 189 00:15:38,105 --> 00:15:40,641 The Searchers was the height of their relationship. 190 00:15:40,808 --> 00:15:43,744 They not only had a tremendous fondness for each other... 191 00:15:43,911 --> 00:15:47,981 ...but they were totally in lock step in that phase of their careers. 192 00:15:48,148 --> 00:15:49,416 Dan Ford. 193 00:15:57,558 --> 00:15:59,560 I don't think there's a better acting performance... 194 00:15:59,726 --> 00:16:02,229 ...done by any actor in any movie ever. 195 00:16:02,396 --> 00:16:05,732 John Wayne really understood the character of Ethan Edwards. 196 00:16:05,899 --> 00:16:07,167 He got it. 197 00:16:07,367 --> 00:16:10,237 For people to sit there and say John Wayne wasn't a good actor... 198 00:16:10,404 --> 00:16:12,406 ...is the stupidest thing in the world. 199 00:16:12,573 --> 00:16:15,542 All you have to do is show The Searchers. 200 00:16:16,109 --> 00:16:18,045 Yes, sh. 201 00:16:23,851 --> 00:16:26,553 The character of Ethan is so compelling. 202 00:16:26,720 --> 00:16:30,724 He's willing to be what he is. He's God's lonely man. 203 00:16:30,924 --> 00:16:32,493 He feels as strongly as anybody... 204 00:16:32,659 --> 00:16:36,196 ...but he realizes he's gotta be the one that protects everybody. 205 00:16:36,363 --> 00:16:39,733 His racism is interesting because he ain't white anymore. 206 00:16:39,900 --> 00:16:41,635 He doesn't belong. 207 00:16:41,802 --> 00:16:46,373 Somehow he knows he has to live outside with the wild things. 208 00:16:46,573 --> 00:16:48,809 But he accepts that. 209 00:16:48,976 --> 00:16:50,577 John Milius. 210 00:16:54,147 --> 00:16:56,717 It's hard to believe they're white. 211 00:16:56,884 --> 00:16:58,819 They ain't white... 212 00:16:58,986 --> 00:17:00,654 ...anymore. 213 00:17:00,821 --> 00:17:02,556 They're Comanche. 214 00:17:02,723 --> 00:17:05,559 Where are your casualties? 215 00:17:19,072 --> 00:17:22,342 I'd never seen Duke Wayne so intensely professional on a picture... 216 00:17:22,509 --> 00:17:23,844 was he was on that set. 217 00:17:24,278 --> 00:17:26,313 I don't know how he'd molded that character. 218 00:17:26,480 --> 00:17:29,750 Perhaps he'd known someone like Ethan Edwards as a kid. 219 00:17:29,917 --> 00:17:32,286 When you looked up at him, it was into the meanest... 220 00:17:32,452 --> 00:17:34,354 ...coldest eyes I'd ever seen. 221 00:17:34,521 --> 00:17:36,790 He seemed to live it all the while, even off the screen... 222 00:17:36,957 --> 00:17:38,458 ...and he didn't kid around as much. 223 00:17:39,059 --> 00:17:40,627 I thought it was his best performance... 224 00:17:40,794 --> 00:17:42,763 ...but he would never talk about The Searchers... 225 00:17:42,930 --> 00:17:45,832 ...except to say that it was the best thing Ford ever did. 226 00:17:45,999 --> 00:17:47,301 Harry Carey Jr. 227 00:17:47,501 --> 00:17:49,570 What you saw was a buck... 228 00:17:49,736 --> 00:17:52,406 ...wearing Lucy's dress. 229 00:17:52,573 --> 00:17:55,809 I found Lucy back in the canyon. 230 00:17:56,810 --> 00:18:00,347 Wrapped her in my coat. 231 00:18:00,981 --> 00:18:03,150 Buried her with my own hands. 232 00:18:04,117 --> 00:18:07,487 Thought it best to keep it from you. 233 00:18:09,723 --> 00:18:11,625 Did they...'? 234 00:18:11,792 --> 00:18:13,827 - Was she...'.7 - What do you want me to do? 235 00:18:13,994 --> 00:18:17,197 Draw you a picture? Spell it out'? 236 00:18:17,598 --> 00:18:19,366 Don't ever ask me! 237 00:18:19,533 --> 00:18:22,769 Long as you live, don't ever ask me more. 238 00:18:32,079 --> 00:18:34,615 Ford hired the Navajo Indians to play the Comanche. 239 00:18:35,382 --> 00:18:37,417 The Navajo were superb horsemen... 240 00:18:37,584 --> 00:18:39,753 ...and their expertise was a perfect complement... 241 00:18:39,920 --> 00:18:42,789 ...to Ford's regular pack of Hollywood stunt riders. 242 00:18:42,956 --> 00:18:47,160 These stuntmen were all a part of Ford's extended family. 243 00:18:47,327 --> 00:18:49,663 Ford used them constantly throughout the picture... 