John Ford’s masterpiece. The most beautiful of his films, and the darkest. Ford’s compositions and Winton C. Hoch’s cinematography combine to create imagry that has never been surpassed in films. The film is also quite moving and very disturbing. It is not a message western, but the film’s exploration of the culture clash of white settlers and Native Americans makes it one of the most powerful movies about race relations in American cinema. The film is essentially the sory of a man, Ethan Edwards, and his journey into his own heart of darkness. Ethan Edwards is one of the great characters of moral ambiguity in American cinema (Vito Corlene, Fred C. Dobbs, Travis Bickle, etc.). John Wayne gives one of the great performances. This film should rank higher than it did 10 years ago.