The Searchers (BFI Film Classics) [Paperback]

Edward Buscombe (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 22, 2008

This is a detailed commentary on all aspects of the film, "The Searchers", and makes full use of material in the John Ford archive in Indiana, including Ford's own memos and the original scripts, which differs in vital respects from the film he made.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"A lucid, jargon-free and incisive volume . . . a bravura display of critical intelligence." -- Glasgow Herald

About the Author

Edward Buscombe is Visiting Professor at Southampton Institute and editor of The BFI Companion to the Western.

Product Details

• Paperback: 80 pages
• Publisher: British Film Institute (January 22, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 085170820X
• ISBN-13: 978-0851708201
• Product Dimensions: 7.5 x 5.3 x 0.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 4.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #716,194 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

14 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Fine Look at a Compelling Movie, August 4, 2002

By 

Michael Samerdyke (Big Stone Gap, VA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Searchers (BFI Film Classics) (Paperback)

This book is even better than Buscombe's book on "Stagecoach." It is clear this movie has a stronger emotional hold on him than the earlier film. Buscombe does a very thorough job, comparing where the film deviates from the novel and the script.

He does something I have seen no other writer on "The Searchers" do, and that is to discuss the film's music, which is based on the 19th Century song "Lorena," which has a theme about separated lovers that reflects the Ethan-Martha relationship.

The book concludes with the changing critical reception of "The Searchers." Frankly, I think this is a fine, and fair assessment of the movie, one free from a lot of cant and academic jargon. I wish Buscombe would write a major book about the Western genre.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The tiny but detailed book., July 3, 2006

By 

Michael Valdivielso (Alexandria, VA) - See all my reviews
(TOP 1000 REVIEWER)   

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This review is from: The Searchers (BFI Film Classics) (Paperback)

The Searchers is a detailed film book about one of the best movies with John Wayne directed John Ford. Full of wonderful insight, background on Western films, the use of the landscape and behind-the-scene information about the crew this is a must for any fan of the movie or Westerns in general. Well organized and with a good bibliography.

8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars I still want more, June 13, 2002

By 

Kevin Brianton (Melbourne, Victoria Australia) - See all my reviews

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This review is from: The Searchers (BFI Film Classics) (Paperback)

This is a good introduction to the study of John Ford's films and it highlights one of his greatest, but I still believe that no-one has come close to fully analysing his retelling of the Herculean Myth. In an age where race issues were beginning to divide the country, Ford used a broad brush western to show the dangers of hysterical racism. Ethan Edwards is the most complex hero, Ford ever produced and he defies analysis. After his efforts to reunite a family, he sees he has no place at all. Buscombe has written a very good and learned book on the searchers, but I still want more.