The Thumb In "The Searchers"

Above, The Thumb. In The Searchers, the posse rode between
 it and the rock wall on the right. Photo by Armand Vaquer.

This evening during dinner, I was watching one of my favorite John Wayne movies, The Searchers (1956).

While watching, I noticed one landmark in Monument Valley that I saw last October during an early morning tour. It was "The Thumb" rock formation. It is also called, "John Wayne's Boot". 

In The Searchers, the rescue posse chasing after the band of Comanches that raided the family home of Ethan Edwards's brother Aaron discovered a slain prized bull of neighbor Lars Jorgenson. Just before the posse approached the bull, they rode next to The Thumb. 

There were other recognizable rock formations in the movie, but during this viewing, The Thumb caught my attention.

It also dawned on me that I have met three actors of The Searchers. They are Henry Brandon (Chief Scar), Hank Worden (Mose Harper) and Patrick Wayne (Lt. Greenhill). I met Brandon and Worden when I was in the Sons of the Desert in the 1980s and Wayne last summer in Colorado.