This Movie With 87% On Rotten Tomatoes Was John Wayne's All-Time Favorite Western

Out of all the great Westerns produced by Hollywood during John Wayne's time in the industry, both with and without the actor, one stands out as his all-time favorite. The Searchers, one of several Westerns John Wayne made in the 1950s, has been recognized as one of the actor's biggest and best contributions to the genre. And apparently, this is a notion shared by Wayne himself.

The Searchers was among the products of John Wayne's long and storied working relationship with John Ford. With Wayne as the star and Ford as the director, the pair collaborated on several movies, beginning with Stagecoach in 1939 and ending with Donovan's Reef in 1963. The two films bookended an impressive list of films, mostly Westerns. Their partnership seemed to peak in the 1950s, which was when they had multiple hits together. A tremendous part of that success stemmed from The Searchers.

John Wayne Thought The Searchers Was The Greatest Western Movie Ever Made

It Wasn't Just His Favorite Of His Own Westerns

John Wayne's high regard for The Searchers was revealed in 1977 when he spoke to The People's Almanac. The magazine requested that John Wayne offer his picks for the five greatest movies ever made. In response, Wayne came up with Gone With the Wind, A Man For All Seasons, The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse, The Quiet Man, and The Searchers. When assembling his list, Wayne notably included two of his own films (The Searchers and The Quiet Man). There's much to discern from Wayne's choices, with one of the most interesting details being that The Searchers was the only Western of his five favorites.

A big part of what makes this so noteworthy is the immense body of work that John Wayne has as a Western star. Over the years, his performances yielded a number of hits in the genre, including Stagecoach, The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance, True Grit, Rio Bravo, Red River, and The Cowboys. All things considered, Wayne had dozens of excellent entries to choose from, so the actor settling on The Searchers as the best Western speaks volumes about how much he valued his work on the film and his view of the movie as a whole.

The Searchers Is One Of John Wayne's Best Westerns

It's Easy To Understand Why John Wayne Loved The Searchers

When looking back on The Searchers, it's not hard to understand his appreciation for the film. It made excellent use of Wayne's talents and onscreen presence, using it to create one of the most nuanced characters in his career via Ethan Edwards, an ex-Confederate soldier on a long and desperate search to find a woman kidnapped by Comanches, whom he hates passionately. Its approach to Wayne's character and his war with the Comanches makes The Searchers considerably darker and more violent than his usual work, but compelling nonetheless.

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It's worth pointing out that John Wayne is hardly alone in his opinion of The Searchers. As a Western with enduring popularity and an 87% Rotten Tomatoes score, The Searchers has a long-held reputation as an outstanding entry into the Western genre, with its influence on filmmakers like Martin Scorsese serving as a testament to its quality.

The Searchers is a 1956 Western drama starring John Wayne. Wayne stars as Ethan Edwards, who goes searching for his missing niece after his brother's family is killed by the Comanche tribe. Helmed by director John Ford, The Searchers is now considered one of the greatest American Westerns ever made.

Director John Ford

Release Date March 13, 1956

Studio(s) Warner Bros. Pictures

Distributor(s) Warner Bros. Pictures

Writers John Ford

Cast John Wayne