Customer Reviews

Last Hunt [VHS]

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

 

 

This movie was released in 1956, but it was a "politically correct" film long before the term originated. The film is concerned with the environment, man's destruction and total elimination of the buffalo -- depicted very graphically in this movie. It is also very concerned with "civil rights" in the form of attitudes towards Native Americans (Indians), women and children. Robert Taylor is the "bad guy" in that he is not sensitive to any of the issues above -- he is a "dinosaur" watching his world disappear before his eyes. Steward Granger is the character that wakes up in time and realizes that these PC concerns are real and should be addressed with concern and care.

I don't think Leonard Maltin saw this film. His "review" is non-existent -- he missed this movie on every level, in my opinion. This is not a great movie, probably slightly above average, but also interesting in light of our PC world today. It is well made (for 1950's Hollywood) and has a message. It is worth viewing if these issues/message (above) are of interest to you. Like the 1950's movie "Broken Arrow", it is not a Hollywood film that depicts Native Americans in a negative way, instead it shows them with some compassion and understanding.

I hope this review gives you more insight than L.M.'s...

The Last Hunt is one of those Westerns that somehow has gotten lost.It is a story of a time,when loosing sight of the roof-tops,was dangerous.The isolation,of the plains,bleeds men of moral behavior.Robert Taylor is Charley.In town he is bearable.On the prairie,where the town and laws and rules of the town are lost,Charley looses the decency and reason that makes folks civilized.
The Last Hunt is a great western.The systematic killing of the buffalo,which looks easy and real,looks that way because the buffalo killed during the making of this movie,were actually killed to thin down native herds in South Dakota.The killing of the buffalo provides a surreal cinematic backdrop,to a story of good guys and bad guys trying to disguise what is natural within them.This film should be on DVD for the following reasons:
1)Robert Taylor's performance is his best--ever
2)Look at South Dakota in the 1950's
3)Lloyd Nolan,some of his best stuff
4)Debra Paget--tries real hard to be the same "girl next door" indian debutante that made the us's of the 1950's--fall head over heal,in love with her.
5)Death of the young indian boy,shot,in a rigged gunfight with Taylor's character.It is over a white buffalo skin. The indian considers it sacred.Taylor considers the skin to have monetary value.Taylor shoots the boy easily--It is powerful and pitiful.
6)Russ Tamblyn--always tops

Robert Taylor, who set the record for being under the longest studio contract in movie history, is notorious for being a great looking actor with no talent.

The Last Hunt shows might have been had Taylor been stretched by other great directors like he was By Richard Brooks. Brooks, who had one of the longest streaks of directing actors to Oscar-nominated and/or Oscar winning performances, got everything he could out of Taylor in this film, which came along at a time when Hollywood became more sensitive in its depiction of Native Americans.

Taylor plays Charlie Gilson, a quick on-the-draw buffalo hunter who seeks out Sandy McKenzie, played by Stewart Granger, a legendary buffalo hunter who has tired of the killing, and wants to raise cattle. Gulson catches McKenzie at a vulnerable moment, and he agrees to join Gilson in a hunt. They also add Lloyd Nolan, playing a peg-legged skinner, and Russ Tamblyn, a red-headed half breed to help out.

Along the way, trigger-happy Gilson kills two Native Americans who have stolen horses from the group, but spares an Indian woman (palyed by Debra Paget)with a baby travelling with the two dead Native Americans. He brings her back to camp, and takes up with her, even though he has made it clear how much he hates Indians. This act, and McKenzie's revulsion at killing buffalo, sets the stage for a Western with both tragic and hopeful overtones.

There is so much one can comment on about The Last Hunt: the great supporting performances, the fact that the shooting of the buffalo was real because it was done at a time when the government was purposely thinning the modern-day herd, the beautiful exteriors, the sensitivity to the plight of Native Americans, and a great script (also by Brooks). But the hallmark of this film is that it showcases Robert Taylor's greatest performance by a wide margin. Cynical, psychopathic, callous, yet seeking acceptance and tenderness from the Indian woman, Taylor is shown indulging in all of the emotions that he didn't show the rest of his career. He could have easily been nominated for an Oscar for his performance.

The Last Hunt deserves consideration as another one of Richard Brooks' many great films, a great candidate for DVD release, and for proving without question that Robert Taylor was a much better actor than anyone realized.

The movie is taken from the novel by Milton Lott of the same title, with Richard Brooks as both writer and director. Filmed in Eastman color, which has not held up too well over the years, it was released to the public in August, 1956. The film runs 108 minutes and used to show on Saturday Night At The Movies years ago. In fact until TCM showed it yesterday, that was no doubt the last time I'd seen it.

