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The Searchers
- 718 statements
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Advertisement:propertag.cmd.push(function() { proper_display('tvtropes_content_3'); })The Searchers is a 1956 Western film directed by John Ford, starring John Wayne, Jeffrey Hunter, and Monument Valley, Utah. It's widely regarded as one of the greatest films ever made.Three years after the end of The American Civil War, Ethan Edwards (Wayne) rides back to his brother's family homestead in Texas. Ethan is wearing the jacket of a Confederate, and he's reticent about what he did after war, or where he obtained the money he's carrying. He intends to settle down, and to exchange long glances with his sister-in-law Martha (Dorothy Jordan), but fate has other plans in store for him.When Ethan rides out with the Texas Rangers to apprehend some cattle rustlers, a Comanche war party attacks the homestead, kidnapping young Debbie (Natalie Wood) and murdering the rest of the family. Ethan sets off in pursuit, accompanied by his nephew-by-adoption Martin Pawley (Hunter).Advertisement:propertag.cmd.push(function() { proper_display('tvtropes_content_2'); })The search drags on for years. Martin decides that he wants to start going steady with his childhood friend Laurie Jorgenson (Vera Miles); naturally, the fact that he won't give up the search for his sister complicates the relationship. Meanwhile, Ethan and Martin find that they don't quite see eye-to-eye on the nature of their real mission: Martin wants to rescue his sister; Ethan wants to kill some Comanche. And as far as Ethan's concerned, if Debbie's been married to one of those "bucks", she's no better than a Comanche...The Searchers is proof that the Revisionist Western didn't begin with Sergio Leone: This was one of the first films to examine the racism underpinning the frontier Indian conflicts.This film is also a subversion of John Wayne's usual persona: rather than a gruff but ultimately kind-hearted cowboy, Ethan Edwards is a conflicted Anti-Hero with a genuine nasty streak, a man who desecrates Comanche corpses on the off-chance that it will hurt them in the afterlife, and who enjoys firing on retreating enemies a little too much. Between unfulfilled love and fighting on the losing side of the Civil War, he's become so jaded that he seeks solace in abandoning his humanity — but finds in the end that he can't do it. Wayne's performance as this character is widely considered the best of his career.Advertisement:propertag.cmd.push(function() { proper_display('tvtropes_content_1'); })The film is widely influential and highly regarded: the American Film Institute ranked it #12 on their 2007 list of the 100 greatest movies; and #1 on their 2008 list of the ten greatest westerns. If you name any famous director born in 1940s (not that there aren't others), they almost certainly have an Homage to this film somewhere in one (if not more) of theirs. | |
The Searchers | fetched |
2018-10-11T08:45:11Z | |
The Searchers | parsed |
2020-06-25T17:21:27Z | |
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Dropped link to LittleBigMan: Not a Feature - ITEM | |
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The Searchers / int_12628662 | type |
The Call Knows Where You Live | |
The Searchers / int_12628662 | comment |
The Call Knows Where You Live: The raided homestead. | |
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The Searchers / int_143939c1 | type |
Trailers Always Spoil | |
The Searchers / int_143939c1 | comment |
Trailers Always Spoil: The trailer gives away the "I found Lucy back in the canyon" Wham Line exchange, as well as the moment of Ethan holding Debbie in his arms near the end. | |
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The Searchers | hasFeature |
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The Searchers / int_145490c6 | type |
Still Wearing the Old Colors | |
The Searchers / int_145490c6 | comment |
Still Wearing the Old Colors: Ethan is first seen wearing a Confederate Army jacket years after the war ended. | |
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The Searchers | hasFeature |
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The Searchers / int_14beeefd | type |
Darker and Edgier | |
The Searchers / int_14beeefd | comment |
Darker and Edgier: Arguably this is Wayne's bleakest role: it's easy to forget Edwards is a bitter, angry racist and borderline sociopath. | |
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The Searchers / int_191535aa | type |
Eiffel Tower Effect | |
The Searchers / int_191535aa | comment |
Eiffel Tower Effect: The fairly distinct landscape of Monument Valley is seen all over the South. | |
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The Searchers / int_1ed272c1 | type |
Automaton Horses | |
The Searchers / int_1ed272c1 | comment |
Automaton Horses: Averted. One character rides off in spite of Wayne's assertion that the horses need rest and grain. The next time we see him, he's wandering horseless in the desert carrying his saddle. | |
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The Searchers / int_222969af | type |
All There in the Script | |
The Searchers / int_222969af | comment |
All There in the Script: In the screenplay by Frank S. Nugent, the medal Ethan Edwards gives to Debbie is identified as "a gold medal or medallion" awarded by Emperor Maximilian of Mexico to mercenary soldiers who fought between 1865-67 for the Emperor Maximilian's French forces against Mexican revolutionaries. This medal implies Ethan served in the French Mexican Expedition during his three-year absence and also explains his fluency in Spanish. In reality, the medal being used is the Order of St. Sava, a decoration of the Kingdom of Serbia established in 1883 to recognize civilians for meritorious achievements. John Ford was an admirer of Serbian people and heritage since his war days and probably came in possession of the medal through his friendship with Peter Bogdanovich, who has Serbian roots. | |
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The Searchers / int_22cf536c | type |
Chekhov's Gun | |
The Searchers / int_22cf536c | comment |
Chekhov's Gun: Lieutenant Greenhill's sabre. See Brick Joke. | |
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The Searchers / int_237404cc | type |
Ironic Echo | |
The Searchers / int_237404cc | comment |
Ironic Echo: Early in the movie the dog barks a warning as the Comanche raiders sneak up on the Edwards family farm. Near the end, another dog barks out as the rangers close in on the Comanche camp, but Chief Scar does not heed the warning. There is also this: | |
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The Searchers / int_23e32a30 | type |
Genre Deconstruction | |
The Searchers / int_23e32a30 | comment |
Genre Deconstruction: Of The Western. The hero is unabashedly racist towards Native Americans - even toward his own adopted nephew, who is one-eighth Cherokee. He's still the hero, however, while his Comanche counterpart dies shamefully. And he's really no more racist than many of the other characters. What really makes him frightening is that he's both racist and insane. | |
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The Searchers / int_27a42ebc | type |
Spiritual Successor | |
The Searchers / int_27a42ebc | comment |
Spiritual Successor: Ford's Two Rode Together, which is basically The Searchers revisited as a black comedy. Henry Brandon even plays a Scar-like Indian chief. Taxi Driver is one as well, also about a bigoted anti-hero trying to rescue a young girl from a situation she doesn't entirely want to be rescued from. | |
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The Searchers / int_294ed981 | type |
Bilingual Bonus | |
The Searchers / int_294ed981 | comment |
Bilingual Bonus: Quite a bit, with both Comanche and Spanish. For instance, Marty at first does not realize that Chief Cicatriz = Chief Scar. Mocked in dialogue to hilarious effect. | |
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The Searchers / int_2aff6a25 | type |
Death of the Hypotenuse | |
The Searchers / int_2aff6a25 | comment |
Death of the Hypotenuse: Poor, poor T'sala-ta-komal-ta-name/Look. | |
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The Searchers / int_2dc0d2bf | type |
Hidden Depths | |
The Searchers / int_2dc0d2bf | comment |
Hidden Depths: For a bigot, Ethan certainly speaks "good Comanche", knows a lot about different Native Tribes, understands nuances and communicates with them. He's even more knowledgable than Martin Pawley, the liberal Audience Surrogate. | |
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The Searchers / int_316e9da2 | type |
Memetic Mutation | |
The Searchers / int_316e9da2 | comment |
With a little Memetic Mutation: it directly inspired Buddy Holly's song of the same name, for example. This also happens to be one of the only two songs that the Quarrymen, who eventually became The Beatles, ever recorded — Paul McCartney owns the acetate upon which those were recorded, which is the only original copy that was ever produced. | |
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The Searchers / int_32da548d | type |
Arch-Enemy | |
