10 Most Violent Westerns Ever Made
6. The Searchers (1956)
The oldest film on this list by a considerable amount of time, The Searchers is a classic, even amongst director John Ford’s incredible back catalogue. Other than simply being a great film, The Searchers marked the beginning of Ford breaking down his own ideas of the American Wild West. He took the genre that he had been so instrumental in creating and began to subvert stereotypes and ask questions.
Deviating from the American Hero he was built up to be, in this film John Wayne plays Ethan Edwards, the anti-hero who, throughout the film, manages to surprise you with an unpredictable grimness. After his family are brutally massacred, Edwards must go on a hunt to rescue his niece (Natalie Wood) from the Natives that have captured her.
Most of The Searchers’ most brutal moments come from its unpredictability; however the characters are still bloodthirsty, savage and violent.
Brutality aside though, John Wayne’s Ethan Edwards is one of the all time great, complex Western heroes and the reason why this film ranks so highly on everyone’s genre lists. Even though Ford was shakily attempting to write complex heroes, he ends up almost unconsciously doing it perfectly.