Actor-Inspired Element: Goofing around during a break in the shoot, Ken Curtis did a routine where he told a story using an exaggerated version of the rural eastern Colorado accent (Curtis was born and raised in that area). John Ford liked it and told him to use that accent for his portrayal of Charlie McCorry.
The film made spectacular use of Utah's Monument Valley, playing the role of Texas.
Some exteriors were done in Colorado (the snow scenes), Alberta (the buffalo scene) as well as some in California (most notably Bronson Canyon, where the Ethan/Debbie climax takes place).
In Portugal, the film was released as A Desaparecida ("The Missing Girl").
In Brazil, it was Rastros de Ódio ("Tracks of Hatred)".
In France, it was La Prisonnière du Désert ("Prisoner of the Desert"). This led to a strange "Blind Idiot" Translation moment in the English subtitles of Weekend (1967), in which the translator apparently wasn't aware that The Searchers was being referenced in the dialogue and just had the characters talk about a movie called Prisoner of the Desert.
In Germany, it was Der Schwarze Falke ("The Black Falcon"), which also was the name of chief Scar in the dubbed version.
Creator's Favorite: John Wayne named Ethan Edwards as his favorite role of his whole career. He even named a son after him.
Dawson Casting: Most of the cast probably counts for this. John Wayne was 48 at the time of filming, while Ethan seems intended to be a decade or so younger. Jeffrey Hunter was 29, although Martin is supposed to be a teenager. There are similar gaps between Vera Miles (26) and Laurie, Harry Carey Jr. (34) and Brad, and Ken Curtis (39) and Charlie. Natalie Wood is a slighter example, since Debbie is 14 at the climax and Wood was 17. In the other direction, Hank Worden, 54 at the time, is maybe a decade younger than Mose Harper is supposed to be.
Disowned Adaptation: Alan Le May actually did the disowning before he'd even finalized selling the rights to the novel. He'd moved to Hollywood in 1940, and had a rollercoaster career as a screenwriter, included a frustrating stint with Cecil B Demille. Burned out with movies, Le May stipulated that he would never be asked to write the screenplay of the novel, and when he learned that another Auteur License holder, John Ford, was going to make the film, Le May decided it was best to just stay out of the way.
Fake Mixed Race: Jeffrey Hunter (born Henry McKinnies), solidly Irish-American, as the 1/8th Cherokee Martin, whose Native American heritage is supposed to be so self-evident that Ethan calls him a "half-breed" the moment he meets him.
Fake Nationality: None of the Comanche characters were played by actual Comanches.
As you might guess by his sparkling blue eyes, the actor who plays Scar is not Native American. He's Berlin native Henry Brandon (né Heinrich von Kleinbach).
Beulah Archuletta ("Look") was a Native American, but she was half-Maricopa and half-Klamath.
The extras were played by Navajos from the Monument Valley area.
Hostility on the Set: Henry Brandon described his experience working with John Ford as "combative". Ford tried to goad the Shakespearean-trained actor one day over lunch. Ford said, "You know William Shakespeare didn't write those plays at all, it was that guy Francis Bacon". Brandon refused to respond to Ford's antagonistic remarks while shooting his scenes, but he suffered enough from the frequently sadistic director to remark, "God, he was an evil bastard."
Method Acting: According to Harry Carey Jr.'s book Company of Heroes, John Wayne stayed in character between takes.
Both Wood sisters, Natalie and Lana, played Debbie, as a teen and child respectively.
Olive Carey (Mrs. Jorgensen) plays the mother of her Real Life son Harry Carey Jr. (Brad Jorgensen).
Patrick Wayne appears in a scene with his father John Wayne, in which Ethan pokes fun at the fact that the character got his position through nepotism.
Ken Curtis (Charlie McCorry) was John Ford's son-in-law.
At the battle of the ford, where Captain Reverend Clayton accidentally fires off an unaimed shot after Ethan throws him a revolver. This accidentally happened to Ward Bond and John Ford decided to keep it in.
When Lieutenant Greenhill's report is being constantly interrupted by Ethan and Captain Clayton, that was Wayne and Ward Bond testing Pat Wayne's improvisational skills.
John Wayne was nursing a hangover when he shot the final scene, but since his slightly dazed appearance was perfect for Ethan in that last shot, John Ford didn't mind.
Also in the last scene, Wayne holding one arm with his other hand was a totally spontaneous gesture, replicating early cowboy star Harry Carey Sr. and his signature pose. Wayne had idolized Carey as a teen, John Ford had been Carey's mentor, and Carey's widow Olive (playing Mrs. Jorgensen) was on the other side of the door watching him, so it was a natural Shout-Out to make.
Troubled Production: Monument Valley was still quite remote at the time, without electricity or paved roads, and filming took place over the hot summer of 1955, with temperatures frequently soaring past 100 degrees Fahrenheit, so it wasn't a very comfortable shoot. John Ford wasn't happy with some of the shots done in Monument Valley, so he redid them when the company went back to Hollywood to film interiors, particularly the climax with Ethan and Debbie, shot in Bronson Canyon.
Robert Wagner auditioned for the role of Martin Pawley.
Before he wrote the novel, Alan Le May had written a screenplay treatment called African Pitfall that was essentially The Searchers in Africa, with a European settler child held captive by the Ndebele people. After hearing about the Cynthia Ann Parker story, he took some elements of his earlier story and mixed them with her story.
John Ford’s original choice for the role of Martin Pawley was Fess Parker, right at the height of his “Davy Crockett” popularity. Parker was under contract with Walt Disney, and Disney was the rival studio to Warner Brothers, the company that made The Searchers. Not only did Walt Disney himself refuse all offers from John Ford, but he didn’t even bother to tell Parker about them. For his part, Parker was FURIOUS when he found out he could have had a starring role in what is widely considered the greatest Western of all time (the AFI named it as such), and reportedly never forgave Walt Disney for it.
