A closer look at the theme music from John Ford's "The Searchers"

"The Searchers" starts with four dramatic pieces of music, each distinct and loaded with information. The first piece of music starts as a dramatic fanfare, traditional of the indian sound. After this short attention-getter which establishes the notion that the film may have something to do with indians, we hear the uplifting sound of strings. A sound that you would expect to hear out of a traditional western.  From hearing this theme music, we don't need to see any of the film to know that the film deals with the battle between man and indian. Theme music is powerful in that way. We almost know what's going to happen before it happens. 


After the first piece, we hear an acoustic guitar and a sung ballad. This piece of music is it's own originally composed theme song. It was common for a movie of that era to have it's own theme music. 

The words in this song are spot on in describing the ways of the homeric hero "what makes a man to wander? what makes a man to roam?"

The third musical theme starts "as the white lettering disappears, we realize that the blackness is the dark interior of a house. Its door opens onto the spectacle of a harsh but breath-taking western landscape, and as it does, a solo guitar segues into a string rendition of the gentle, haunting tune “Lorena”—the biggest hit of 1856, and a song still known and honored a century later, when The Searchers was released. A plaintive lament to a lost love, “Lorena” became one of the key songs of the Civil War era, and was especially popular with the soldiers of the Confederacy, with whom it was most associated" (Cumbow).

The fourth and final theme we hear is "Bonnie Blue Flag," which is played in a "melancholic, dirge-like tempo. The war is not only over, it is lost, and this man regrets it—is, in fact, filled with regret" (Cumbow) and then we hear the first words spoken in the film.

Works Cited

Cumbow, Robert C. "“Somebody’s Fiddle”: Traditional Music in “The Searchers”." Rev. of The Searchers. Web log post. Parallax-View. 13 Dec. 2009. Web. 7 Nov. 2011. <http://parallax-view.org/2009/12/13/somebody’s-fiddle-traditional-music-in-the-searchers/>.

A Deeper Look at The Western Film Genre & The Theme Music of Silverado

Westerns are the major defining film genre of the American film industry. They are one of the oldest most enduring film genres of all time. "The popularity of westerns has waxed and waned over the years. Their most prolific era was in the 1930's to the 1960's, and most recently in the 90's, their was a resurgence of the genre" (Dirks). 

"The western film genre often portrays the conquest of the wilderness and the subordination of nature, in the name of civilization, or the confiscation of the territorial rights of the original inhabitants of the frontier" (Dirks).  For example, in the classic American western film, Silverado, the film portrays the conquest of both wilderness in the name of civilization and the confiscation of territorial rights of the original inhabitants of the frontier. 

The typical Western film plot is good vs. bad, virtue vs. evil, man vs. man, the classic simple goal of maintaining law and order on the frontier in a fast paced action story. They typically tend to involve gun fights, shoot-outs, outlaws and sheriffs, breath-taking settings and open landscapes and western costumes. The typical western hero is often a masculine person of upstanding moral integrity who is courageous, tough and self-sufficient. The Western hero usually stands alone to face danger using one of his many skills (roping, gun fighting, etc). 

Sub-genres of Westerns:

• the epic Western 
• the 'singing cowboy' Western 
• the "spaghetti" Western
• the "noir" Western 
• the "contemporary" Western 
• the "revisionistic" Western 
• the "comedy" Western 
• the "post-apocalyptic" Western 
• the "science-fiction" or "space" Western (Dirks).

Western themes are the heart and soul of the American Western film. In Silverado, the theme music can be as majestic as a cowboy and his horse galloping through the frontier or as calming as the open landscape. There is no good Western without it's theme music. The theme music of Silverado only plays when all four of the protagonist's are together. It helps develop a sense of camaraderie between the young men. Between the vivacious horns, majestic flutes and delicate violins there is an uplifting feel to the music, one that makes you feel that everything will work out. Without music in film, you would not feel fully submerged in the action and dialogue. 

Works Cited

Dirks, Tim. "Westerns Films." Greatest Films - The Best Movies in Cinematic History. American Movie Channel. Web. 06 Oct. 2011. <http://www.filmsite.org/westernfilms.html>.