The Last Hunt (1956)

Thanks for the memories!

To all those who have watched it: I hope you enjoyed it as much as I do.

This is a small, humorous movie in some ways, but it has a huge heart. What a nice experience.

The movie's neither hopeful in contrived ways, nor hopeless in different contrived ways. Somehow it manages to be wonderful

A mediocre "Civil Rights" Western that uses the historical setting to negatively portray racism. Added into the mix here is an animal rights message. It's quaint to see how politically incorrect liberals were in the mid-50's. Not only is a white woman used to play the squaw lead, but many live buffalo are killed on screen during the movie. Even though it is revealed during the initial credits that it was filmed during a federally mandated herd thinning, it would be very controversial to portray this images today.This movie's probably a little overrated because it was written and directed by Richard Brooks, who made a bunch of movies that were much better than this (The Blackboard Jungle, Elmer Gantry, In Cold Blood among others).Here's what was good about the movie:This is a really nice performance by Robert Taylor as an unrepentant racist and killer driven mad by his sins.The main theme of the relationship between killing, hate and insanity is interesting and sophisticated.Nice scenes with buffalo, even if it is a little disturbing to see them shot down for real.Kind of "cool" ending.Here's some of things that brought it down:Overall the plot and script were ragged. The movie does not flow well and has awkward transitions.I didn't buy Stuart Granger as a frontiersman. Looked like he was hanging out in a gay Manhattan piano bar to me.Much of the film takes place in very phony looking sound stage/campsites.The movie just beats you over the head with it racism and animal rights themes. There is no attempt to obfuscate or embed the themes in the plot or characterizations.A little too maudlin in its depiction of the Indians.

The Last Hunt is the forgotten Hollywood classic western. The theme of genocide via buffalo slaughter is present in other films but never so savagely. Robert Taylor's against-type role as the possessed buffalo and Indian killer is his finest performance.In the 1950s, your mom dropped you and your friends off at the Saterday matinée, usually featuring a western or comedy. But it was wrong then and now to let a youngster watch psycho-dramas like The Searchers and The Last Hunt. Let the kids wait a few years before exposing them to films with repressed sexual sadism and intense racial hatred.Why did Mom fail to censor these films? Because they featured "safe" Hollywood stars like Taylor and John Wayne. But the climatic scene in The Last Hunt is as horrifying as Vincent Price's mutation in The Fly.The mythology of the white buffalo, part of the texture of this movie, was later ripped-off by other movies including The White Buffalo, starring Charles Bronson as Wild Bill Hickock. The laugh here is that Bronson used to play Indians.Today a large remnant bison herd resides in Yellowstone National Park in Wyoming. In the winter, hunger forces surplus animals out of the park into Montana, where they are sometimes harvested by Idaho's Nez Perce Indians under a US treaty right that pre-dates the Lincoln Presidency. Linclon signed the Congressional act which authorized the continental railroad and started the buffalo slaughter.

Robert Taylor as the mad buffalo hunter Charlie Gilson is the main character in this film. At the beginning I was thinking that Charlie would end up redeeming himself like John Wayne in The Searchers or James Stewart in The Naked Spur. But as the film goes along Gilson keeps doing more atrocities until you realize there is no hope for him. Stewart Granger is Sandy McKenzie, who wants to stop hunting because he realizes that the buffaloes will soon be gone and he becomes disgusted by the act of killing. Gilson is a natural killer who makes no distinction between animals or human beings. Debra Paget as the Indian girl is a surprising character considering the self imposed censorship of that time. She lies with Gilson in total resignation even though she hates him. The last scene of a frozen Gilson, is unforgettable.

I had watched several days film shooting of this movie that summer,the end result was just two scenes in the movie. The location was Sylvan Lake in the Black Hills. Bring the wagon,stop the wagon etc . So this Dakota youth looked forward to seeing the movie and was not disappointed. The local buffalo herd was being culled so the shooting scenes were for real. (yes Doris, animals were hurt during filming) I think the ending was copied by Jack Nicholson in the Shining? A great western/social comment from the 50's. This should be in the same class as High Noon for real western drama or used as a social statement like Blackboard Jungle or Rebel Without A Cause was for 50's youth.