Sandy, I'm pleased that comments by myself and Ken Fisher (kjf)
        have encouraged you to rent and see "The Searchers," and, yes,
        I agree with you that John Ford ranks with Alfred Hitchcock,
        though the two masters were very different in approach. But
        allow me to amend, slightly, my comment that in the last scene
        of "The Searchers" Ethan (John Wayne) is looking out into the
        desert, symbolically. He does this, of course, but I believe
        that in the last frame he has turned and is looking back at the]
        house, which is to say back toward the camera. At this moment,
        he places his left hand on his right elbow. I'd like for you to
        realize that his gesture is loaded with meaning. He (John Wayne,
        not Ethan Edwards, the character) is saluting Harry Carey Sr.,
        his old friend who had made that gesture famous. Carey had died
        when "The Searchers" was made in 1956, but the film included
        his son, Harry Carey Jr.  This gesture was Wayne's dramatic way
        of saying: Goodbye old friend.   All that is chill-bumpy aplenty,
        I know, but wait till you see Wayne grab a frightened, trembling
        young Natalie Wood, holding her over his head like a ragdoll,
        and says ...  well, no, I won't tell you.  See it for yourself.
        Ernie.