'The Searchers at 68'

A funny thing happened this year.

I sat down for my first-ever viewing of The Searchers, the 1956 John Ford classic starring John Wayne and Natalie Wood, not realizing it would overlap with Wayne’s birthday.

He would have turned 117.

The Searchers lives up to its reputation. There’s a reason the American Film Institute ranks it as the 12th greatest American film of all time.

Though much may be said of its individual elements—from Max Steiner’s thumping score to the script to what is easily Wayne’s most enduring performance—The Searchers stands apart because it does something special, something unique to the period in which it was produced: It bridges the new with the old.