Product Details

• Actors: Victor Mature, Guy Madison, Robert Preston, James Whitmore, Anne Bancroft
• Format: Color, HiFi Sound, NTSC
• Rated: NR (Not Rated)
• Number of tapes: 1
• Studio: Sony Pictures
• VHS Release Date: June 2, 1998
• Run Time: 98 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 3.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
• ASIN: 6303066623
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #245,074 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

Trapper Jed Cooper (Victor Mature) signs on as a scout at a remote army post in Oregon. In time, Colonel Marston (Robert Preston) arrives at the fort and, as ranking officer, relieves Captain Riordan (Guy Madison) of his command. Riordan is outraged to find out that Marston lost his fort and men to an Indian attack; in fact, he was assigned to a Western outpost after squandering the lives of 1,500 men in a Civil War battle. Marston's next plan is to order the men of the fort, almost all rookie soldiers, into battle against experienced Indian warriors. What would otherwise be a fairly routine Western drama is enlivened by Anthony Mann's direction, lavish CinemaScope cinematography, and fine, offbeat performances all around. The story line reflects the changes that were beginning to work their way into the Western genre by the 1950s. Savage Wilderness (taken from the novel The Gilded Rooster, by Richard Emery Roberts) may not quite pack the dramatic impact of prime John Ford, but it's still a fine example of the state of the Western in 1956. Also known as The Last Frontier. --Jerry Renshaw

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

16 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Good Mature Western, July 21, 2005

By 

Terence Allen (Atlanta, GA USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: The Last Frontier (DVD)

Victor Mature worked well in the Western genre, such as his performance as Doc Holliday in My Darling Clementine. The Last Frontier is another good performance by Mature, bolstered by strong support from Robert Preston, James Whitmore, and Guy Madison.

Mature plays a trapper/scout who is thinking of settling down in civilization. While he and his two trapper friends visit a fort in the wilderness, Mature falls for the young wife of an Army colonel who is anxious to address the danger coming from warring Indians in the area of the fort. Mature makes a play for the wife, sending Mature, the colonel and the whole fort to the brink of disaster.

The perfomances here are good, to a large extent due to the talents involved, plus the stout direction of Anthony Mann, who proved that he could take a seemingly mild-mannered actor like James Stewart and turn him into a rousing man of action. The Last Frontier is a good addition to anyone's Western DVD collection.

12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Victor Mature is excellent!, January 20, 2001

By 

Lee Hartsfeld (Central Ohio, United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Savage Wilderness [VHS] (VHS Tape)

"The Savage Wilderness" tries very hard to achieve a realistic atmosphere but misses the mark under the weight of its Hollywood contrivances. Still, the movie is a very notable attempt at an adult treatment of the genre, and the plot and presentation are intense enough to hook the viewer from the start. Robert Preston plays the most interesting character, a commanding officer determined to go into battle at any cost to his personnel or his marriage, but Victor Mature gives the best performance as a standard semi-savage/semi-civilized trapper-hero. Guy Madison plays the commanding officer who must defer to Preston, and another "Guy"--Guy Williams of "Zorro" and "Lost In Space"--has a minor role as Madison's underling. Handsomely produced and laced with well-directed action scenes.

22 of 25 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars THE LAST FRONTIER IS ONE OF THE 3 BEST WESTERNS EVER MADE!!!, September 23, 2001

By 

B. h Grey "Chari Krishnan" ([e-mail]) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Savage Wilderness [VHS] (VHS Tape)

THE LAST FRONTIER--also known as SAVAGE WILDERNESS--is one of the 3 best westerns ever made!!! #1 is SHANE, #2 is THE UNFORGIVEN, and #3 is THE LAST FRONTIER!!!

Victor Mature shines in his leading role as Jed Cooper, a rough, tough frontiersman who finds his whole world changing around him as he meets the Union officers of a fort in frontier territory, Colonel Marston (Robert Preston) and Captain Riordan
(Guy Madison). This is an adult western, with well developed characters that help the movie to avoid the usual good guys in white hats, bad guys in black hats storyline of most westerns, as the hard drinking and hard living Mature struggles to understand civilization. The title song is great, the photography is great, and so is the directing and acting.

Guy Madison--a former radio announcer--uses his voice extremely well to control his scenes, and Robert Preston is excellent as the obsessed military man. And Anne Bancroft is superb as Preston's military wife, as she is literally swept off her feet by the bold Mature.

Guy Williams--later of "Zorro," and "Lost in Space" has one of his many 1950s bit parts in movies with major stars, constantly in the background--but never seen in closeups--as Private Benton.

THE LAST FRONTIER is different from other westerns in almost every way, from its treatment of Indians to its portrayal of the military, to its development of the romance between an uncivlized frontiersman and a civilized married woman. SHANE had the romance with a married woman--suggested--but no Indians, and THE UNFORGIVEN had neither.

THE LAST FRONTIER IS ONE OF THE 3 BEST WESTERNS EVER MADE!!!

Chari Krishnan
RESEARCHKING