244 00:18:49,830 --> 00:18:51,965 ...and included them in the square-dance sequence... 245 00:18:52,466 --> 00:18:56,703 ...prompting the crew to nickname them "Ford's chorus girls.“ 246 00:18:56,870 --> 00:18:58,972 One of the stunt guys, Frank McGrath... 247 00:18:59,139 --> 00:19:03,377 ...had spent the previous eight months in a plaster cast after breaking his back. 248 00:19:03,944 --> 00:19:05,212 In The Searchers... 249 00:19:05,412 --> 00:19:08,915 ...he performed three separate horse-fall and drag stunts. 250 00:19:13,420 --> 00:19:16,823 The director relayed his instructions to the Navajo via loudspeaker... 251 00:19:16,990 --> 00:19:20,327 ...through Lee Bradley, a 54-year-old Navajo... 252 00:19:20,494 --> 00:19:23,964 ...who had worked on 57 pictures since 1925. 253 00:19:24,131 --> 00:19:26,533 Eleven of them with Ford. 254 00:20:21,822 --> 00:20:24,057 Wayne and Ford hung out together on weekends. 255 00:20:24,224 --> 00:20:26,993 They were fishing and drinking and card-playing buddies. 256 00:20:27,160 --> 00:20:30,230 At Goulding's in Monument Valley, where there was nothing to do... 257 00:20:30,397 --> 00:20:33,667 ...they'd play cards and reminisce about old times. 258 00:20:33,834 --> 00:20:35,802 Dan Ford. 259 00:21:23,817 --> 00:21:26,353 One of the most powerful themes in The Searchers is... 260 00:21:26,553 --> 00:21:28,655 ...the idea of this personal quest being played out... 261 00:21:28,822 --> 00:21:30,657 ...against stuff that's gone on forever. 262 00:21:32,526 --> 00:21:35,862 The snow doesn't care. The seasons come and go. 263 00:21:36,797 --> 00:21:39,533 The buffalo don't care. 264 00:21:39,699 --> 00:21:43,770 The Indians don't care. The Army doesn't care. 265 00:21:44,271 --> 00:21:47,174 It's just two men in the face of all this. 266 00:21:47,340 --> 00:21:49,309 John Milius. 267 00:21:50,544 --> 00:21:52,979 If she's alive, she's safe. 268 00:21:53,146 --> 00:21:55,615 For a while. They'll keep her... 269 00:21:55,782 --> 00:21:57,918 ...to raise as one of their own until... 270 00:21:59,519 --> 00:22:01,922 Till she's of an age to... 271 00:22:02,556 --> 00:22:07,160 Well, do you think maybe there's a chance we still might find her? 272 00:22:07,327 --> 00:22:12,365 Injun will chase a thing till he thinks he's chased it enough. 273 00:22:12,532 --> 00:22:14,234 Then he quits. 274 00:22:14,401 --> 00:22:16,670 Same way when he runs. 275 00:22:16,837 --> 00:22:20,540 Seems like he never learns there's such a thing as... 276 00:22:20,707 --> 00:22:23,844 ...a critter who'll just keep coming on. 277 00:22:24,211 --> 00:22:27,547 So we'll find them in the end, I promise you. 278 00:22:27,714 --> 00:22:29,616 We'll find them. 279 00:22:29,783 --> 00:22:34,187 Just as sure as the turning of the Earth. 280 00:22:36,590 --> 00:22:38,024 I had made a few film appearances... 281 00:22:38,191 --> 00:22:40,193 ...and spoken a line or two before The Searchers... 282 00:22:40,360 --> 00:22:42,996 ...but this was really the first big mouthful of dialogue... 283 00:22:43,163 --> 00:22:44,764 ...that I had on camera. 284 00:22:44,931 --> 00:22:47,767 It was unnerving with all those professionals standing around... 285 00:22:47,934 --> 00:22:49,736 ...most prominently my dad. 286 00:22:49,903 --> 00:22:52,005 He was a large, looming figure. 287 00:22:52,205 --> 00:22:53,540 He was a huge presence. 288 00:22:53,707 --> 00:22:56,376 He commanded respect and you paid attention to him. 289 00:22:56,543 --> 00:22:59,045 And the director was my godfather. 290 00:22:59,212 --> 00:23:00,981 I wanted them to be proud of me. 291 00:23:01,147 --> 00:23:03,917 I didn't want them to be ashamed or disappointed. 292 00:23:04,084 --> 00:23:06,653 None of the interruptions were in the script. 293 00:23:06,820 --> 00:23:08,421 Whenever Ward Bond or my dad broke in... 294 00:23:08,588 --> 00:23:10,156 ...all that stuff was ad-libbed. 