The Searchers / int_32da548d | comment |
Arch-Enemy: Ethan Edwards and Scar. Subverted as the duel between them never materializes and Scar is killed in a random manner by Martin Pawley. Ethan on coming across the body does however scalp it. | |
The Searchers / int_32da548d | featureApplicability |
-0.3 | |
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The Searchers | hasFeature |
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The Searchers / int_334b7f3a | type |
Cryptic Background Reference | |
The Searchers / int_334b7f3a | comment |
Cryptic Background Reference: Whatever happened to Ethan during the war. | |
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The Searchers | hasFeature |
The Searchers / int_334b7f3a | |
The Searchers / int_337a0f4 | type |
TrailersAlwaysLie | |
The Searchers / int_337a0f4 | comment |
Trailers Always Lie: Sort of, in regards to Ethan. The narration in the trailer plays up his "courage" and paints him as an unconquerable hero—and downplays his flaws to anger and loneliness. It shows the moment where he pulls the gun and tells Martin to "stand aside" from Debbie, but audiences almost certainly assumed there would be a justifiable context. | |
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The Searchers / int_34c67518 | type |
Save the Day, Turn Away | |
The Searchers / int_34c67518 | comment |
Save the Day, Turn Away: After spending years searching for his niece and saving her from the Indian tribe that kidnapped her, protagonist Ethan Edwards lingers in the doorway of his family's house and then leaves, rather than join his family in the house to celebrate the girl's return. Even the shot composition illustrates that Ethan's dark Anti-Hero tendencies (not to mention the undercurrent of racism that drove his quest) won't allow him to live a normal, happy life. | |
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The Searchers | hasFeature |
The Searchers / int_34c67518 | |
The Searchers / int_34dcfc96 | type |
KickTheDog | |
The Searchers / int_34dcfc96 | comment |
Kick the Dog: When Ethan fires wildly into a buffalo herd, howling, "They won't feed any Comanche this winter!" Try not to cringe. Scar chucks a rock at a dog that won't shut up. | |
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The Searchers | hasFeature |
The Searchers / int_34dcfc96 | |
The Searchers / int_3ebc57ac | type |
Going Native | |
The Searchers / int_3ebc57ac | comment |
Going Native: Debbie assimilates into Comanche life in order to survive. This is the thing Ethan fears most, and considers killing her. | |
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The Searchers | hasFeature |
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The Searchers / int_40cc0c7e | type |
Bittersweet Ending | |
The Searchers / int_40cc0c7e | comment |
Bittersweet Ending: Debbie is safe and Martin and Laurie are presumed to live Happily Ever After, but according to Wayne biographer Gary Wills, the reason Ethan stays outside the closing door at the end of the movie is not because he feels more at home in the wilderness, but because he knows the primal rage that has sustained him all his life and yet has driven him to madness and alienation will never leave. Realizing that he's reached a dead end psychologically, Ethan decides to go off into the desert to die. | |
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The Searchers / int_4252627f | type |
Determined Homesteader | |
The Searchers / int_4252627f | comment |
Determined Homesteader: Aaron Edwards and his family, as well as his neighbors. | |
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The Searchers / int_45de9bd6 | type |
Adopt the Dog | |
The Searchers / int_45de9bd6 | comment |
Adopt the Dog: Ethan Allen says that, when he finds his niece, he's going to do her a favor and put a bullet in her brain for having lived with the Comanches for so long. When he finally does catch up with her, he takes her up in his arms and says, "Let's go home." | |
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The Searchers / int_47ae290f | type |
Let's Fight Like Gentlemen | |
The Searchers / int_47ae290f | comment |
Let's Fight Like Gentlemen: Subverted repeatedly in the fistfight between Marty and Charlie. Which begins with a cute ritual of laying down a piece of wood and spitting over it. | |
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The Searchers / int_48e8fe57 | type |
Happily Adopted | |
The Searchers / int_48e8fe57 | comment |
Happily Adopted: Martin has lived with the Edwards family since he was young. They have always treated him with love and accepted him as one of their own. He calls them Aunt and Uncle and considers Debbie to be his little sister. | |
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The Searchers | hasFeature |
The Searchers / int_48e8fe57 | |
The Searchers / int_4968ed35 | type |
Door-Closes Ending | |
The Searchers / int_4968ed35 | comment |
Door Closes Ending: At the end a happy family reunion occurs inside a house, but Ethan realizes there is No Place for Me There and wanders off to the background desert. Ethan is left literally out of the picture as the door of the house closes and "The End" appears. | |
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The Searchers / int_4968ed35 | |
The Searchers / int_49d3b595 | type |
Cradle of Loneliness | |
The Searchers / int_49d3b595 | comment |
Cradle of Loneliness: One of the many visual hints of Ethan and Martha's relationship in the past is when Martha hugs Ethan's coat out of sight of other characters. Martha eventually married Ethan's brother and started a family. | |
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The Searchers | hasFeature |
The Searchers / int_49d3b595 | |
The Searchers / int_49d59be9 | type |
SceneryPorn | |
The Searchers / int_49d59be9 | comment |
Scenery Porn: Did we mention that this was filmed in Monument Valley? | |
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The Searchers | hasFeature |
The Searchers / int_49d59be9 | |
The Searchers / int_49f20c6a | type |
Gory Discretion Shot | |
The Searchers / int_49f20c6a | comment |
Gory Discretion Shot: We don't see the bodies of the family. Ethan stops Martin from going inside. He hits the hysterical boy to keep him from going inside and tells Mose "Don't let him go in there, Mose. It won't do him any good." Most notably when the film doesn't show Lucy's corpse. Ethan initially tried to lie and avoid telling her beau what happened: | |
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The Searchers / int_4e52a624 | type |
Screw the Money, I Have Rules! | |
The Searchers / int_4e52a624 | comment |
Screw the Money, I Have Rules!: Twice. Figueroa returning the money Ethan gave him after he realizes why Ethan wanted to speak to Scar, because he does not want blood money. Not that he didn't know from the get-go that they were planning to kill Scar, but because it appeared that he had unwittingly led the white men to their deaths. A little later Martin refuses to become Ethan's heir because his new will cuts out Ethan's surviving blood-relative, Debbie. | |
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The Searchers | hasFeature |
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The Searchers / int_4e8b83a | type |
That's an Order! | |
The Searchers / int_4e8b83a | comment |
That's an Order!: | |
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The Searchers | hasFeature |
The Searchers / int_4e8b83a | |
The Searchers / int_4fa1009b | type |
Open-Door Opening | |
The Searchers / int_4fa1009b | comment |
Open-Door Opening: The film opens with the camera moving through an opening doorway into a panoramic view of the desert. A matching scene of a closing door ends the film. | |
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The Searchers / int_50ca4422 | type |
Unresolved Sexual Tension | |
The Searchers / int_50ca4422 | comment |
Unresolved Sexual Tension: One of the many things in this film is famous for is the completely silent interactions between Ethan and his sister-in-law, which most people interpret as an unspoken form of this trope. | |
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The Searchers / int_50ca4422 | |
The Searchers / int_51f46e82 | type |
JerkassFacade | |
The Searchers / int_51f46e82 | comment |
Jerkass Façade: Ethan is genuinely a Jerkass, but he can't quite abandon his humanity like he wants to. | |
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The Searchers / int_51f46e82 | |
The Searchers / int_53224e46 | type |
Bookends | |
The Searchers / int_53224e46 | comment |
Bookends: The film opens and closes with a door. | |
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The Searchers / int_53224e46 | |
The Searchers / int_544b2bff | type |
Signature Item Clue | |
The Searchers / int_544b2bff | comment |
Signature Item Clue: Ethan gives Debbie his medal at the beginning and years later sees it around the neck of the man believed to have kidnapped her. Debbie reappears soon afterward. | |
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The Searchers | hasFeature |
The Searchers / int_544b2bff | |
The Searchers / int_55232afa | type |
Politically Incorrect Hero | |
The Searchers / int_55232afa | comment |
