69 years in the past, on Might 26, 1956, John Ford‘s The Searchers hit film theaters, and Western movies had been by no means the identical. John Wayne performs Ethan Edwards, a Civil Struggle veteran decided to avoid wasting his niece, Debbie (Natalie Wooden), who has been kidnapped by the Comanche — a task that Roger Ebert referred to as “one of the compelling characters Ford and Wayne ever created.” One of many first movies to be added to the Nationwide Movie Registry, The Searchers isn’t simply among the best Westerns ever made — it is among the most essential movies within the historical past of American cinema.
Within the many years since its launch, a lot of the solid has handed away — some, like Wooden, far too quickly. However among the stars are nonetheless with us.