This is the supreme masterpiece of the genre, forever compelling and moving, superb in every department, including John Wayne’s greatest performance and arguably the most memorable final shot in all of cinema.” Angie Errigo “I cannot imagine American cinema without John Ford who, among other things, created and defined the western. “Perhaps the first, and greatest, revisionist western.” Jon Towlson “Still mesmerising and full of mystery.” Christian Viviani But Ford holds audiences in his visual and narrative thrall to the very end so that when the door shuts on Ethan, it's hard not to think about those who get left behind when the world moves on.” Domino Renee Perez Racist and unyielding, Ethan is not likeable and his redemption seems impossible. He has helped to preserve a world he cannot be a part of any longer. A relic of the past, he cannot cross over the threshold into the civilised world. “The iconic image of Ethan Edwards framed in the doorway, the expanse of the West stretching behind him, is as lyrical as it is telling. ![]() It is one of the medium’s most unforgettable images of isolation. ![]() Ford sets the hulking actor against the awe-inspiringly rugged terrain of Arizona’s Monument Valley and, in the iconic final shot, frames him within the doorway of a homestead, standing outside on the cusp of a civilisation where he can never fit in. ![]() Intending to kill his kidnapped niece (Natalie Wood) when he finds her, assuming her long since defiled by her Comanche kidnappers, morally complex Ethan Edwards is the role that convinced many that Wayne could truly act. Cinema’s poet of the Wild West, John Ford already had countless westerns (among over 100 films) under his belt before reteaming with regular star John Wayne for this disturbing story of racism, obsession and revenge.
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