The movie was filmed at Badlands National Park, Interior, South Dakota, filmed at the time of the annual culling out the resident buffalo (Bison) herd by expert government marksmen. Approximately 3,000 Bison (buffalo) can be seen on screen during a filmed stampede. The movie timeline is the 1880s when the Bison were near extinct, with one of the last great herds still located by the Red River, where in 1874 one of the final battles between the Southern Plains Indians fought the long forgotten Buffalo War of 1874. (Check out James L. Haley's 1976 book entitled THE BUFFALO WAR: The History of the Red River Indian Uprising in 1874, Doubleday & Co.) Little wonder the topic of dwindling herds repeatedly comes up as topic of conversation in the movie.

This is a movie far ahead of its time, concerning the psychology of Charlie Gilson (Robert Taylor) a man who though he eagerly seeks friends and company is also a social misfit moving slowly into serious mental illness. By movie's ending ole Charlie almost wants to shoot and kill anything, buffalo or human that moves. The only thing he seems to have any affection for is his Indian woman (Debra Paget) but mistreats her, torn between some affection and just plain hate. All of this plays out to an ending that is just a little short of perfection.

One of the outstanding performances in the movie is that of Lloyd Nolan ('Woodfoot') who understands ole Charlie better than Charlie understands himself. When asked by Jimmy O'Brien (Russ Tamblyn) why Charlie has such a hate for Indians, Mr. 'Woodfoot' (Lloyd Nolan) answers: "Now that's a good question, my boy. It's kinda funny, you know? Charlie beats his horse just like and Indian. Charlie is free with his women, just like an Indian. Charlie even blows his nose on his fingers, just like an Indian. I just don't get it." It adds insight at that point in the movie, that you want to like Charlie but you can't because he is a deranged killer.

Very good movie for anyone who enjoys a somewhat different western, not atypical as in the later 1970s, but a movie with a psychological twist in one of the main characters. As Stewart Granger mentions late in the film, he doesn't so much hate Charlie as much as he pities him. The audience will be torn also, for Charlie as much as he wants to fit in psychologically, being unable, cannot ever do so, and will for most viewers also become a figure to be pitied.

The Cast:
Robert Taylor
Debra Paget
Stewart Granger
Lloyd Nolan
Russ Tamblyn
Constance Ford
Joe De Santis
Ainslie Pryor
Ralph Moody
Fred Graham
Ed Lonehill
Roy Barcroft

Semper Fi.

Richard Brooks' The Last Hunt was a film star Stewart Granger couldn't even stand to hear mentioned - he even tore up a vintage poster for the film when presented it for signing in his later years - but then the director did run off with his wife, so it's understandable. For anyone else this is one of the best of the adult Westerns of the 50s, and years ahead of its time in its attitude to the environment.

In many ways it plays almost like a sequel to one of Anthony Mann's Westerns that see their heroes dragged to their redemption kicking and screaming against it every step in the way. Here Granger's legendary buffalo hunter has already seen the light but, after a buffalo stampede costs him his herd of cattle in a fit of poetic justice, he's dragged back into the darkness by Robert Taylor's callous and proudly racist gunslinger, justifying it on the grounds that "I've already got the guilty conscience. I might as well have the money as well." Raised by Indians, he's fully aware of the damage he's doing as the disappearing buffalo heads for extinction, and he gradually becomes almost as consumed with self-loathing as Taylor is with hate. When the two men fall out over Debra Paget's squaw - the sole survivor of a band of Indians Taylor kills - and a white buffalo hide that's priceless to the hunters and the Indians for very different reasons, a showdown becomes inevitable, though the outcome certainly isn't.

Taylor's is certainly ironic casting - it was Granger turning down many of the epic roles MGM developed for him in films like Quo Vadis and Ivanhoe that gave Taylor his 50s comeback after years of steady decline. His hair color may not convince but his performance does, a shallow and violent man so consumed with hate that he doesn't wear a gun, the gun wears him. Granger's accent isn't always convincing, but he makes a good quiet hero in the Jimmy Stewart mold, trying to keep hold of his newfound decency and reconcile his actions with his beliefs before finally getting a chance to make amends. Russ Tamblyn's halfbreed skinner and Lloyd Nolan's one-legged old-timer also give as good as they get, but the real star is the script: tightly plotted with an excellent eye and ear for character - not to mention an ending Stanley Kubrick borrowed for The Shining - that balances historical revisionism with entertaining drama without ever selling either short.

I ordered this and received in before the alloted time was up. I was not aware that the cover title was in Spanish and assumed I had mistakenly purchased a Spanish DVD. I emailed the vendor and they allayed my fears stating that all their DVDs have a menu that offers English. I am very happy with their service and my purchase.

A forgotten good western; with an interesting story and good performances; with ONE exception. That ONE exception is the EXTRAORDINARY performance of Robert Taylor! The other reviewer is correct; this is an OSCAR CALIBER multi-dimensional portrayal, and most certainly is Taylor's shining moment on the silver screen! Deserves to be on DVD for that reason alone! FOUR STARS!