Politically Incorrect Hero: Ethan hates Indians, and he's not shy about expressing it, which oddly makes him more honest than the other settlers who behind closed doors, share his extreme views about captive women and miscegenation. | |
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The Searchers / int_55bf1a48 | type |
At Least I Admit It | |
The Searchers / int_55bf1a48 | comment |
At Least I Admit It: Of all the white characters, Ethan Edwards is the most openly racist but as the movie goes on, it turns out that nearly all of them unquestioningly share his views even if they never voice it, even the sympathetic Laurie Jorgensen (who is in love with the part-Cherokee Martin). | |
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The Searchers / int_56996e6a | type |
Returning War Vet | |
The Searchers / int_56996e6a | comment |
Returning War Vet: Ethan is a Confederate vet who returns to west Texas in 1868. | |
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The Searchers / int_56996e6a | |
The Searchers / int_59907e4f | type |
Police Are Useless | |
The Searchers / int_59907e4f | comment |
Police Are Useless: Inverted. When U. S. Cavalry Lieutenant Greenhill tells Texas Ranger Reverend Clayton that their company can't be ready to raid the Comanche camp tomorrow, Clayton just tells him to stay out of their way. | |
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The Searchers | hasFeature |
The Searchers / int_59907e4f | |
The Searchers / int_5dc04c4e | type |
Brownface | |
The Searchers / int_5dc04c4e | comment |
Brownface: Scar was played by Henry Brandon, a blue-eyed German. The Comanche extras are played by actual Navajo from Monument Valley, Utah (and they speak Navajo instead of Comanche, much to the confused amusement of Comanche moviegoers). | |
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The Searchers / int_5dc04c4e | |
The Searchers / int_5fd14ab3 | type |
Sacred Hospitality | |
The Searchers / int_5fd14ab3 | comment |
Sacred Hospitality: Martin asks why Scar didn't kill them while they were in the camp. Ethan muses that it was probably hospitality. | |
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The Searchers | hasFeature |
The Searchers / int_5fd14ab3 | |
The Searchers / int_60b21fa3 | type |
The Lancer | |
The Searchers / int_60b21fa3 | comment |
The Lancer: Marty. | |
The Searchers / int_60b21fa3 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
The Searchers / int_60b21fa3 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
The Searchers | hasFeature |
The Searchers / int_60b21fa3 | |
The Searchers / int_62f9d08e | type |
Freeze-Frame Bonus | |
The Searchers / int_62f9d08e | comment |
Freeze-Frame Bonus: Blink and you'll miss it, but the tombstone (of Ethan's mother) that Debbie hides next to reveals the source of Ethan's glaring hatred for Comanches. The marker reads: "Here lies Mary Jane Edwards killed by Comanches May 12, 1852. A good wife and mother in her 41st year." | |
The Searchers / int_62f9d08e | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
The Searchers / int_62f9d08e | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
The Searchers | hasFeature |
The Searchers / int_62f9d08e | |
The Searchers / int_6768d5e9 | type |
Music of Note | |
The Searchers / int_6768d5e9 | comment |
Music of Note: The Max Steiner score. | |
The Searchers / int_6768d5e9 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
The Searchers / int_6768d5e9 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
The Searchers | hasFeature |
The Searchers / int_6768d5e9 | |
The Searchers / int_6a6e2a10 | type |
Don't Call Me "Sir" | |
The Searchers / int_6a6e2a10 | comment |
Don't Call Me "Sir": Or Uncle Ethan. Or Methuselah. | |
The Searchers / int_6a6e2a10 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
The Searchers / int_6a6e2a10 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
The Searchers | hasFeature |
The Searchers / int_6a6e2a10 | |
The Searchers / int_6afd1c6 | type |
Seeking the Missing, Finding the Dead | |
The Searchers / int_6afd1c6 | comment |
Seeking the Missing, Finding the Dead: Ethan and Martin ride out to find Martin's two sisters, but they soon find the older sister's body. | |
The Searchers / int_6afd1c6 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
The Searchers / int_6afd1c6 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
The Searchers | hasFeature |
The Searchers / int_6afd1c6 | |
The Searchers / int_6c553873 | type |
Private Military Contractors | |
The Searchers / int_6c553873 | comment |
Private Military Contractors: Ethan became a mercenary after the defeat of the Confederacy. Ford suggested in an interview, that he might have fought for either Benito Juarez or the Emperor Maximilian, though Ford leans towards the latter on account of the shiny gold coins. | |
The Searchers / int_6c553873 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
The Searchers / int_6c553873 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
The Searchers | hasFeature |
The Searchers / int_6c553873 | |
The Searchers / int_6f66bef7 | type |
But Not Too Foreign | |
The Searchers / int_6f66bef7 | comment |
But Not Too Foreign: Martin Pawley is 1/8th Cherokee (though this doesn't restrain him from fighting Comanches). Ethan gives him a hard time for this, but ultimately comes to respect him, in a way. Martin was fully white in the original novella, and his ancestry was tweaked in the film to give Ethan some Character Development. | |
The Searchers / int_6f66bef7 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
The Searchers / int_6f66bef7 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
The Searchers | hasFeature |
The Searchers / int_6f66bef7 | |
The Searchers / int_708cabf8 | type |
Sleeping Dummy | |
The Searchers / int_708cabf8 | comment |
Sleeping Dummy: Ethan prepares one at his camp to fool Futterman. | |
The Searchers / int_708cabf8 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
The Searchers / int_708cabf8 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
The Searchers | hasFeature |
The Searchers / int_708cabf8 | |
The Searchers / int_71456526 | type |
VictoriousChildhoodFriend | |
The Searchers / int_71456526 | comment |
Victorious Childhood Friend: Or unlucky, considering how long she has to wait-Laurie Jorgensen. When Martin suggests they start "going steady", she pointedly tells him they have been going steady since they were three years old and it was about time he found out about it. | |
The Searchers / int_71456526 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
The Searchers / int_71456526 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
The Searchers | hasFeature |
The Searchers / int_71456526 | |
The Searchers / int_7335ffa9 | type |
Grey-and-Gray Morality | |
The Searchers / int_7335ffa9 | comment |
Grey and Gray Morality: One of the grayest westerns of the "classic era" (and any other era) in terms of dealing with the psychology and cultural attitudes in the Frontier in a way that is highly accurate and free of sentiment. | |
The Searchers / int_7335ffa9 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
The Searchers / int_7335ffa9 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
The Searchers | hasFeature |
The Searchers / int_7335ffa9 | |
The Searchers / int_734632b0 | type |
Noble Bigot | |
The Searchers / int_734632b0 | comment |
Noble Bigot: Ethan is bigoted toward both Comanches and Feds. | |
The Searchers / int_734632b0 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
The Searchers / int_734632b0 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
The Searchers | hasFeature |
The Searchers / int_734632b0 | |
The Searchers / int_7426582d | type |
Token Minority | |
The Searchers / int_7426582d | comment |
Token Minority: Martin Pawley, who is an octoroon (one-eighth) Cherokee. | |
The Searchers / int_7426582d | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
The Searchers / int_7426582d | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
The Searchers | hasFeature |
The Searchers / int_7426582d | |
The Searchers / int_7453bc5b | type |
Spared by the Adaptation | |
The Searchers / int_7453bc5b | comment |
Spared by the Adaptation: Amos dies in the book. In the film, the final shot implies that Ethan is "doomed to wander between the winds forever" or that he's going to step out and commit suicide off-screen. | |
The Searchers / int_7453bc5b | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
The Searchers / int_7453bc5b | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
The Searchers | hasFeature |
The Searchers / int_7453bc5b | |
The Searchers / int_75979171 | type |
The Cuckoolander Was Right | |
The Searchers / int_75979171 | comment |
The Cuckoolander Was Right: Mose Harper is looked on by everyone as a crazy old coot and is actually shown to be wrong on a couple of occasions at the beginning of the movie (about Ethan Edwards having gone to California and about the cattle-rustlers), but later on, on two occasions, he supplies crucial information about the whereabouts of Chief Scar and his camp. | |
The Searchers / int_75979171 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
The Searchers / int_75979171 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
