10 Classic Films That Actually Live Up To Their Legendary Status

The classic revenge story, starring John Wayne as a racist gun for hire following the US Civil War, what more could anybody ask for?

When he comes home for the first time since the war, Ethan Edwards only has a short time to catch up with his family before they are set upon and killed by the Indians and his niece Debbie is taken captive. In his anger and determination to find what last family he has, he teams up with his half-Indian nephew Martin, and they begin their years-long search for her.

The Searchers is one of cinema's great stories about changing one's opinions and realising that you risk losing everything in search of vengeance. Of course, this being John Wayne, there is no room for tears or rest as he and his nephew constantly clash on the journey, and when they do find Debbie, Ethan fears she may have turned.

It is the greatest western film that Wayne ever made, which puts it as probably the best ever made period. So many movies have copied its transformation message since, but it was perfected in The Searchers by one of Hollywood's greatest actor and director double acts in John Wayne and John Ford.