295 00:23:10,323 --> 00:23:14,227 But I just kept plowing through because I didn't know what else to do. 296 00:23:14,394 --> 00:23:18,598 But that had been Ford's plan all along. Patrick Wayne. 297 00:23:18,765 --> 00:23:21,167 My pa wants to know-- Colonel Greenhill wants to know... 298 00:23:21,334 --> 00:23:24,571 -...how soon you can put a company-- - Turn around, sonny. 299 00:23:25,171 --> 00:23:28,141 Yeah, he's a Yankee cavalryman. 300 00:23:28,308 --> 00:23:30,744 Colonel Greenhill wants to know how soon you could-- 301 00:23:30,911 --> 00:23:34,981 - I resent that, sir. - Just funning, son, just funning. 302 00:23:35,148 --> 00:23:37,584 He wants to know how soon you can put men in the field... 303 00:23:37,751 --> 00:23:39,819 ...for a joint punitive action against the Comanches. 304 00:23:39,986 --> 00:23:42,656 - Joint what? - Joint punitive action. 305 00:23:42,822 --> 00:23:46,793 We received information about a band of Comanches under a chief named Scar. 306 00:23:51,798 --> 00:23:56,503 By July, the temperatures had soared to over 120 degrees. 307 00:23:56,703 --> 00:23:59,606 Sunstroke and insect bites were taking their toll. 308 00:23:59,773 --> 00:24:04,177 And even the heartiest members of the company were fainting in the heat. 309 00:24:05,645 --> 00:24:06,913 Over the course of shooting... 310 00:24:07,080 --> 00:24:12,652 “paychecks totaling $35,000 were paid to some 5000 Navajo... 311 00:24:12,852 --> 00:24:15,755 ...introducing many of them to the joys of income tax... 312 00:24:15,956 --> 00:24:18,858 ...and social security for the first time. 313 00:24:21,528 --> 00:24:24,531 There was an accordion player named Danny Borzage. 314 00:24:24,698 --> 00:24:27,667 He played his tunes and kept the atmosphere light. 315 00:24:28,702 --> 00:24:31,171 He was one of the hallmarks of a Ford set. 316 00:24:31,338 --> 00:24:34,874 A carryover from Ford's days in silent films. 317 00:24:37,277 --> 00:24:38,545 At the end of the shoot... 318 00:24:38,712 --> 00:24:41,281 ...the Navajo families presented Ford with a deer hide... 319 00:24:41,448 --> 00:24:45,118 ...blessed by sacred Indian spirits, which was inscribed: 320 00:24:45,285 --> 00:24:47,954 "In your travels, may there be beauty behind you... 321 00:24:48,121 --> 00:24:51,691 ...beauty on both sides of you, and beauty ahead of you." 322 00:24:51,891 --> 00:24:54,527 Brethren, leave us go amongst them! 323 00:24:54,728 --> 00:24:56,529 Bugler! 324 00:25:31,164 --> 00:25:32,866 Let's go! 325 00:26:03,096 --> 00:26:06,833 Oh, no, Ethan! No, Ethan! 326 00:26:07,734 --> 00:26:09,702 No, Ethan! 327 00:26:14,174 --> 00:26:16,643 In the end ifs all about duty and family... 328 00:26:16,810 --> 00:26:21,047 ...responsibility to your community, no matter how small. 329 00:26:23,083 --> 00:26:26,219 Ethan is alone, but he's also part of a family... 330 00:26:26,386 --> 00:26:28,621 ...and his humanity comes through. 331 00:26:28,788 --> 00:26:32,625 He may hate Debbie for being defiled as he himself was defiled. 332 00:26:32,792 --> 00:26:35,862 But it doesn't matter. He forgives her. 333 00:26:36,029 --> 00:26:38,264 He can forgive her anything. 334 00:26:38,431 --> 00:26:40,400 John Milius. 335 00:26:45,605 --> 00:26:48,007 Let's go home, Debbie. 336 00:26:55,248 --> 00:26:56,983 My mom and Jack Ford had known each other... 337 00:26:57,150 --> 00:26:59,352 ...since they were both 18 years old. 338 00:26:59,519 --> 00:27:02,155 My father was an idol of John Wayne's. 339 00:27:02,922 --> 00:27:08,194 He loved my dad's gestures, his mannerisms and his style of acting. 340 00:27:08,361 --> 00:27:10,930 So when it came to that final doorway scene... 341 00:27:11,097 --> 00:27:14,134 ...my mom didn't know what the Duke was gonna do. 342 00:27:14,300 --> 00:27:17,537 Wayne had modeled his style on my dad... 343 00:27:17,704 --> 00:27:19,539 ...and he kind of wanted to pay tribute to him. 344 00:27:19,706 --> 00:27:20,974 We didn't know it then... 345 00:27:21,141 --> 00:27:23,543 ...but it was going to become one of the most famous scenes... 