John Wayne’s Iconic Western That Inspired Steven Spielberg Is Available on Prime
The filmmaker picks the genre’s classics which influenced the cinema icons.
Summary:
- Back in 1956, John Wayne starred in a Western, becoming cultish not only for the audience, but for the directors as well, including Steven Spielberg.
- It revolves around the man’s search for his kidnapped niece.
- It inspired the works of Scorcese, Lucas and many other filmmakers.
Famous for his brutal roles in The Quiet Man (1952), Rio Bravo (1959) and True Grit (1969), John Wayne got much recognition as the king of Westerns alongside Clint Eastwood. His movies became not only the best examples of the genre, but also one of the biggest sources of inspiration of the 20th century’s filmmakers.
In particular, Steven Spielberg, the giant of the industry, once confessed he revisits one of Wayne’s movies every time before he makes a new film of his own, as it’s much of a great value for the director. Indeed, the 1956 Western feature is quite unmissable.
The plot of the movie seems typical of the genre - it follows a Civil War veteran looking for his abducted relative. However, it’s not as simple as it may seem, as Ethan Edwards, the main character played by Wayne, has his niece Debbie stolen by the Comanches, whom he can’t bear, while she, on the contrary, gradually accepts the tribe’s way of life.
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Apart from Wayne’s convincing performance, the movie clearly stands out for the writing of his character. More than that, his obsessed, stark and anti-social nature later inspired Taxi Driver’s Travis Bickle, with his ambition to pursue his own horrifying justice.
This Western Inspired Star Wars AND Breaking Bad, Too
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This movie had a significant impact on George Lucas' Star Wars franchise too. The scene from the original 1977 movie where Luke Skywalker finds his homestead destroyed by Imperial Stormtroopers appears to be a clear reference to the events of Wayne’s movie, while other callbacks to it can be found in the prequel trilogy and even in Rogue One: A Star Wars Story (2016).
It’s even more surprising that the Western we’re talking about also influenced the finale of Breaking Bad, which was proven by Vince Gilligan’s statement, as he’s a big fan of it.
As for the movie’s director, John Ford, Spielberg shared his glowing praise towards the job he had done there.
“He is like a classic painter, he celebrates the frame, not just what happens inside of it,” stated the filmmaker, admiring the impeccable visual code.
Titled The Searchers, Ford’s feature can certainly be considered one of the most influential Westerns of all time, which paved the way for a number of remarkable movie tropes. Stream this masterpiece straight from the Wild West, as it’s available on Prime.