Customer Reviews

Gunsmoke - The Last Apache [VHS]

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Gunsmoke - The Last Apache -- James Arness as Matt Dillon returns for the second of the Gunsmoke TV movies. Again the story reaches into Matt's past. Matt receives a letter from a woman he hasn't seen in 20 years -- Mike played by Michael Learned. (Flashback scenes from Gunsmoke are presented. From the episode "Matt's Love Story" -- a wounded Matt Dillon loses his memory and falls in love with a widow.) Mike requests his return in the urgent letter. Matt arrives to find her ranch in flames following a raid by the Apache Indians. He is stunned to learn that he and Mike have a daughter named Beth. Beth has been kidnapped by Wolf, a warrior chief for Geronimo. Wolf is played by Joe Lara (star of the syndicated TV series Tarzan: The Epic Adventures). Richard Kiley and Hugh O'Brian also guest star. Color. First aired on CBS in 1990 as a two-hour Gunsmoke movie. Very entertaining.

I thoroughly enjoyed this movie except for two things. Now that Matt is done with the law why didn't he go after Kitty and marry her or something. The other being the length of Matt's hair, they finally cut it in the other movies. We see that Matt hasn't changed much except his clothing and residence, his values are still the same and he's as tough and resourceful as ever.

Charles Correll directed a stupendous flick!My favorite! All characters were superb. Mandac was a character who was extremely memorable. I watch this dozens of times and always see something new. Hats off to a brilliant movie and a brilliant director!!

One of the most talked about episodes of the series "Gunsmoke" was first aired in 1973. Matt is gunned down while on the trail of an outlaw and is saved by a widow named Mike. His body slowly recovers but he suffers from amnesia, he has no idea that he is a United States Marshall and lives in Dodge City. Mike and Matt quickly fall in love and there is the clear implication that they spend the night together in her bed. When the outlaw arrives at Mike's ranch, he tells her who Matt really is and this information prods Matt's memory so he rides back to Dodge to take up his responsibilities and to be with Miss Kitty.
The events in this movie take place over twenty years in the future, Matt is no longer a lawman and he receives a letter from Mike. Unknown to Matt, they have a daughter named Beth and that girl is headstrong and full of energy. When a band of renegade Apaches attack Mike's ranch, her ranch hands are all killed and Matt arrives in time to drive them off. Reunited with Mike, Matt is told that Beth is his daughter and Matt seeks the aid of the Army general in the area but the man is a buffoon. Matt grows so angry that he physically attacks the general and is thrown into the stockade.
Matt escapes and with the aid of a former Army scout and Mike, they travel to Mexico to get their daughter back. They run into a band of white men that are hunting for Apache scalps, bargain with Geronimo himself and the three of them develop an understanding. The scout has asked Mike several times to marry him and is still determined to make her his bride. "The Last Apache" refers to the young Apache warrior that captures Beth and wants to make her his wife. He is an intelligent man that speaks English and refuses to go to the reservation, preferring to die as a free Apache rather than live as a tamed Indian.
The story is a combination of sadness intermixed with great humor and fatherly love. The interaction between Matt, Mike and the old Army scout is exceptional, and some of the dialog is hilarious. When Matt talks to Beth, he says very little to her but what he says is worth volumes to their relationship, words that would cement any father-daughter relationship.

I got this movie in VHS, long before it was offered online and it was tough to find in the video store. When I first saw it I had no clue about Matt Dillon's history with Michael Yardner until one day I saw the original Gunsmoke episode. I confess, I got this movie because of Joe Lara who plays Mandac, whom I didn't know of when I first saw this movie on television. It wasn't until Mr. Lara played in Tarzan: The Epic Adventures that I began to collect his movies, this being one of them--and I might add, in my collection only this movie and another of his are worth watching. When I was a fan I learned that mixed with some other things, Mr. Lara has--ta daaa--Apache in him though from which side, he never revealed. Joe played Mandac well as the brooding, slightly surly, yet gentle sort. Dillon's daughter, the nasty Beth, was an idiot who didn't realize how lucky she was to be in Mandac's clutches who treated her a lot better than any man would've. Sadly, the movie didn't focus enough on Mandac and Beth whose characters should've been more developed as we already know who Dillon was, who really cared about her mother, or about scout, Chalk Brighton, who exhibited stupid jelousy for Dillon. Throughout the whole movie Mandac is made the bad guy, not even a tragic hero.Then he gets shot in the end because he was an Indian! Beth's mother wouldn't have shot him had he been a white man who kidnapped her daughter and then decided to come back for a last visit. Mandac rides off and would Dillon leave it alone despite Beth telling him Mandac didn't hurt her? Noooooo! Dillon had to track him down. Why? Because the writer decided to make Mandac the eternal bad guy who didn't even deserve the dignity of going off to die without being bothered. Without Joe Lara, this movie wouldn't have been worth watching because an aged James Arness isn't a pretty sight.

It was a great movie, a good story with lots of seasoned, great actors. I love westerns and this one was particularly good with beautiful scenery and lots of action.

I'm 21 years old and love Gunsmoke. I have ever since I was six years old and started watching the reruns. Now I remember seeing this movie on TV when it first aired in 1990 but I hadn't really remembered it so I bought it on DVD plus I had the other two movies so I thought I would finish the collection and get this one. Now I don't hate this movie nor do I really care for it. I love Matt Dillon in this movie, he is still the same way he was back in the shows: tough and wants nothing but justice and is still fast with a gun. I guess being the fan that I am of the TV show, it's hard to see Matt Dillon having a daughter or any kid for that matter.

When it came to non stop action, this movie was great and it did keep you interested in what was going to happen next.

Despite the fact that I said this isn't the best movie, it's not the worst movie either. However I still think that the first movie: Return to Dodge is the best Gunsmoke movie in the 3 Gunsmoke movie collection.