Episode II and "The Searchers"

Joe · Post by **Joe** » 2004-06-13 01:50am

Hey, I just got through watching the John Wayne/John Ford Western The Searchers - classic, recommend you check it out and all that - and I noticed that the sequence in Attack of the Clones where Anakin sneaks in to the Tusken Camp is completely lifted from a scene near the end of The Searchers where one of the main characters sneaks into a Comanche village. There's a scene where the character jumps down from a rocky outcropping to sneak in (minus the Force powers, of course); it's shot from pretty much the same angle as the relevant scene in AoTC, and when the village is first shown it is virtually identical to the way the Tusken Camp setpiece looked. This can't have been a coincidence, did anyone else catch this? Could there be some kind of symbolic parallel?

Stofsk · Post by **Stofsk** » 2004-06-13 02:14am

GL has long put in 'homages' to other films in Star Wars, and it doesn't surprise me that a western would be among them. Star Wars ironically enough has a lot of western influences (Han Solo being the most painfully obvious one). I wouldn't look at it too deeply for symbolism - if you want symbolism look at Anakins journey to the darkside, with Tatooine going through twilight in the back ground.

As for this, maybe the Tusken raiders are being compared to Native Americans. I don't know who the Commanche were or their history, so I can't tell if the comparison sticks.

Sarevok · Post by **Sarevok** » 2004-06-13 02:19am

When Jango Fett shot the Jedi in the arena battle in AOTC he spun his gun and then put it back into the holster like a western cowboy. That could be a homage to western movies.

Kurgan · Post by **Kurgan** » 2004-06-13 02:48am

For another homage to "The Searchers" check out "Taxi Driver."

Lucas is a obviously big fan of old action serials, and not just the Flash Gordon and Phantom Creeps ones that others have pointed out, for instance, (Episode III minor spoiler below):

There's a character called "Commander Cody" which should ring a bell with 'Mystery Science Theater 3000' fans. And guess who plays him? That's right, the actor who portrayed Jango. That reminds me, Jango is also the name of a character in a series of westerns, coincidence? I think not!

neoolong · Post by **neoolong** » 2004-06-13 02:50am

Considering that Lucas has done shot by shot copies before it shouldn't be suprising if it isn't anything more than style.

Kurgan · Post by **Kurgan** » 2004-06-13 02:55am

Dooku = Dracula + Saurumon

And don't forget how much Kurosawa films were influenced by westerns (and vice versa, "Magnificent Seven" etc) and how big a fan Lucas was of those... just about everything Lucas liked is linked, paralled or fit into Star Wars somehow it seems.

Joe · Post by **Joe** » 2004-06-13 03:17am

For another homage to "The Searchers" check out "Taxi Driver."

That's the reason why I rented it, actually, I just saw Taxi Driver for the first time the other day and I wanted to check out what the inspiration was.

Robert Treder · Post by **Robert Treder** » 2004-06-13 06:23am

Yeah, I noticed that. I don't think there's much to look into, though. Lucas just knew that it was a badass sequence, so he used it.

Stormbringer · Post by **Stormbringer** » 2004-06-13 11:47am

Yeah, it's just another recreation of a particularly memorable shot. He did the same in lifting the end sequence of ANH from Triumph of the Will.

Elfdart · Post by **Elfdart** » 2004-06-13 05:16pm

The scene in ANH, when Luke comes back to his farm and finds his surrogate parents dead and the farm on fire is very similar to the scene in The Searchers, when Martin Pauley comes home and finds the same thing. Martin and Luke are very similar characters. Ethan Edwards and Darth Vader/ Anakin Skywalker are also similar. And if Jar Jar Binks isn't at least partially based on Mose Harper... Aside from The Hidden Fortress, Shane, Ring of the Nibelungs, and The Wizard of Oz; The Searchers was probably the biggest influence on Star Wars.

A lot of the themes in Star Wars and The Searchers are similar. The fact that the hero saves his sister from being killed by her older male relative (who has gone to the dark side), not by beating him in combat, but by an appeal to what's left on his conscience.

And I'll wager the last scene in Episode 3 will be just like the last scene in The Searchers, only instead of John Wayne walking off into the desert (after dropping off Natalie Wood at the Jorgensen ranch), Ewan McGregor will wander off after leaving Luke with the Lars family.

I had a similar thread at theforce.net about this. Aside from The Seven Samurai, The Searchers is one of the most copied films ever made.