The Searchers | hasFeature |
The Searchers / int_75979171 | |
The Searchers / int_75d6bf40 | type |
Belligerent Sexual Tension | |
The Searchers / int_75d6bf40 | comment |
Belligerent Sexual Tension: Between Martin and Laurie. | |
The Searchers / int_75d6bf40 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
The Searchers / int_75d6bf40 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
The Searchers | hasFeature |
The Searchers / int_75d6bf40 | |
The Searchers / int_7a143509 | type |
Shell-Shocked Veteran | |
The Searchers / int_7a143509 | comment |
Shell-Shocked Veteran: Ethan Edwards fought for the Confederacy during the Civil War (and its implied he worked as a mercenary in Mexico after the war)note In an interview with Bogdanovich, John Ford suggested he fought for the Emperor Maximilian against Benito Juarez, its possible that one reason for his crustiness is that he hasn't entirely recovered from war and service. | |
The Searchers / int_7a143509 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
The Searchers / int_7a143509 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
The Searchers | hasFeature |
The Searchers / int_7a143509 | |
The Searchers / int_7b100705 | type |
Determined Homesteader's Wife | |
The Searchers / int_7b100705 | comment |
Determined Homesteader's Wife: Mrs. Jorgensen, especially in her rousing speech of how this country (which her husband just blamed for the death of his son) will become a good place to live, even if it may take their bones in the ground to achieve it. | |
The Searchers / int_7b100705 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
The Searchers / int_7b100705 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
The Searchers | hasFeature |
The Searchers / int_7b100705 | |
The Searchers / int_813afa05 | type |
Defiled Forever | |
The Searchers / int_813afa05 | comment |
Defiled Forever: The Politically Incorrect Anti-Hero hates all Indians, whether violent or not (including his part-Cherokee adopted nephew) — and thinks that any white female who is raped by an Indian man (in this case, his younger niece) must die after being "defiled." | |
The Searchers / int_813afa05 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
The Searchers / int_813afa05 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
The Searchers | hasFeature |
The Searchers / int_813afa05 | |
The Searchers / int_864c4c53 | type |
Nobody Here but Us Birds | |
The Searchers / int_864c4c53 | comment |
Nobody Here but Us Birds: Ethan does a bird whistle when observing the Comanche camp before the Final Battle. | |
The Searchers / int_864c4c53 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
The Searchers / int_864c4c53 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
The Searchers | hasFeature |
The Searchers / int_864c4c53 | |
The Searchers / int_86b21114 | type |
Badass Boast | |
The Searchers / int_86b21114 | comment |
Badass Boast: | |
The Searchers / int_86b21114 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
The Searchers / int_86b21114 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
The Searchers | hasFeature |
The Searchers / int_86b21114 | |
The Searchers / int_88cee6e2 | type |
Abhorrent Admirer | |
The Searchers / int_88cee6e2 | comment |
Abhorrent Admirer: Martin views "Look", the plain, portly Comanche woman that he accidentally marries, as this. She's not aggressive towards him; as a matter of fact, she is very friendly, gentle and submissive, so it's clear that he wouldn't have treated her as such if she were tall, thin and sexy. | |
The Searchers / int_88cee6e2 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
The Searchers / int_88cee6e2 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
The Searchers | hasFeature |
The Searchers / int_88cee6e2 | |
The Searchers / int_8fcb5843 | type |
The Hunter Becomes the Hunted | |
The Searchers / int_8fcb5843 | comment |
The Hunter Becomes the Hunted: The roles of the hunter and the hunted switch several times throughout the film between Ethan Edwards and Scar. The first time this happens really dramatically is when the Rangers' posse pursuing the Comanches finds itself menaced from both sides and has to make a dash to the ford to avoid being annihilated. | |
The Searchers / int_8fcb5843 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
The Searchers / int_8fcb5843 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
The Searchers | hasFeature |
The Searchers / int_8fcb5843 | |
The Searchers / int_90328f91 | type |
Unscrupulous Hero | |
The Searchers / int_90328f91 | comment |
Unscrupulous Hero: Ethan is one of these. He seems quite burnt out by it at the end of the film, however. | |
The Searchers / int_90328f91 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
The Searchers / int_90328f91 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
The Searchers | hasFeature |
The Searchers / int_90328f91 | |
The Searchers / int_90b330ab | type |
No-Respect Guy | |
The Searchers / int_90b330ab | comment |
No Respect Guy: Martin, who is being kicked around or laughed at by Ethan most of the time. Though in the end Ethan warms over to him and leaves everything to him. | |
The Searchers / int_90b330ab | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
The Searchers / int_90b330ab | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
The Searchers | hasFeature |
The Searchers / int_90b330ab | |
The Searchers / int_924d0f71 | type |
Cavalry Officer | |
The Searchers / int_924d0f71 | comment |
Cavalry Officer: Pat Wayne as the green Lieutenant Greenhill. | |
The Searchers / int_924d0f71 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
The Searchers / int_924d0f71 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
The Searchers | hasFeature |
The Searchers / int_924d0f71 | |
The Searchers / int_970c790a | type |
Big Bad | |
The Searchers / int_970c790a | comment |
Big Bad: Chief Scar. | |
The Searchers / int_970c790a | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
The Searchers / int_970c790a | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
The Searchers | hasFeature |
The Searchers / int_970c790a | |
The Searchers / int_986bd638 | type |
This Is a Work of Fiction | |
The Searchers / int_986bd638 | comment |
This Is a Work of Fiction: Disclaimer during opening credits. | |
The Searchers / int_986bd638 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
The Searchers / int_986bd638 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
The Searchers | hasFeature |
The Searchers / int_986bd638 | |
The Searchers / int_993cf18f | type |
Not So Different | |
The Searchers / int_993cf18f | comment |
Not So Different: Ethan and Scar. Scar speaks "good American" for a Comanche, Ethan speaks "good Comanche" for an American. Likewise both of them fought the United States, Ethan Edwards as a Confederate, and Scar as a Comanche, and are out of place in the expansionist Union. Ethan became a mercenary after the South Lost, while Scar works as a freelance bandit and Indian raider for Mexicans on the Border. | |
The Searchers / int_993cf18f | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
The Searchers / int_993cf18f | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
The Searchers | hasFeature |
The Searchers / int_993cf18f | |
The Searchers / int_9bf7798d | type |
Mixed Ancestry | |
The Searchers / int_9bf7798d | comment |
Mixed Ancestry: Martin Pawley is 1/8th Cherokee. Ethan mocks him for this, but ultimately comes to regard him as a son regardless. | |
The Searchers / int_9bf7798d | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
The Searchers / int_9bf7798d | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
The Searchers | hasFeature |
The Searchers / int_9bf7798d | |
The Searchers / int_9f7769a2 | type |
The Gunslinger | |
The Searchers / int_9f7769a2 | comment |
The Gunslinger: Ethan demonstrates his gun slinging skills at one point. | |
The Searchers / int_9f7769a2 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
The Searchers / int_9f7769a2 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
The Searchers | hasFeature |
The Searchers / int_9f7769a2 | |
The Searchers / int_a2b38d3b | type |
Eye Scream | |
The Searchers / int_a2b38d3b | comment |
Eye Scream: Ethan shoots out the eyes of a Comanche corpse, just on the off chance that the Comanche religion is correct about people being unable to enter paradise without eyes. | |
The Searchers / int_a2b38d3b | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
The Searchers / int_a2b38d3b | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
The Searchers | hasFeature |
The Searchers / int_a2b38d3b | |
The Searchers / int_a3026af9 | type |
Wedding Smashers | |
The Searchers / int_a3026af9 | comment |
Wedding Smashers: Martin finally comes home just as Laurie is getting married to someone else. Fisticuffs ensue. | |
The Searchers / int_a3026af9 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
The Searchers / int_a3026af9 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
The Searchers | hasFeature |
The Searchers / int_a3026af9 | |
The Searchers / int_a33ff511 | type |
Indirect Kiss | |
The Searchers / int_a33ff511 | comment |
