Steven Spielberg names his favourite John Wayne movie: “I was very influenced”
The movies of Steven Spielberg are unlike any other filmmaker. Born from a love of classic Hollywood cinema and bombastic tales of heroic adventure, Spielberg’s films have had an unparalleled influence on the wider industry, influencing the likes of Christopher Nolan, Denis Villeneuve and Jordan Peele thanks to such releases as Raiders of the Lost Ark, Jaws and Close Encounters of the Third Kind.
A young boy with a magical mind, Spielberg delved into the world of cinema from a young age, harnessing a particular love for animation and the work of Walt Disney in his formative years. Then, as he matured, so too did his tastes, becoming fond of the likes of David Lean, Stanley Kubrick and John Ford, with the latter helping to influence his ambitious approach to epic tales that pushed the limits of moviemaking.
A director known predominantly for his work in the western genre, Ford mythologised the old American West, instilling it with mystery and textured history, becoming one of Hollywood’s most fascinating entertainment vehicles in the process. However, the fruits of his labour were not achieved alone, with his long-time collaborator John Wayne also elevating each of the 14 movies they worked together on.
But, for Spielberg, one in particular stands out from the crowd, picking out the classic western The Searchers as one of his all-time favourite movies. Released in 1956, a moment of great cultural change across America, the film told the story of an American Civil War veteran who sets out to save his niece from the Comanches, only to return as a physically and mentally broken soul who no longer knows his true identity.
Hugely inspired by Wayne in his youth, Spielberg told Terry Gross, “I was very influenced by all the war movies they were showing – the John Wayne films like The Fighting Seabees and other films like Bataan or Back To Bataan or Guadalcanal Diary or the Sands Of Iwo Jima.” As a result, many of his most iconic characters went on to reflect the style and charisma of the Duke himself, from the titular archaeologist Indiana Jones to the jaded Quint in 1975’s Jaws.
Watching The Searchers before he takes on any project of his own, Spielberg’s love of the movie runs deep, with his own passion for cinematic exploration being seen in Wayne’s film, which focuses intently on the construct of ‘Manifest Destiny’. Following a lost soul who cannot accept the fact that he is a small fish in a vast world that is quickly leaving his attitudes in the past, The Searchers is drenched with a rather lonely existential dread.
An epic of both cinematic and storytelling proportions, The Searchers contains everything that Steven Spielberg also seeks to conquer, with many of his films being dedicated to lost central characters trying to make sense of the towering world around them.
Take a look at the trailer for The Searchers below, a John Wayne classic many call the best western movie of all time.