The Searchers

 

Yes I can see why this is considered John Wayne's best work. Wayne is not a great actor, but I think he is playing someone close to himself. He was the grandson of a civil war veteran. A physically big man of perhaps unreconstructed views. When he throws a bag at someone or snarls at someone and utters a slur. That's Wayne

It looks glorious - the techincolor does a great service to a big country. There is the red dust of the desert and the bright white snow . There is a battle at a ford. Wayne's Irish and Scottish  ancestors would have understood. This is a story of an abduction. Of slavery..

Though we don't see it. Wayne really does a good job returning to camp after burying the body of a descreated young woman- a kinswoman he knew

A comic scene where an Indian woman believes she has been married, for is used later to show the horror of the US Calvary's attack on an Indian camp. There is a meek soul among the dead

A heroic story without heroes