Best movie ever!

Absolutely brilliant

It's easily one of the freshest, sharpest and most enjoyable films of this year.

The biggest problem with this movie is it’s a little better than you think it might be, which somehow makes it worse. As in, it takes itself a bit too seriously, which makes most of the movie feel kind of dull.

period courtroom drama that attempts to humanize former slaves by endowing them with the extraordinary kindness of saints and/or morons, thus maintaining a fiercely racist viewpoint. the apaches are, naturally, beasts. and no, it is not "fine because it was 1960." for the rest, while the subject matter is sharp, the execution is filled with stereotypes, reversed stereotypes, and sentimentalism of all sorts.

I thought I'd try another western, by none other than John Ford, since it came by late one night on the BBC. The story is rather unusual for its time, as I understand it, and the flashback motif works pretty well with that. The (sort of) running gag with the judge and his wife was wearing a little thin at some point, though.The cast members play quite well, with Wooody Strode as the stout-hearted Sergeant Rutledge as my personal favorite. Toby Michaels (uncredited), in the role of victim Lucy Dabney, was a positive ray of sunshine, which will help the viewer rooting for any angry mob out for justice. The story stays interesting enough, even if there are no real surprises, and things stay sort of goody-goody most of the time.A good 7 out of 10.

There are two ways too look at this film. The first way too look at it is as a painting done by an artist of the Western Genre. In this sense, John Ford's film is just as good here as any film he did. The Monument Valley in Utah is used much the same here as it is in every film Ford featured it in.Fords work with this cast is a form of the artist too. Every person in this cast shines from Jeffrey Hunter's lead role throughout. Ford proves here he doesn't need John Wayne, James Stewart, or any of the biggest A List stars of 1960 to make a terrific film. This film is done with his style & flair. It has possibly the best performances on film of the entire cast. The classic courtroom & flash back sequences work as well as ever too.The second way to look at this is for political messages. I think it is a mistake too look at this film for that. Granted this is the largest black cast ever assembled for a Ford film, but that does not really mean he was trying to make a civil rights message here. In fact from what I see, the history here is fatally flawed as the period after the Civil War this is set in would not contain these people.Racism was not addressed immediately after the Civil War period. We wish (& maybe Ford did too) now that issue had been (Monday Morning Quarterbacks in 1960). True History indicates otherwise. What this script does is take some 1960 people who were coming around to the idea that racism is wrong, & places them after the Civil War. The result in this film is mixed on how effective that really is.Entertainment is something this film does provide well. Ford the artist does shine through here which makes this a much better than average film in it's era. I did read a review on here that takes offense too the women being sent out of the courtroom during certain testimony in the trial. The truth in that era is that could have happened. You have to remember that women did not get the right to vote until years after the time this movie is set in.Don't look at this movie as true history though. It is revisionist history. What I enjoy with this film is artistry of a great director taking an excellent cast & painting a great picture on a film canvas. This film does that very well.

Up to now I have considered "The Searchers" the Best of Ford Westerns. It has better picture (VistaVision), and the legend of John Wayne to back it. Some of the secondary roles are better portrayed by more expert actors such as Ward Bond, just to mention one. Production is more lavish..But the plot in "The Searchers" is unidirectional. It's just a story of white settlers against Indians. Sergeant Rutledge goes much deeper, into the social "fabric" of America,To avoid fastidious repetition, let me just point that the story goes into "American Problems" that endure 100 years after. Racism, young female behavior, that affects men of power, and old rich females who own perhaps more than 50% of the total assets (the wealth of the Nation) of the USA, and last but not least, the excessive power and "tricks" of legal professionals that always leads to corruption.It is all there. If the actors were a bit upper-crust it would be the best, but Jack Warner did no provide the cash. A must see...