Indirect Kiss: Martha's tender handling of Ethan's coat is an example of this trope that does not even need to involve her lips. | |
The Searchers / int_a33ff511 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
The Searchers / int_a33ff511 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
The Searchers | hasFeature |
The Searchers / int_a33ff511 | |
The Searchers / int_a3f1531b | type |
Standard Snippet | |
The Searchers / int_a3f1531b | comment |
Standard Snippet: Some of the tunes that John Ford used in many of his films make a reappearance: The ballad "Lorena", a favourite of the Confederate Army, for emotional scenes involving Ethan, his sister-in-law Martha, and Debbie. "The Bonnie Blue Flag", a Confederate theme tune, is briefly heard at the beginning, as Ethan returns from the Civil War. "Yes, We'll Gather by the River", John Ford's favourite hymn, is performed both at the funeral and at the wedding. "The Yellow Rose of Texas" is played at the dance before the wedding ceremony. | |
The Searchers / int_a3f1531b | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
The Searchers / int_a3f1531b | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
The Searchers | hasFeature |
The Searchers / int_a3f1531b | |
The Searchers / int_a4c37cbe | type |
Mood Whiplash | |
The Searchers / int_a4c37cbe | comment |
Mood Whiplash: Especially in the 1950s, it must have been quite jarring for the audience to transition from laughing at the apparent comic-relief character Look to seeing her fear when Ethan and Marty put her under harsh questioning where Scar might be to her discovery as one of the victims of the cavalry massacre. | |
The Searchers / int_a4c37cbe | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
The Searchers / int_a4c37cbe | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
The Searchers | hasFeature |
The Searchers / int_a4c37cbe | |
The Searchers / int_a58e5ad7 | type |
Naked People Are Funny | |
The Searchers / int_a58e5ad7 | comment |
Naked People Are Funny: The scene with Martin in the bath and Laurie. | |
The Searchers / int_a58e5ad7 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
The Searchers / int_a58e5ad7 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
The Searchers | hasFeature |
The Searchers / int_a58e5ad7 | |
The Searchers / int_a5f998ea | type |
Stockholm Syndrome | |
The Searchers / int_a5f998ea | comment |
Stockholm Syndrome: It gets a little confusing, because at first Debbie says "These are my people" - but then, when her stepbrother sneaks into the Comanche camp to rescue her, she is happy to see him and wants to leave immediately. | |
The Searchers / int_a5f998ea | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
The Searchers / int_a5f998ea | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
The Searchers | hasFeature |
The Searchers / int_a5f998ea | |
The Searchers / int_a679184b | type |
Due to the Dead | |
The Searchers / int_a679184b | comment |
Due to the Dead: Ethan desecrates a Comanche corpse to drive home the point that he's not a nice guy. | |
The Searchers / int_a679184b | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
The Searchers / int_a679184b | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
The Searchers | hasFeature |
The Searchers / int_a679184b | |
The Searchers / int_a7850fbf | type |
Only Known by Their Nickname | |
The Searchers / int_a7850fbf | comment |
Only Known by Their Nickname: T'sala-ta-komal-ta-name is only known as "Look", but she allows Ethan and Martin to call her this to make it easier for them to say. | |
The Searchers / int_a7850fbf | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
The Searchers / int_a7850fbf | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
The Searchers | hasFeature |
The Searchers / int_a7850fbf | |
The Searchers / int_a7aef9ff | type |
Obfuscating Stupidity | |
The Searchers / int_a7aef9ff | comment |
Obfuscating Stupidity: Okay, so Mose Harper is already kind of a little....not there. But he pretends to be even crazier in order to escape from his Comanche captors, even eating grass like Nebuchadnezzar. | |
The Searchers / int_a7aef9ff | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
The Searchers / int_a7aef9ff | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
The Searchers | hasFeature |
The Searchers / int_a7aef9ff | |
The Searchers / int_a9fd0dff | type |
The Captivity Narrative | |
The Searchers / int_a9fd0dff | comment |
The Captivity Narrative: A modern subversion. The plot motor is whether John Wayne's bitter protagonist will rescue or shoot his Indian-kidnapped niece once he finally finds her, for the fear that she has been assimilated and tainted by evil savages. | |
The Searchers / int_a9fd0dff | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
The Searchers / int_a9fd0dff | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
The Searchers | hasFeature |
The Searchers / int_a9fd0dff | |
The Searchers / int_aabe2fb | type |
Deliberate Values Dissonance | |
The Searchers / int_aabe2fb | comment |
Deliberate Values Dissonance: The racism endemic in white Texan society in the 1860s and 1870s, where someone being 1/8th Cherokee was still a big deal, is not airbrushed out - even Laurie, one of the most sympathetic characters of the movie, is affected by it. That and Laurie telling Martin that Debbie isn't worthy saving after so many years of being a Comanche prisoner (possibly even forced to have children), and that her own mother would want Ethan to kill the girl. | |
The Searchers / int_aabe2fb | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
The Searchers / int_aabe2fb | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
The Searchers | hasFeature |
The Searchers / int_aabe2fb | |
The Searchers / int_abad35b4 | type |
Soundtrack Dissonance | |
The Searchers / int_abad35b4 | comment |
Soundtrack Dissonance: "Garry Owen", the actual marching song of the 7th cavalry, plays over a scene of the US cavalry returning from slaughtering an Indian village and hustling the survivors (mostly white women captured by the Indians) off to a fort. Comical music plays as Martin pushes his Comanche wife T'sala-ta-komal-ta-name down a hill. | |
The Searchers / int_abad35b4 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
The Searchers / int_abad35b4 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
The Searchers | hasFeature |
The Searchers / int_abad35b4 | |
The Searchers / int_ad1db87c | type |
Oh, Crap! | |
The Searchers / int_ad1db87c | comment |
Oh, Crap!: Lucy Edwards screams her head off when she realizes the Comanche are about to attack. | |
The Searchers / int_ad1db87c | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
The Searchers / int_ad1db87c | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
The Searchers | hasFeature |
The Searchers / int_ad1db87c | |
The Searchers / int_ad9fbc1e | type |
Pyrrhic Victory | |
The Searchers / int_ad9fbc1e | comment |
Pyrrhic Victory: Ethan rescued his niece from the Apache but she's gone native too long and will probably never recover. The quest also revealed Ethan's cruelty to his family and destroying their esteem for him. All he can do is walk back into the wilderness where he is better off. | |
The Searchers / int_ad9fbc1e | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
The Searchers / int_ad9fbc1e | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
The Searchers | hasFeature |
The Searchers / int_ad9fbc1e | |
The Searchers / int_ae3d6438 | type |
Deadpan Snarker | |
The Searchers / int_ae3d6438 | comment |
Deadpan Snarker: Ethan. But then, this is John Wayne we're talking about. Scar has his moment of snark, too. See Ironic Echo, below. | |
The Searchers / int_ae3d6438 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
The Searchers / int_ae3d6438 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
The Searchers | hasFeature |
The Searchers / int_ae3d6438 | |
The Searchers / int_aef5c283 | type |
Off-into-the-Distance Ending | |
The Searchers / int_aef5c283 | comment |
Off-into-the-Distance Ending: The last shot from inside the house, showing the hero walk away into the distance, then the door closes. | |
The Searchers / int_aef5c283 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
The Searchers / int_aef5c283 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
The Searchers | hasFeature |
The Searchers / int_aef5c283 | |
The Searchers / int_af921409 | type |
Accidental Marriage | |
The Searchers / int_af921409 | comment |
Accidental Marriage / Accidental Proposal: Martin Pawley thinks he's buying a blanket from some Indians. Turns out he's married one of them instead, "Look". Ethan Edwards thinks it's hilarious. He is also rather nicer to the unexpected bride than her "husband", despite the fact that she's a Comanche. Still, he does laugh at her expense when Martin roughly pushes her away. | |
The Searchers / int_af921409 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
The Searchers / int_af921409 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
The Searchers | hasFeature |
The Searchers / int_af921409 | |
The Searchers / int_b01abe4f | type |
Catchphrase | |
The Searchers / int_b01abe4f | comment |
