John Wayne considered Ethan Edwards his favorite movie role, and even named one of his children, John Ethan Wayne, after his character in The Searchers.

John Ford shot ten movies at Monument Valley, now a popular tourist attraction. The park is operated by the Navajo Nation.

Oddly enough, both matriarchs in The Searchers, Dorothy Jordan and Olive Carey, died in 1988. Two of the cast members died tragic deaths; Jeffrey Hunter died in 1969 after surgery following injuries sustained in a fall, while Natalie Wood drowned under mysterious circumstances in 1981.

D.W. Griffith's influence on The Searchers is apparent. John Ford began his filmmaking career as an extra in some of Griffith's films, while Mae Marsh and Antonio Moreno, playing the dignified Mexican who tries to help Ethan and Martin, were both Griffith players.

The ledge featured in the climatic scene in The Searchers where Jeffrey Hunter drops off of it is now known as John Ford's Point in Monument Valley.

In a studio synopsis containing material not in the script or in the film, the ending of The Searchers is slightly different. Ethan is about to shoot Debbie, when he says, "I'm sorry, girl. Shut your eyes." But when Debbie looks at him fearlessly and innocently, Ethan lowers his gun. "You sure favor your mother," he says softly.

The beautifully haunting title song was written by Stan Jones and sung by The Sons of the Pioneers, a group John Ford had previously used in Rio Grande (1950). Jones had been a ranger in the National Park Service before becoming a songwriter.

FUN QUOTES FROM THE SEARCHERS

Ethan Edwards: Our turnin' back don't mean nothin', not in the long run. She's alive, she's safe for a while. They'll keep her and raise her as one of their own til, until she's of an age to...Injun will chase a thing til he thinks he's chased it enough. Then he quits. Same way when he runs. Seems like he never learns there's such a thing as a critter that'll just keep comin' on. So we'll find 'em in the end, I promise you. We'll find 'em. Just as sure as the turnin' of the earth.

Martin: I hope you die.
Ethan Edwards: That'll be the day.

Ethan Edwards: Well Reverend, that tears it! From now on, you stay out of this. All of ya. I don't want you with me. I don't need ya for what I got to do.

Mrs. Jorgensen: It just so happens we be Texicans. Texican is nothin' but a human man way out on a limb, this year and next. Maybe for a hundred more. But I don't think it'll be forever. Some day, this country's gonna be a fine good place to be. Maybe it needs our bones in the ground before that time can come.

Reverend Clayton: Well, the prodigal brother. Ain't seen you since the surrender. Come to think of it, I didn't see you at the surrender.
Ethan Edwards: I don't believe in surrenders.

Ethan Edwards: I figure a man's only good for one oath at a time.

Compiled by Scott McGee