2. The Searchers (1956)
Director John Ford and star John Wayne made 15 films together, and their most cherished collaboration is without a doubt the 1956 masterpiece, The Searchers. The Searchers is a post Civil War western about war veteran Ethan Edwards (Wayne) who goes on an almost obsessive search through the Texas frontier to track and find his kidnapped niece (Natalie Wood), who was taken by murderous Comanches. He goes on a quest that spans years, along with his adopted nephew Martin (Jeffrey Hunter) that pushes both men to the brink of sanity as they uncover the clues to her whereabouts. As with all of John Ford's great westerns, this one is rife with beautiful landscape imagery and men with obsessive characteristics. Wayne's performance as Ethan is one of his finest, under the assured hand of Ford he is thoroughly convincing as a man committed to keeping what is left of his family alive. The final shot in The Searchers is not only one of the best final shots in film history but also a subtle thesis on Ethan's character and Ford and Wayne's ethic. As he finally returns his niece years later to the family home after his journey Ethan walks out of the house, looks back at his family once more and begins to walk off as the door closes and the film goes to black. This shot is seen consistently and is still copied to this day in modern film, yet the power has never felt so palpable as it did when first used in The Searchers.