Catch-Phrase: Ethan's "That'll be the day." With a little Memetic Mutation: it directly inspired Buddy Holly's song of the same name, for example. This also happens to be one of the only two songs that the Quarrymen, who eventually became The Beatles, ever recorded — Paul McCartney owns the acetate upon which those were recorded, which is the only original copy that was ever produced. | |
The Searchers / int_b01abe4f | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
The Searchers / int_b01abe4f | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
The Searchers | hasFeature |
The Searchers / int_b01abe4f | |
The Searchers / int_b3dce477 | type |
Recurring Camera Shot | |
The Searchers / int_b3dce477 | comment |
Recurring Camera Shot: Recurring shots of the sun-drenched desert, flanked by shadowy foreground objects, pop up as Book-Ends, and a few times in the middle of the film. | |
The Searchers / int_b3dce477 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
The Searchers / int_b3dce477 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
The Searchers | hasFeature |
The Searchers / int_b3dce477 | |
The Searchers / int_b871de85 | type |
Annoying Laugh | |
The Searchers / int_b871de85 | comment |
Annoying Laugh: HAWH HAWH HAWH! | |
The Searchers / int_b871de85 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
The Searchers / int_b871de85 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
The Searchers | hasFeature |
The Searchers / int_b871de85 | |
The Searchers / int_bb656150 | type |
Hostage MacGuffin | |
The Searchers / int_bb656150 | comment |
Hostage MacGuffin: Ethan & Co. spend years searching for his niece, abducted by Injuns. | |
The Searchers / int_bb656150 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
The Searchers / int_bb656150 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
The Searchers | hasFeature |
The Searchers / int_bb656150 | |
The Searchers / int_bc502e4b | type |
You Are What You Hate | |
The Searchers / int_bc502e4b | comment |
You Are What You Hate: For a racist hatemonger, Ethan Edwards knows a great deal about Comanche rituals and culture, he's far better informed about native tribes and their habits than the part-Cherokee Martin (who was raised among the Settlers). This is Lampshaded by Scar who notes that Ethan speaks "good Comanche". | |
The Searchers / int_bc502e4b | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
The Searchers / int_bc502e4b | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
The Searchers | hasFeature |
The Searchers / int_bc502e4b | |
The Searchers / int_bdd26742 | type |
Tragic Bigot | |
The Searchers / int_bdd26742 | comment |
Tragic Bigot: While Ethan Edwards is basically a Jerkass to everyone, he gains a little sympathy over his hatred of Comanches since a group of them killed his family and took his niece to live as one of them. | |
The Searchers / int_bdd26742 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
The Searchers / int_bdd26742 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
The Searchers | hasFeature |
The Searchers / int_bdd26742 | |
The Searchers / int_be009bbc | type |
Alliterative Name | |
The Searchers / int_be009bbc | comment |
Alliterative Name: Ethan Edwards. | |
The Searchers / int_be009bbc | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
The Searchers / int_be009bbc | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
The Searchers | hasFeature |
The Searchers / int_be009bbc | |
The Searchers / int_beb9a361 | type |
Anti-Hero | |
The Searchers / int_beb9a361 | comment |
Anti-Hero: We'll give you one guess. | |
The Searchers / int_beb9a361 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
The Searchers / int_beb9a361 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
The Searchers | hasFeature |
The Searchers / int_beb9a361 | |
The Searchers / int_c335b9ec | type |
Irony | |
The Searchers / int_c335b9ec | comment |
Irony: Despite opposing Ethan's quest for revenge, and calling him out on his crazy violence, it's finally Martin Pawley, the relatively pacifistic part-Cherokee sidekick who kills Scar, when he comes and rescues Debbie. | |
The Searchers / int_c335b9ec | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
The Searchers / int_c335b9ec | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
The Searchers | hasFeature |
The Searchers / int_c335b9ec | |
The Searchers / int_c3963bc4 | type |
No Place for Me There | |
The Searchers / int_c3963bc4 | comment |
No Place for Me There: Ethan at the end, as he realizes he is no longer welcome with the family he saved. | |
The Searchers / int_c3963bc4 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
The Searchers / int_c3963bc4 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
The Searchers | hasFeature |
The Searchers / int_c3963bc4 | |
The Searchers / int_c3c18143 | type |
Hope Spot | |
The Searchers / int_c3c18143 | comment |
Hope Spot: Brad discovers a group holding what appears to be Lucy and urges both Ethan and Marty to launch a rescue. Ethan grimly reveals he discovered Lucy's corpse earlier, and it's likely an Indian wearing her dress. Brad doesn't take this news well. | |
The Searchers / int_c3c18143 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
The Searchers / int_c3c18143 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
The Searchers | hasFeature |
The Searchers / int_c3c18143 | |
The Searchers / int_c5249c79 | type |
Nice Hat | |
The Searchers / int_c5249c79 | comment |
Nice Hat: Reverend Clayton is very fond of his top hat. When getting ready to gallop the horses to escape the Comanche ambush, he makes sure to tie it down with a handkerchief. When he's yelling at Greenhill, he almost throws it down in the dirt, but stops himself at the last moment. | |
The Searchers / int_c5249c79 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
The Searchers / int_c5249c79 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
The Searchers | hasFeature |
The Searchers / int_c5249c79 | |
The Searchers / int_c59d9a4b | type |
Half-Breed Discrimination | |
The Searchers / int_c59d9a4b | comment |
Half-Breed Discrimination: Edwards shows quite a bit of this toward Martin Pawley, who is one-eighth Cherokee. | |
The Searchers / int_c59d9a4b | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
The Searchers / int_c59d9a4b | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
The Searchers | hasFeature |
The Searchers / int_c59d9a4b | |
The Searchers / int_c75df49a | type |
Shout-Out | |
The Searchers / int_c75df49a | comment |
Shout-Out: Ethan's gesture in the final scene, gripping his dangling arm, was an imitation of and a tribute to early Western star Harry Carey, whose son, Harry Carey, Jr., worked with Wayne on a number of films, including this one (he plays Brad, and his mother Olive Carey plays Brad and Laurie's mother). | |
The Searchers / int_c75df49a | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
The Searchers / int_c75df49a | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
The Searchers | hasFeature |
The Searchers / int_c75df49a | |
The Searchers / int_c868a42a | type |
Freudian Excuse | |
The Searchers / int_c868a42a | comment |
Freudian Excuse: Chief Scar, whose son was killed by whites. As noted above, Comanches killed Ethan's mother. Not to mention the massacre at the start of the film, which only thrives his racism. | |
The Searchers / int_c868a42a | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
The Searchers / int_c868a42a | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
The Searchers | hasFeature |
The Searchers / int_c868a42a | |
The Searchers / int_c8d6d621 | type |
I Will Wait for You | |
The Searchers / int_c8d6d621 | comment |
I Will Wait for You: Laurie Jorgensen does this for Marty. At first you can even say that "absence makes the heart grow fonder" - contrast her subdued goodbye to Martin when he first sets out after the funeral (they just shake hands) to her exuberant and (by 1870s standards) almost indecent welcome when he and Ethan first return to the Jorgensen homestead a couple of years later. This was implied to have been History Repeats for Ethan and Martha. Ethan was away too long and eventually Martha had to Settle for Sibling. | |
The Searchers / int_c8d6d621 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
The Searchers / int_c8d6d621 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
The Searchers | hasFeature |
The Searchers / int_c8d6d621 | |
The Searchers / int_ca021a4e | type |
Will Talk for a Price | |
The Searchers / int_ca021a4e | comment |
Will Talk for a Price: Futterman would talk to Ethan only for money. | |
The Searchers / int_ca021a4e | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
The Searchers / int_ca021a4e | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
The Searchers | hasFeature |
The Searchers / int_ca021a4e | |
The Searchers / int_ca81eae7 | type |
Hollywood Darkness | |
The Searchers / int_ca81eae7 | comment |
Hollywood Darkness: Not very convincing at all, since they're supposed to be way out in the middle of nowhere in the American West, and yet the sky is dark-to-medium blue. | |
The Searchers / int_ca81eae7 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
The Searchers / int_ca81eae7 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
The Searchers | hasFeature |
