> The Searchers was not representative of the
genre -- rather it stood at its end.
THE SEARCHERS was in fact representative of its genre and stood in the thick of the Westerns of the 1950's.
Anthony Mann had made a dark Western as early as 1950 with DEVIL'S DOORWAY. He would continue in this vein with the series of Western's he made with James Stewart, the first being WINCHESTER '73 in 1950. Mann completes his cylce of Westerns in 1960 with MAN OF THE WEST and CIMARRON.
Ford himself would make significant Westerns after THE SEARCHERS including SERGEANT RUTLEDGE (1960); THE MAN WHO SHOT LIBERTY VALANCE (1962) and CHEYENNE AUTUMN (1964).
For his part, two of Howard Hawks greatest Westerns come late in the cycle: RIO BRAVO (1959) and EL DORADO (1966). In fact 1959 is a banner year for Westerns with release of Budd Boetticher's RIDE LONESOME; Delmer Daves THE HANGING TREE and John Ford's THE HORSE SOLDIERS.
The work of all these directors reflects the Western as a problem genre. The rise of the revisionist Western begins in 1962 with Sam Peckinpah's RIDE THE HIGH COUNTRY. He takes the work of Mann, Ford, Hawks, etc. and carries it further. The Western dies out (for the second time) about 1973 with his PAT GARRETT & BILLY THE KID.
Clint Eastwood manages to keep a flicker of hope alive with THE OUTLAW JOSEY WALES (1976) which is an interesting response to/reworking of THE SEARCHERS. But it will take the success of DANCES WITH WOLVES (1990) for Westerns to reappear again as a viable genre (though that period seems to be over as of now).
Brian Dauth Queer Buddhist Resister