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John Ford is a classic Western filmmaker (though certainly not the only genre in which he excelled), employing the classic Western film star, John Wayne, in perhaps one of the most underappreciated films of our time. Ford builds a thoroughly entertaining movie which explores classic Western themes without necessarily relying on these themes to drive the plot.

Like any good Western, we are inorexably drawn to a kind of Cowboys vs. Indians saga, but Ford manages to draw us into the conflict in such a way that the mere "Cowboys good, Indians bad" aesthetic isn't really applicable here. While relying on the archetypical roles of the two groups to set up a conflict, Ford is ahead of his time in managing to characterize the Indians as more than "noble savages". Wayne's character's (Ethan Edwards) hatred of "the Commanch" is called into question a number of times, especially in his stormy relationship with adopted nephew and fellow searcher Martin Pawley (Jeffrey Hunter), who we are told is a quarter-Indian himself, and cannot bring himself to find the same sort of hatred for the Indians that Ethan holds.

Ethan was a Confederate soldier in the Civil War, returning to his brother's Texas homestead after the war. A group of Commanches, led by the ominous Chief Scar, route and kill his brother's family while Ethan and Martin are investigating a cattle rustling, the Commaches' diversionary tactic. The Indians took the family's youngest daughter, and the majority of the film has us following Ethan and Martin in their attempts to track down Scar and take back the girl, Debbie (played by Lorna and Natalie Wood, at different times).

Such a situation sets up one of the many moral ambiguities that make this more than an ordinary Western: the Commanches slaughtered Ethan's brother and his family - he seemingly has reason to hate them with the almost crazy passion that he does. Yet the more naive Martin cannot bring himself to hate them in such a way, and the split between them becomes a major point of contention when it becomes clear that Debbie has more or less been adopted as a Commanche (the two "Searchers" chase after her for about five years in film time). Furthermore, when the two "Searchers" actually meet Scar, who they've been chasing for years, he is presented as a rather intelligent character, although certainly one filled with vengance - he, too, has his reasons for waging war with the likes of Ethan and Martin, and cannot merely be written off a the type of bloodthirsty savage that is typical of the portrayal of most Indians within the genre.

The film relies on enough classic Western material to imbue with the feel with the sense of such pictures. Aside from the question of Ethan's morality, Wayne plays him with classic John Wayne freewheeling confidence and swagger that made the actor such an icon, and it comes off quite well. We are also given a side story involving Martin's romance with the hard-as-nails Laurie Jurgensen (played by Vera Miles, best known for playing Janet Leigh's sister in "Psycho"). The relationship is from a classic, archetypical Western mold - the two have been in love since they were kids, but Martin has responsibilites to his family that stop him from making the proper time for his beau, and his rough frontier-uprbringing leave him seemingly lacking the proper sensitivity for dealing with Laura (though he does, of course, have a heart of gold).

As a side note, this film should prove immensely interesting to any serious fan of the "Star Wars" trilogy (the original one). While those films undoubtably draw a great deal of inspiration from Kurosawa's samurai films, there is most certainly a great deal (especially in the film subtitled "A New Hope") drawn from here. One scene in particular (when Luke returns to his farm after stormtroopers have blasted in pieces) is virtually ripped straight from "The Searchers". Ford's film is also full of the sort of gallows humor present throughout the trilogy, and even incorporates some rather goofy characters, the half-cracked Mose Harper (Hank Warden) and the incredibly over-the-top rival for Laura's hand Charlie McCorry (Ken Curtis), without ruining the overall serious feel of the film, but managing to squeeze laughs out of absurd situations (such as a fight between Martin and Charlie) without compromising the ability to quickly return to a solemn tone. Such deft touch, as well as the addition of wise-cracking dialogue (provided largely by Wayne and Ward Bond here) are a large part of what made the original trilogy so successful, and it's strikingly similar to the type of paradigm on display between various characters here.

Regardless of ranting and raving about Star Wars, however, this is an excellent film on it's own merit.

"The Producers" is Mel Brooks' first film - it is also his most original, the only one to win him and Oscar (for Best Screenplay), and to many (myself included), his best. There are certain filmmakers who seem to create their own sort of film with a different style than anyone else (people like Woody Allen or Wes Anderson, for instance), and Brooks is one of these. There isn't anything else that has the ribald, comedic, sarcastic, and overly theatrical tone of a good Mel Brooks film.

This is, in such a sense, Brooks' master work - the film is imbued with a natural theatricality in the way each character is seemingly caricaturized, and the presence of Broadway favorite Zero Mostel in the leading role just adds to the effect.

The movie is of course, about a play - a work entitled "Springtime for Hitler" (a spring with Hitler and his lover Eva, showing the Fuhrer's lighter side), which ought to tell you everything you need to know about the sense of humor necessary to enjoy such a movie. The movie is full of blatantly (and purposely) tasteless humor - Bialystock (Mostel), a down-on-his-luck Broadway producer, raises funds by wooing little old ladies whom he refers to with such names as "Hold Me, Touch Me". His partner, Bloom (Gene Wilder), is pretty much a full-blown wimp who still carries around a "blue blankie", and together they make quite a pair.

The rest of the cast fills out nicely - Kenneth Mars as the yammering German Franz Liebchen, full of love for "you-know-who" and no grip whatsoever on reality, Christopher Hewitt as the flambloyant director Roger DeBris, Lee Meredith as Ulla, the secretary who speaks no English, Dick Shawn as Lorenzo Saint-DuBois (or, as his friends call him, L.S.D.), an hippie actor who ends up playing Hitler, and excellent cameos from the likes of Estelle Winwood and Burgess Meredith.

It would be amiss to talk about this film now and not mention the current hit show actually on Broadway. The play is, to be honest, probably a bit better. The majority of the best one-liners and scenes remain, but the play fits even better into Brooks' theatrical, over-the-top stylings (indeed, at times the play goes so far over the top as to not be in the same atmosphere as normal entertainment, such as the character of Carmen Ghia in the play). The Broadway adaptation features a slightly different storyline and drops the character of L.S.D. altogether, but it comes out as a more entertaining production than the film. That said, and with apologies to Matthew Broderick and (especially the excellent) Nathan Lane, Mostel and Wilder play these characters better than their newer counterparts, so there is a bit of a balance.

The film itself stand alone, and is definitely worth seeing, not only for the greatest musical number ever to grace film stock (also named "Springtime for Hitler), but for the entertaining feel and pace of the film.