MACFlix Club to Offer Free Showing of "The Searchers"

Mineral Area College’s student movie club, MACFlix, continues to offer free movies this winter and spring in the Fine Arts Theatre at the Park Hills campus.

MACFlix continues its 4th annual winter-spring film series on Saturday, March 19, with a presentation of the classic John Wayne movie, “The Searchers,” at 7 p.m. in the Fine Arts Theatre on the Park Hills campus. Admission is free to everyone. MACFlix presents all films in their original, large, widescreen format along with an outstanding sound system.

Dr. Kevin White, sponsor of MACFlix, said “The Searchers” is one of John Wayne’s iconic Westerns, released in 1956. In it, Wayne’s character returns home to Texas after the Civil War. When members of his brother's family are killed or abducted by Comanches, he vows to track down his surviving relatives and bring them home. Eventually, Edwards gets word that his niece, played by Natalie Wood, is alive, and, along with her adopted brother, he embarks on a dangerous mission to find her, journeying deep into Comanche territory.
 
"The Searchers" has come to be considered a masterpiece, and one of the greatest and most influential films ever made. It was named the greatest American western by the American Film Institute,” White said. “The film's complex, deeply-nuanced themes included racism, individuality, the American character, and the opposition between civilization and the untamed frontier wilderness. It’s really a film not to be missed.”
 
The remaining MACFlix Classic Film Series includes:
 
Saturday, April 9, 7 p.m., “The Day the Earth Stood Still;” and
Saturday, May 7, 7 p.m., “Strangers on a Train.”
 
White said the movies are digitally re-mastered and presented with an extremely, high-quality projector/sound system in a theatre environment. “The films shimmer beautifully on our specially-built widescreen, so the effect is like walking through a time machine and watching the movies in their very first weekend of release,” White said. “They're amazing to watch!”