Last of the Wild Horses
Last of the Wild Horses
NR | 27 December 1948 (USA)
Last of the Wild Horses Trailers

A cowboy must clear himself of a murder he did not commit.

Reviews
lemon_magic

OK, I admit I saw the MST3K version of this movie instead of the "straight" theatrical release, but as a longtime MST3K vet I know how to disengage the wisecracks from the "front row" and judge the movie on its own merits, whatever they may be. (And even in the lineup of movies covered by MST3K, LOTWH is one of the more competent efforts.) In the movie's favor: Pretty good scenery, sets and costumes - the viewer really does get a sense of vast countryside, rugged men of action, and wild horses abounding. Although the robots make fun of Albert Glasser's score, it really is one of his best efforts and does its job nicely. No one in the cast really sucks - everyone seems to know what their part requires and the actors inhabit their characters quite comfortably. Also, a nice rousing fight scene during the opening credits gets things off to a reasonably exciting start.Against? Well, the plot doesn't make a whole lot of sense, and certain events require a whole lot of suspension of disbelief. You've never seen so many coincidental meetings and dropping/finding of critical plot MacGuffins - brandings irons, bandanna, letters, envelopes - in your life. The chief bad guy's machinations wouldn't get him elected to 9th grade class president in real life and they only work here because the plot requires it.And aside from a couple of chases and shootouts, the movie just mosies along for most of its length, which would be OK if it had a John Wayne or a Gary Cooper to carry it...but what it's got is a bunch of competent actors who were born to play spear carriers.I'm not a big fan of Westerns, although I've got "Rio Bravo", "Rough Night In Jericho", "The Man Who Shot Liberty Valace" and "Silverado" in my DVD collection. But there's at least 100 Western movies I can think of that I'd watch before I'd watch "Last Of The Wild Horses" again. And I seriously doubt anyone will ever see this movie for its own sake ever again...it's simply forgettable and run of the mill. But it's not "bad" the way a truly incompetent movie is "bad".

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Aaron1375

Yes, near the end of this film all the action will shift from the plains, to the courtroom as the hero of the movie is put on trial. Kind of interesting, though not sure a trial of this type would of occurred in the old west. I figured the people would just mob the accused and hang them and feel a bit regretful when they find out the person is innocent, but still smile when they think of the fun they had afterward at the cookout. This film is about a guy who may or may not have been attempting to rob a stage coach intervene in three guys chasing a person and becomes the hero of the film. He has two girls interested so he is doing quite good for himself as he has a cute brunette and a cute blond, both from different households. The brunette is the daughter of a man who is sort of the bad guy, but not really. He just is a very poor employer who really should watch his employees better. The blond lives with a guy named Remedy who she may be the daughter of or not, their relationship is a bit more obscure compared to the brunette. Well it seems one ranch is rounding up all the wild horses and this hurts things somehow and there are lots of chases involving horses, tepid gunfights, and a couple of old fashioned fist fights where the good guy gets beat down for the most part. However, do not feel sorry for him, as he does have two cuties after him. Surprised the blond did not pull the trigger during the one scene as she was clearly falling behind at that point. It had its moments, to bad it feels the screen with one to many going no where kind of scenes. It does teach a valuable lesson, however, and that is back in the old west, one only really needed a handkerchief to prosecute someone of a crime. Guess it is kind of like DNA evidence today.

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jimevarts

This movie starts out weak and then gradually just sort of wanders off.It has potential, story-wise. A large rancher, Cooper, is pressured by his daughter and the other small ranchers to stop rounding up the wild horses in the area. His lead man has other plans and gets himself and the other Cooper employees deputized so they can frame the small ranchers and confiscate their horses. Cooper finds out about it and confronts his lead man, who kills him and frames Barnum, the "hero." Barnum is the weak link. He seems like the laziest, least intelligent, yet most charming guy in the area. He pushes people's buttons for fun and can't decide whether he's crooked or good. They all work hard and he just rides around seeming guilty of crimes or at least thinking about committing crimes. But chicks dig him. He mostly just appears here and there, acts cocky, irritates someone, and then rides off to rendezvous with a girl. And yet somehow you really just don't care what he does. You might doze off and wake to a scene that seems almost identical to the previous one.Whatever.

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Sterno-2

When my dad was young, Grandpa would take him to the drive-in to see westerns. They always parked in the front row so that, as Grandpa said, "So we could smell the horse manure." One does not need to get too close to smell the fumes coming from this movie.The hero's name is Duke (could they have been trying to cash in on John Wayne?) Anyway, Duke is a robber-cum-rancher the filmmaker couldn't decide if he was a good guy (white hat) or a bad guy (blank bandana). They also couldn't decide if he was going to have a romantic relationship or not. He had the attention of two lady cowboys (cowgirls? cowbabes? cowchicks? cowladies?), both of whom seek his attention. Maybe they want to have his children, maybe they want to share him as part of a harem...who knows? That angle (among many) is never fully developed.The big fuss seems to be about stealing all of the mares from the wild horses running free and minding their own business near the quaint town of Jacksonville. A couple of bad guys at the Double C ranch want all the horses for themselves, eventually setting the stage for Duke's sham trial for the murder of the head of the Double C.Watch this on MST3K, since they do a hilarious send up of the original Star Trek's "parallel universe" episode ("Mr. Crow -- your agonizer, please!!" "Oh, goody, someone left us an agony booth!") Otherwise, Sterno says brand this cow a loser.

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