The Searchers / int_ca81eae7 | |
The Searchers / int_cdfe12c3 | type |
Nothing Is Scarier | |
The Searchers / int_cdfe12c3 | comment |
Nothing Is Scarier: The buildup to the Chief Scar’s raid (complete with murder and rape that can’t be shown onscreen) on the Edwards homestead turns a scene that otherwise would have qualified as Narm into something that is effectively scary indeed. We already know what’s coming, for that’s been established by the absent members of the Edwards family realizing that they’ve been drawn into setting out on a scouting mission by the Comanche war party so that the older, female and child members of the family would be unprotected. But the victims themselves at first give little indication that they know what will happen (even though they obviously do), at first trying (and failing) to let on that anything is wrong at all. The eerie silence of the prairie – except for the bizarre cry of a prairie chicken – also contributes to the atmosphere. There’s also the boy’s plaintively voiced fear: “I wish Uncle Ethan was here.” But worst of all is the slow emotional ungluing of the Edwards women – from nervous to frantic to terrified to hysterical to bitterly resigned to their fate – and all this before we see a single Comanche! The eventual violence is shown to us only as a smoking, charcoaled house, but we can imagine the rest vividly. | |
The Searchers / int_cdfe12c3 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
The Searchers / int_cdfe12c3 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
The Searchers | hasFeature |
The Searchers / int_cdfe12c3 | |
The Searchers / int_ceec4df5 | type |
Roaring Rampage of Revenge | |
The Searchers / int_ceec4df5 | comment |
Roaring Rampage of Revenge: Rather averted with Brad. He goes charging off to avenge Lucy and promptly gets gunned down off screen. | |
The Searchers / int_ceec4df5 | featureApplicability |
-1.0 | |
The Searchers / int_ceec4df5 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
The Searchers | hasFeature |
The Searchers / int_ceec4df5 | |
The Searchers / int_d03fc3f1 | type |
Good Shepherd | |
The Searchers / int_d03fc3f1 | comment |
Good Shepherd: Rev. Capt. Samuel Johnston Clayton. | |
The Searchers / int_d03fc3f1 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
The Searchers / int_d03fc3f1 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
The Searchers | hasFeature |
The Searchers / int_d03fc3f1 | |
The Searchers / int_d46ddfa2 | type |
CloudCuckooLander | |
The Searchers / int_d46ddfa2 | comment |
Cloud Cuckoolander: Mose Harper. Though it's hinted he might not be quite as out there as he appears to be. | |
The Searchers / int_d46ddfa2 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
The Searchers / int_d46ddfa2 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
The Searchers | hasFeature |
The Searchers / int_d46ddfa2 | |
The Searchers / int_d51263b9 | type |
Fake Shemp | |
The Searchers / int_d51263b9 | comment |
Fake Shemp: Hank Worden ("Old Mose Harper") was tied up finishing shooting on The Indian Fighter and was unavailable for some shots in this movie. In scenes where the Rangers have ridden out together in Monument Valley, "Old Mose Harper" is played in group shots by another actor hanging back and hiding his face. Single shots of Worden as Harper in these scenes were shot later. | |
The Searchers / int_d51263b9 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
The Searchers / int_d51263b9 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
The Searchers | hasFeature |
The Searchers / int_d51263b9 | |
The Searchers / int_d60bc4a0 | type |
Longing Look | |
The Searchers / int_d60bc4a0 | comment |
Longing Look: A couple of very long exchanged glances are the audience's only clue of Ethan and Martha's feelings for each other. | |
The Searchers / int_d60bc4a0 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
The Searchers / int_d60bc4a0 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
The Searchers | hasFeature |
The Searchers / int_d60bc4a0 | |
The Searchers / int_d64c3cd4 | type |
Living MacGuffin | |
The Searchers / int_d64c3cd4 | comment |
Living MacGuffin: Debbie. The whole plot involves finding her. | |
The Searchers / int_d64c3cd4 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
The Searchers / int_d64c3cd4 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
The Searchers | hasFeature |
The Searchers / int_d64c3cd4 | |
The Searchers / int_d76f6f31 | type |
Obligatory War Crime Scene | |
The Searchers / int_d76f6f31 | comment |
Obligatory War-Crime Scene: They stumble across some of this done by the Comanches early in the film as well as a random Indian woman killed by the cavalry later in the movie. The general point is that on both sides there is Gray and Grey Morality and innocents, both settlers and natives, truly suffer in this crossfire and there's blood on everyone's hands. The second scene foreshadows a similar one in Little Big Man, featuring the same unit, the 7th Cavalry, and their regimental tune, "Garry Owen". | |
The Searchers / int_d76f6f31 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
The Searchers / int_d76f6f31 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
The Searchers | hasFeature |
The Searchers / int_d76f6f31 | |
The Searchers / int_d7b34c31 | type |
Everyone Calls Him "Barkeep" | |
The Searchers / int_d7b34c31 | comment |
Everyone Calls Him "Barkeep": Look. Her real name is T'sala-ta-komal-ta-name (Wild Goose Flying in the Night Sky). | |
The Searchers / int_d7b34c31 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
The Searchers / int_d7b34c31 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
The Searchers | hasFeature |
The Searchers / int_d7b34c31 | |
The Searchers / int_d7c3ba61 | type |
Race Lift | |
The Searchers / int_d7c3ba61 | comment |
Race Lift: Martin was white in the novella. In the film, he's 1/8 Cherokee | |
The Searchers / int_d7c3ba61 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
The Searchers / int_d7c3ba61 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
The Searchers | hasFeature |
The Searchers / int_d7c3ba61 | |
The Searchers / int_da46a2c0 | type |
Hollywood Atheist | |
The Searchers / int_da46a2c0 | comment |
Hollywood Atheist: Ethan frequently makes disdainful comments about religion throughout the film. At one point he describes Christianity to a reverend as "by what you preach", rather than "we preach" which suggests that he doesn't consider himself Christian anymore. | |
The Searchers / int_da46a2c0 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
The Searchers / int_da46a2c0 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
The Searchers | hasFeature |
The Searchers / int_da46a2c0 | |
The Searchers / int_dc057cf3 | type |
Adaptation Name Change | |
The Searchers / int_dc057cf3 | comment |
Adaptation Name Change: Ethan was called Amos in the novel. | |
The Searchers / int_dc057cf3 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
The Searchers / int_dc057cf3 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
The Searchers | hasFeature |
The Searchers / int_dc057cf3 | |
The Searchers / int_e003c829 | type |
History Repeats | |
The Searchers / int_e003c829 | comment |
This was implied to have been History Repeats for Ethan and Martha. Ethan was away too long and eventually Martha had to Settle for Sibling. | |
The Searchers / int_e003c829 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
The Searchers / int_e003c829 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
The Searchers | hasFeature |
The Searchers / int_e003c829 | |
The Searchers / int_e3c20140 | type |
As Long as It Sounds Foreign | |
The Searchers / int_e3c20140 | comment |
As Long as It Sounds Foreign: Make that "as long as it sounds Indian." Except for Chief Scar, the Comanches are played by Navajo actors who wear Navajo clothing, dance Navajo dances, and speak the Navajo language (which is not even close to Comanche). Real Life Navajo viewers often laugh at the film because the dialogue often includes Bilingual Bonus making fun of the casting. | |
The Searchers / int_e3c20140 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
The Searchers / int_e3c20140 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
The Searchers | hasFeature |
The Searchers / int_e3c20140 | |
The Searchers / int_e3d2f2 | type |
The Fool | |
The Searchers / int_e3d2f2 | comment |
The Fool: Mose Harper. Indeed, some film critics describe him as a kind of archetypical "holy fool". | |
The Searchers / int_e3d2f2 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
The Searchers / int_e3d2f2 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
The Searchers | hasFeature |
The Searchers / int_e3d2f2 | |
The Searchers / int_e4b69188 | type |
Very Loosely Based on a True Story | |
The Searchers / int_e4b69188 | comment |
Very Loosely Based on a True Story: The film was inspired by real events. In 1836 Comanches abducted one Cynthia Ann Parker. She was raised by them, became a member of the tribe and gave birth to a son. One day US soldiers attacked the tribe's encampment and "recaptured" her. However, she did not want to leave "her people", and regretted this and the loss of her son for the rest of her life. Fiction, however, has nothing on truth: Her son, Quanah Parker, became a Comanche leader and fought the army for many years. When he and his band finally surrendered, he went to live among whites and became a successful businessman. | |
