4. The Searchers (1956)
Recently declared by Sight and Sound magazine as one of the top 10 best films of all time, The Searchers is perhaps John Wayne's finest film. Directed by John Ford, The Searchers takes place in Texas, not long after the end of the American Civil War. When a nearby pack of Native Americans burn down his brother's house and kidnap his nieces, John Wayne's Ethan Edwards goes on a hunt which lasts years to try to track down his family. As time passes and the oldest daughter is found dead, the goal of the quest changes; no longer wanting to bring his pre-teen niece Debbie back home, Edwards decides he must kill her as she has likely fully integrated within the Comanche society. Later in the film, this thought is even reflected by Laurie Jorgensen who tells Martin Pawley, essentially Debbie's adopted brother, that Debbie's late mother would rather have her dead than live among the Native Americans. That's what love is, folks. Nothing quite says love like a subtextual sexual infatuation with your brother's wife and a desire to genocide your teenage niece due to seething, hideous racism.