The Searchers (1956)

CHANNEL 5, 3.15PM ★★★★★

 John Ford’s uncompromising film starring John Wayne as a rancher locked in a relentless search for his niece, who has been taken by Comanches, is widely regarded as the greatest western ever made. The central character is wholly modern in his remorseless need for revenge, at one point shooting out the eyes of a dead Comanche warrior, so that he “can’t enter the spirit land”.