The Searchers / int_e4b69188 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
The Searchers / int_e4b69188 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
The Searchers | hasFeature |
The Searchers / int_e4b69188 | |
The Searchers / int_e567510d | type |
Determinator | |
The Searchers / int_e567510d | comment |
Determinator: Both Ethan and Martin. Ethan spends years searching for Debbie after everyone else has lost hope. Martin follows him faithfully through all of it. | |
The Searchers / int_e567510d | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
The Searchers / int_e567510d | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
The Searchers | hasFeature |
The Searchers / int_e567510d | |
The Searchers / int_e596f27b | type |
Star-Crossed Lovers | |
The Searchers / int_e596f27b | comment |
Star-Crossed Lovers: Ethan and Martha. It's purely subtext in the film, but according to a John Wayne interview, John Ford hinted many times that Ethan may have been the father of Lucy and Debbie. There are many meaningful glances between the two, he kisses her a little too tenderly on the forehead, and when he returns to find the homestead burning, it's not his brother's name or anyone else he calls out - it's Martha. | |
The Searchers / int_e596f27b | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
The Searchers / int_e596f27b | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
The Searchers | hasFeature |
The Searchers / int_e596f27b | |
The Searchers / int_e7f9c214 | type |
Barred from the Afterlife | |
The Searchers / int_e7f9c214 | comment |
Barred from the Afterlife / Desecrating the Dead: A group chasing a Comanche war party finds the grave of a dead Comanche. One man angrily smashes him with a rock but Ethan pulls out his gun and shoots out the corpse's eyes. When asked by a Texas Ranger/Preacher what good that did, Ethan answers that by what the preacher believes, nothing, but the Indians believe that if he has no eyes he can't enter the afterlife and just has to wander "between the winds". Ironically the final shot, implies heavily that this is Ethan Edwards' fate as well. | |
The Searchers / int_e7f9c214 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
The Searchers / int_e7f9c214 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
The Searchers | hasFeature |
The Searchers / int_e7f9c214 | |
The Searchers / int_e9f517e1 | type |
Artistic License – Geography | |
The Searchers / int_e9f517e1 | comment |
Artistic License – Geography: The great state of Texas with its fairly distinct landscape is contained in the fairly small Monument Valley, Utah, where Ethan Edwards and Martin spend years circling the same valley over and over again. | |
The Searchers / int_e9f517e1 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
The Searchers / int_e9f517e1 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
The Searchers | hasFeature |
The Searchers / int_e9f517e1 | |
The Searchers / int_ea1fe5d3 | type |
StakingTheLovedOne | |
The Searchers / int_ea1fe5d3 | comment |
Staking the Loved One: Debbie Edwards's own family expect her uncle to kill her after they learn she's been indoctrinated by the Comanches who kidnapped her into becoming their squaw - and they have hardly any regrets, because after all Debbie is now the enemy. | |
The Searchers / int_ea1fe5d3 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
The Searchers / int_ea1fe5d3 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
The Searchers | hasFeature |
The Searchers / int_ea1fe5d3 | |
The Searchers / int_eb81c601 | type |
Big Damn Heroes | |
The Searchers / int_eb81c601 | comment |
Big Damn Heroes: Averted. Ethan knows the rangers can't make it in time to stop the raid on the homestead. He stops to water and rest his horse, visibly worried about what is going to happen to his family. The rest of the rangers ride off, hoping they can make it back in time to save everyone. They don't. | |
The Searchers / int_eb81c601 | featureApplicability |
-1.0 | |
The Searchers / int_eb81c601 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
The Searchers | hasFeature |
The Searchers / int_eb81c601 | |
The Searchers / int_ee637bc2 | type |
You Have Waited Long Enough | |
The Searchers / int_ee637bc2 | comment |
You Have Waited Long Enough: Laurie almost marries someone else, but given that Marty only sent her one letter in about five years that is understandable. (And your letter mentions how you accidentally married another woman). | |
The Searchers / int_ee637bc2 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
The Searchers / int_ee637bc2 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
The Searchers | hasFeature |
The Searchers / int_ee637bc2 | |
The Searchers / int_ef20d7bc | type |
A Minor Kidroduction | |
The Searchers / int_ef20d7bc | comment |
A Minor Kidroduction: That's Natalie Wood's little sister Lana playing Debbie in the opening scenes where Debbie is kidnapped. | |
The Searchers / int_ef20d7bc | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
The Searchers / int_ef20d7bc | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
The Searchers | hasFeature |
The Searchers / int_ef20d7bc | |
The Searchers / int_f12c6fb1 | type |
Surprisingly Sudden Death | |
The Searchers / int_f12c6fb1 | comment |
Surprisingly Sudden Death: After an entire film of buildup, Scar gets killed unceremoniously when he sneaks behind Martin Pawley, Pawley wasn't even aware that it was Scar when he shot him, and the film emphasizes the suddenness by refusing to linger on Scar's body. It's only when Ethan comes into the tent and sees the body that you realize it was Scar, and the quick cut implies that Ethan scalped his old foe. | |
The Searchers / int_f12c6fb1 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
The Searchers / int_f12c6fb1 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
The Searchers | hasFeature |
The Searchers / int_f12c6fb1 | |
The Searchers / int_f13a0451 | type |
Suicide Attack | |
The Searchers / int_f13a0451 | comment |
Suicide Attack: When Brad finds out what happened to Lucy, he charges into the Comanche camp, fully knowing it's a trap. Martin tries to stop him, but Ethan knows it's no good. A few shots are heard, and the scene cuts to the next morning when Ethan and Martin continue on, alone. | |
The Searchers / int_f13a0451 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
The Searchers / int_f13a0451 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
The Searchers | hasFeature |
The Searchers / int_f13a0451 | |
The Searchers / int_f67171cc | type |
Empathy Doll Shot | |
The Searchers / int_f67171cc | comment |
Empathy Doll Shot: Debbie's doll that Ethan finds in the backyard after the raid. | |
The Searchers / int_f67171cc | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
The Searchers / int_f67171cc | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
The Searchers | hasFeature |
The Searchers / int_f67171cc | |
The Searchers / int_f7bbd5b0 | type |
I Will Find You | |
The Searchers / int_f7bbd5b0 | comment |
I Will Find You: Ethan and Marty, looking for Debbie. | |
The Searchers / int_f7bbd5b0 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
The Searchers / int_f7bbd5b0 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
The Searchers | hasFeature |
The Searchers / int_f7bbd5b0 | |
The Searchers / int_f962d8a3 | type |
Victory by Endurance | |
The Searchers / int_f962d8a3 | comment |
Victory by Endurance: As the page quote demonstrates, Ethan lives this trope. | |
The Searchers / int_f962d8a3 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
The Searchers / int_f962d8a3 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
The Searchers | hasFeature |
The Searchers / int_f962d8a3 | |
The Searchers / int_fc9379ed | type |
Sidekick Graduations Stick | |
The Searchers / int_fc9379ed | comment |
Sidekick Graduations Stick: While Martin Pawley starts as Ethan's sidekick and Butt-Monkey, he gradually becomes The Hero in the film's final half, winning the support and admiration of the Jorgensen family and settler community, succeeding in securing Laurie where Ethan lost Martha, and ironically being the man who killed Scar even if he was Ethan's Arch-Enemy, Ethan even comes around to naming Martin Pawley his heir. Critics suggest that Ford considered Pawley to represent America's future, being multi-cultural (part Cherokee), protective and less masculine than Wayne, and this is the positive kernel in the overall Bittersweet Ending. | |
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Brick Joke | |
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Brick Joke: Before the battle, Reverend Clayton has to keep telling Greenhill to be careful where he swings his sword. After it's over, Clayton is having a wound on his rear treated, and the doctor asks if it was an arrow or a bullet. Clayton just says "No" while glaring at Greenhill. | |
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The Searchers |
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