87. John Wayne as Ethan Edwards
      The Searchers (1956)

In a Johnny Reb coat and dusty blue jeans, seen-it-all ex-Confederate Ethan Edwards is like many John Wayne roles: stoic, rugged, and in-charge. By 1956, Wayne was the ur–Western Hero, so what makes his work here special is the bitter resignation he exudes in his hunt for the niece carried off by Comanches, and the way his steely glare imparts how deeply he knows that he himself is no white-hatted good guy, long before he’s bent over a Comanche chief’s inert form with a scalping knife. In this morally gray West of rampant hatred, Wayne skillfully shows there are no heroes, only the man who’s still alive to stagger into the sunset.

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