Searchers

Duke, Nukem!

The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn was required reading in my 10th grade English class.  Our teacher, a Mrs. Setien if I recall, led several days of class discussion about the book.  One of the reasons I sat in the back of her class was to avoid ever being called on, but the law of averages would catch up, as it did this day. Asked to give class an opinion on something or another, from a chapter I hadn't read, I instead cited this admonition from the book's Frontispiece.     NOTICE  PERSONS attempting to find a motive in this narrative will be prosecuted; persons attempting to find a moral in it will be banished; persons attempting to find a plot in it will be shot.      BY ORDER OF THE AUTHOR, Per G.G., Chief of Ordnance. She flushed red, and I earned a final grade of D from her, thus ending forever my dream of attending Harvard College on scholarship. This perspective on the John Wayne film [The Searchers at 50] by Sean Higgins shook that incident from my memory tree. The Searchers is my favorite John Wayne movie.  I recall  a 1980's discussion by Siskel and Ebert (before Ebert became consumed by PC-itis) where one of them opined that the film couldn't be made today, because of the Wayne character's abiding hatred for Injuns who had kidnapped two nieces.  I watched my VCR copy right then, and thought WTF!  It's just a good movie, faithful to its time, so  STFU all of you. Bang-bang.