It's notably outlandish even to speculate on the prospect of Michael Mann attempting some species of reboot of John Ford's classic John Wayne western, The Searchers. For one thing, Mann has shown remarkably little interest in the western genre for a director so preoccupied otherwise with hypermasculine material (crime, cops, gangsters, boxing, things blowing up). About the closest he's ever come was 1992's Last of the Mohicans, which misses the target era by well over a century, not to mention the target geography by a good 1,500 miles.
Nor does he seem the type to take such a flier at one of the most formidably established and canonized of all films. Maybe Jim McBride and Breathless. Maybe Alfonso Arau and The Magnificent Ambersons on the A&E channel. Maybe even Gus Van Sant and Psycho. But Michael Mann and The Searchers? Never.
Think of this, then, in the nature of a thought experiment.
I actually think the exercise could well prove beneficial both to the original material—I'm thinking primarily of Frank Nugent's screenplay, though perhaps it would be worthwhile going all the way back to Alan Le May's original 1954 novel (which I haven't read)—and equally so to Mann himself.
First, as to the material. Mann's accomplished and well established ability for plunging into his stories in media res would likely play well in terms of the story's essential opening, the horrific attack and massacre of the Edwards family by Comanche warriors. Mann's instinct for jettisoning anything inessential to the story (along with his general humorlessness) would certainly extrude a good deal of Ford's more unfortunate, cloying elements, such as the painful comedy relief littered all through his picture and more specifically everything that clutters up the preamble to the massacre. Example, only one of many: the younger Edwards children catching "Brad and Lucy! Brad and Lucy!" making out behind the house.
Perhaps even more importantly, in this day and age, it would not be hard to better Ford's bizarre, uneven handling of the racial elements, which are at once so critically important to this narrative and yet so explosive and with potentially so many ways to go wrong, as seen time and again in the Ford production. Mann has consistently evinced a particularly evenhanded ability to work with racial realities in a way that verges on colorblindness, as in the Miami Vice franchise. Yet, at the same time, he doesn't shy away from the tensions either, such as those powering Miami's underworld, and he incorporates it all seamlessly into his narratives—not least because they are themselves so deeply embedded in urban experience, with which Mann seems almost preternaturally comfortable. Could he make it work in a western? Maybe that's one of the reasons he has kept his distance from the genre. But it would be interesting to see his approach to the problem.
Mann's epic sense of pacing would also work well with a story that stretches so single-mindedly across the years. That, of course, is certainly one of Ford's most undeniable strengths in The Searchers, mixing straightforward narrative with cyclical, fitful, desultory flashbacks and perambulations across multiple landscapes to propel the narrative constantly in fresh and interesting ways. I think it would be fascinating to watch Mann take on the same problems of storytelling, putting his unique stamp on them.
And what about this project would theoretically be in it for Mann? Two things, though the first admittedly starts from a place of my own eccentric curiosity—namely, I would love to see how Mann handled shooting in Monument Valley. Mann has established himself as a powerhouse of economical, visual storytelling, occupying in fact a wheelhouse very similar to Ford's himself. How would Mann approach entering the veritable home stadium of Ford? I can't help thinking he would be deeply attracted to the challenge, not to mention the raw landscape itself, given all of the spectacular visual possibilities. For me, it would likely be worth it for the visuals alone.
Last, I think—admittedly somewhat presumptuously—that the challenge of the Ethan Edwards character would be no less than a daunting growth opportunity for Mann. Making a sympathetic character out of a brute racist such as Edwards is no easy thing. Arguably even Ford just barely pulled it off. How would Mann handle it? From casting to screenplay to everything about shooting it, I would love to watch him take on the challenge of replicating that classic moment at the end of Ford's picture, when John Wayne hesitates outside the door of the homestead, one handing holding the opposite elbow in a wistful, poignant gesture, before turning and walking away, condemning and denying himself forever the pleasures and sustenance of home and family.
Does Mann have it in him to attain, or even approximate, such an indelibly emotional moment? It would be fun for us (me) to see him try, and I think a useful exercise for Mann too.
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