346 00:27:23,710 --> 00:27:25,011 ...in movie history. 347 00:27:25,178 --> 00:27:28,448 What happened was Duke suddenly caught sight of my mom... 348 00:27:28,615 --> 00:27:31,584 ...standing behind the camera in the doorway. 349 00:27:31,751 --> 00:27:35,855 And he reached over with his left hand and grabbed at his right arm. 350 00:27:36,022 --> 00:27:38,558 It was a mannerism my father had. 351 00:27:38,725 --> 00:27:41,427 We were, all of us, standing inside that house there... 352 00:27:41,594 --> 00:27:44,831 ...and my mom was right in Duke's eye line. 353 00:27:44,998 --> 00:27:49,035 She saw him do that and she fell apart. 354 00:27:49,202 --> 00:27:51,337 Harry Carey Jr. 355 00:27:58,111 --> 00:28:00,413 John Ford is a piece of the West. 356 00:28:00,580 --> 00:28:02,448 He came out here, this Irish kid... 357 00:28:02,649 --> 00:28:04,918 ...and started making silent movies in the Old West... 358 00:28:05,118 --> 00:28:07,353 ...when there was nothing here. 359 00:28:07,520 --> 00:28:09,789 The history of the movie business was like the Old West. 360 00:28:09,956 --> 00:28:15,261 It was a place that was filled with promise, and Ford fulfilled it. 361 00:28:16,362 --> 00:28:18,598 John Ford and John Wayne brought an authenticity... 362 00:28:18,765 --> 00:28:21,367 ...that you cannot find today. 363 00:28:21,935 --> 00:28:26,573 Ford was Wayne's commanding officer, and Wayne would willingly follow. 364 00:28:26,739 --> 00:28:30,043 Ford led from the front and instilled Wayne with confidence. 365 00:28:30,210 --> 00:28:34,047 And, you know, leadership hardens and scars. It always does that. 366 00:28:34,214 --> 00:28:37,584 The leader is ultimately cut off from everyone else. 367 00:28:37,750 --> 00:28:39,619 Ford was even cut off from Hollywood. 368 00:28:39,986 --> 00:28:41,721 He couldn't wait to go to war. 369 00:28:41,888 --> 00:28:44,924 He called his wife and told her he was off to Washington... 370 00:28:45,091 --> 00:28:48,261 ...and didn't come back for three years. 371 00:28:48,428 --> 00:28:51,397 Ford said that directing was a job of work. 372 00:28:51,564 --> 00:28:55,235 He embodies the 20th-century American experience. 373 00:28:55,435 --> 00:28:56,736 He became very successful... 374 00:28:56,903 --> 00:29:01,374 ...but he never lost touch with the Texican out there on a limb. 375 00:29:32,739 --> 00:29:35,541 After I had seen The Searchers a few times... 376 00:29:35,708 --> 00:29:37,910 ...it was completely fixed in my mind. 377 00:29:38,077 --> 00:29:41,180 The film was such a seminal and primal experience... 378 00:29:41,347 --> 00:29:44,350 ...that I was absolutely convinced I'd dreamed it... 379 00:29:44,784 --> 00:29:48,121 ...which was just right because that's in keeping with the movie. 380 00:29:48,621 --> 00:29:51,491 It almost should be dreamed. 381 00:29:52,292 --> 00:29:53,593 John Milius. 382 00:30:16,416 --> 00:30:20,019 The first time I saw Monument Valley was in 1948. 383 00:30:20,186 --> 00:30:23,156 We were making She Wore a Yellow Ribbon. 384 00:30:23,323 --> 00:30:25,858 I feel a tremendous amount of sentiment. 385 00:30:26,025 --> 00:30:28,828 It's a stunning location and I still get lost. 386 00:30:28,995 --> 00:30:32,632 It's huge and the light changes all the time. 387 00:30:32,799 --> 00:30:36,369 One minute it's purple. The next, red. 388 00:30:36,969 --> 00:30:40,239 Never the same thing twice in a row. 389 00:30:42,608 --> 00:30:45,345 It's just magnificent. Ford loved it. 390 00:30:45,511 --> 00:30:47,580 You know, I think his spirit is there... 391 00:30:47,747 --> 00:30:52,085 ...maybe hanging in the wind by John Ford Point. 392 00:30:53,820 --> 00:30:56,022 He should've been buried there. 393 00:30:56,189 --> 00:30:58,124 Duke Wayne too. 394 00:30:58,291 --> 00:30:59,726 Matter of fact... 395 00:30:59,892 --> 00:31:04,464 ...they should be buried side by side right there in Monument Valley. 396 00:31:04,630 --> 00:31:06,699 Harry Carey Jr.