A half-breed (Richard Widmark) wanted for multiple murders is hunted down and captured by a vicious sheriff (George Matthews) who, as he's dragging him back to civilization to be tried and then hung, coincidentally meets up with a wagon train of devout Christians. The situation as they join the train is the best part of the film, as Richard Widmark as the half-breed being convincingly mistreated by the sheriff (Matthews is pretty believable) wins the sympathy of a sizable proportion of those in the wagon train, which includes attractive Felicia Farr, Stephanie Griffin and Susan Kohner. The opposing views of justice, Christian piety, humane treatment etc... are well enough done, and the action builds fairly well with Widmark being chained to a wagon wheel, who manages to get one hand free enough to kill Matthews by skilfully throwing a hatchet at him. The culmination of this weird setting is when the young women accompany Nick Adams on a night time skinny-dipping outing. That, unfortunately is the high point of the film, for when they return they find that everyone in the train has been killed by Apaches except Widmark who somehow escapes even though he's still chained to the wagon wheel. The rest of the film is Widmark, half-breed, who's lived with Commanches for most of his life, now saving the young and attractive females along with Nick Adams and Tommy Rettig as he leads them to a town, where he faces a trial that is one of the more inane court scenes you are likely ever to see.

I caught "The Last Wagon" for the first time on TV many moons ago. All I remember is that it kicked axx from beginning to end. Seeing it again last night, I'm happy to report that this 1956 Western holds up well despite the dated score.THE STORY: Richard Widmark stars as Comanche Todd, a white man raised by Comanches and under arrest for murder. Deep in hostile Apache territory he soon finds himself the leader of a small group of youths from a wagon train. Will they make it out alive? And, even if they do, can Todd escape the sentence of death-by-hanging? First of all, this film is gorgeous to look at -- shot on location in Sedona, Arizona, at the mouth of Oak Creek Canyon.Secondly, not only is the plot excellent, so are the characters, cast and everything else. The film successfully takes you back to the late 1800s and gives a good glimpse of what it must have been like to travel out West during that time.Felicia Farr and Susan Kohner stand out in the supporting cast; both are incredibly beautiful. Each youth has his/her issue(s) and grows much as a result of their experiences with Comanche Todd and the dire situation. For instance, Susan (Jolie) is ashamed that she's half-Indian but Todd teaches her to be proud of who and what she is. Others hate Todd for being an "injun lover" but later see the error of their ways. Todd himself is lost in in a fog of bitterness & revenge but a new potential family is thrown in his lap. Can he get over his disillusionment to see the blessing in his current situation? This is just a taste of the character arcs addressed in the story.Stop the presses! Christianity and Christians are actually portrayed in a positive light -- amazing! Yet so are the beliefs/practices of the Natives. The film does an outstanding job of taking the middle road with the settlers and the natives. Not to mention, the Indians are portrayed realistically, unlike many 50's Westerns where you just roll your eyes at their silly depiction.Aside from the dated score (which isn't bad, just dated), the only negative I can cite would be the way in which the conflict with the Apaches is concluded. But the film makes up for it with a powerful end-commentary on the nature of universal justice.The DVD features both the widescreen and fullscreen versions.MY GRADE: A

Richard Widmark is Comanche Todd, captured by a brutal sheriff. The two stumble upon a few covered wagons with mostly women and children. Apaches attack and slaughter all the passengers except Widmark and a handful of women and kids, including Felicia Farr, Susan Kohner, and Nick Adams. Widmark, freed of his manacles, leads the others to freedom through Apache country.Nothing much new here in the way of plot. Widmark represents nature. He wears a buckskin outfit and moccasins. He was raised by Indians, as so many other Western characters have been, from "Hombre" to "Hondo." He's stoic, knows nature, brims with common sense, and is tough as hell.Farr and the rest represent culture. They speak elegantly, observe civilized customs, and are stupid. But they don't have to worry about survival in the wild as long as Widmark is around to teach them the skills required by adaptation to a hostile environment.As a matter of fact, once freed of his shackles, Widmark doesn't sound much like an Indian. He sounds more like the sergeant leading the lost patrol through the wilderness. He snaps out orders and helps them shed their winsome civilian ways, as a Widmark character put it in another movie.No, Widmark doesn't sound much like an Indian. He talks too much for one thing. If the people of the Circum-Mediterranean -- the Greeks, Jews, and Arabs -- are operatic in their speech and body language, the Plains Indians and those of the American Southwest are the opposite.Widmark doesn't look the part, somehow, either, although I don't know that anyone could be convincing in the role. Felicia Farr, his romantic interest, is an attractive women who looks and sounds as if she'd have been far more at home in the Russian Tea Room than on horseback. This weakness in casting doesn't seem remarkable since no one else has more than modest acting talent either.Yet it's an engaging movie. We know from the outset that Widmark is fundamentally good. The passengers he adopts are varied, as they must be in such a story. There is the dumb, callow braggart Nick Adams. There is the humane and loving Farr. There is the half-Navaho Susan Kohner who must rediscover the pride in her heritage. There is the Indian-hating Stephanie Griffin who grows up quickly.When Widmark is finally brought to trial before General Howard, he presents a defense full of sophistry, but the people he's saved testify to his self-sacrificial deeds and the general lets him off with a light sentence, marriage to Farr.The photography of Oak Creek Canyon and the environs of Sedona, Arizona, are outstanding. You can almost smell the Juniper.The enemies here, aside from civilization itself, are the Apaches. They were tough customers historically. They deboned their captives beginning with the distal phalanx of one of the fingers. I've only known one Apache personally. He and I managed to come by the ingredients for a soup of fish heads and rice on the waterfront in Juneau. The meal turned out to be something of a mess because he was a little drunk when he made it, but I didn't mind because I was too.

Alas, this is another victim of over hype. It was shown as part of the London Film Festival and the brochure talked a great game. Any film with Richard Widmark is, by definition, never a total loss but even actors of his calibre can't work miracles. Likewise helmer Delmer Daves has some fine credits yet somehow these two A-listers managed to concoct something ho-hum. It was probably daring at the time (1956) to have Widmark shoot a man in the back in the very first scene - by this time Widmark had graduated from the psychopathic killers (Kiss Of Death, No Way Out) that had made his name to four-square heroes so we know there has to be a damn good reason for what he did. There is, but we have to wait til the final reel which sees Comanche Todd (Widmark) on trial for murder to discover that three brothers raped his Comanche wife then killed her and his two sons. For his trouble in the opening scene Widmark is 'captured' by brutal 'sheriff' Bull Harper (George Matthews) and winds up tied to a wagon wheel, part of a wagon train of pioneers heading West, yet is still able to bury an axe in Harper's head. When a group of the younger people sneak off for a midnight swim they return to find that Apaches have killed everyone except Widmark who is halfway down a cliff still tied to the wagon. There's really only one way for the story to go from here; Widmark must lead the survivors to safety through Apache territory and they are evenly divided between those who like him and those who hate him. Given that it's a 'journey' movie everyone learns something about themselves. It's watchable because it revolves around Widmark but there isn't half as much chemistry as there should be between him and leading lady Felicia Farr (on the other hand that was the year she married Jack Lemmon so maybe she had other things on her mind) and of the three prominent females Susan Kohner walks away with the acting honours.