The year is 1868. Ethan Edwards is coming home to his family after fighting in the Civil War. His wife, Martha, brother, Aaron, nieces, Lucy and Debbie, and nephew are all watching as he returns.

Ethan greets his family and spends some quality time with them. However, not long after, a military leader says that he needs to leave again. He must take an oath of allegiance to the Texas Rangers. But he refuses, despite being a former Confederate soldier.

Sometime later, the neighbors’ cattle are stolen. Reverand Captain Samuel Clayton takes Ethan and a group of other rangers to find them.

Unfortunately, Ethan’s family is in danger. They all have to go into hiding. Sadly, the attackers set their house on fire.

Later, Ethan returns to his home—only to see that it is in flames. None of his family members are around. Even his nieces, Debbie and Lucy, seemed to have died or disappeared.

But he learns that they have been abducted. Martha, Aaron, and their son, Ben, are dead.

There is a brief funeral for the deceased family members. Then Ethan and some other men venture out. His nephew survived and goes along, too.

They find the Comanche camp, which belong to the specific group of indigenous people. However, the chief puts on his headpiece and his people attack.

Regardless of that, Clayton decides to use an approach that won’t kill the opposing side.

After that, there are fewer men. Ethan goes home. But he does not find his family. Rather, he meets Lucy’s fiancé, Brad Jorgensen, and Debbie’s adopted brother, Martin Pawley.

Ethan finds Lucy dead in a canyon by the Comanche camp. Brad rides into that area but is sadly killed.

During the winter, Ethan and Martin return to the Jorgensen ranch. The Jorgensens’ daughter, Laurie, is happy to welcome Martin.

Ethan also comes across a letter from a trader named Futterman. Futterman claims that he might know where Debbie is, meaning that she survived.

At some point, Ethan goes out to find her. At first, he wants to go alone. But Martin gets provided a horse and catches up with Ethan.

When the two get to Futterman’s trading post, they discover that Debbie was abducted by someone called Scar. Scar is the chief of the Nawyecka band of Comanches.

After a year or so, Laurie receives a letter and reads it aloud. She narrates what Ethan and Martin are doing.

Ethan kills Futterman for trying to steal his money, and Martin accidentally gets engaged to a Comanche woman. Later, however, the Comanche lady is dead.

Five years have passed since the beginning of the story. Ethan and Martin are now in New Mexico territory. They find Debbie, who is now a teenager. However, she is one of Scar’s wives and feels fine there. She asks Martin and Ethan to leave.

Ethan is furious and actually tries to shoot her. But Martin shields her. Then a Comanche wounds Ethan.

What will happen next?

I was surprised how engaging this movie was. I don’t usually find western films that fun to watch.

That being said, there were some flaws in this story. First, I will say that it was confusing sometimes. I’ll even admit that I used Wikipedia to help myself narrate the first half of this review. Of course, I put them in my own words.

Another issue is that there is content that might be offensive to today’s audiences. They include putting Native Americans in a bad light, and white men making the stereotypical high sounds while tapping their mouths. There was also a lot of gun violence.

But this was made in the 1950s, when minority races didn’t always have the same rights as Caucasians, especially in the southern part of the United States.

The good news is that the perks were stronger. For example, the dialogue felt authentic for that time period. The level of tension was also strong enough.

The pacing was fast, and the scenes switched quickly. There were also some twists and turns, including a little bit of humor. I’m glad that I laughed a few times.

For instance, there is a scene where one of the guys (I think Martin) was taking a bath, and Laurie walked in. They had a little argument with each other, but it was funny.

Overall, I enjoyed The Searchers. It was a good watch with a decent number of strengths.

Note that even though it’s rated G, I wouldn’t recommend it for little kids. The best minimum age to watch this would probably be around 10 or so due to gun use and stereotypes.

I give this film 4 out of 5 stars.