Too many fans seem to be blown away

brilliant actors, brilliant editing

There is, somehow, an interesting story here, as well as some good acting. There are also some good scenes

The movie really just wants to entertain people.

A trapper, played by Victor Mature, ends up at a Union Army fort confronted by Red Cloud and his army. The trapper falls for the wife of the colonel of the fort. The colonel is a very dedicated and brave soldier, but not very diplomatic and smart when it comes to choosing battles. The trapper lures the colonel out into the woods and gets him entrapped in a pit and leaves him to die. The trapper in his delusions hopes that the colonel's wife will be impressed and want to be with him. Instead, her Christian sensibility is horrified by his actions. The trapper goes back and rescues the colonel. The movie is "war weary". The soldiers at the fort are sick of fighting the local Native Americans and not happy about going out to fight a battle they will inevitably lose. The trapper becomes a hero to them, because he is an excellent fighter and much shrewder than the colonel. The colonel is both liked and disliked. He is a loyal soldier, but the soldiers are not happy about having to go out and fight to their inevitable deaths. I think this was the best thing about this movie. It was not a typical western. It was a rare 50s movie that was more cynical about war and the point of war.

RELEASED IN 1955 and directed by Anthony Mann, "The Last Frontier" (aka "Savage Wilderness") stars Victor Mature as an uncivilized mountain man in 1864 who, along with his two trapper buddies (James Whitmore & Pat Hogan), seeks succor at a wilderness fort on (or near) the Bozeman Trail in the Northwest manned by a young captain (Guy Madison) and a brigade of inexperienced recruits. Jed Cooper (Mature) can't help but be attracted to a beautiful, but distant woman at the fort (Anne Bancroft), who's waiting for her gun-ho husband, a dishonored colonel, to return from another remote fort (Robert Preston). Meanwhile, Red Cloud & his braves threaten Federal advances in the region. Peter Whitney plays a grim, hulking sergeant and Russell Collins a reasonable doctor at the fort. If you can get past the hopelessly hokey opening & closing song, this is a surprisingly great, original Western and one of Anthony Mann's best. The main role was originally intended for Brando, who certainly would've been interesting, but Mature performs with his renowned beaming gusto. While it might not seem like it on paper, the setting and plot are original for a Western and, believe it or not, this is easily the best fort & cavalry Western I've ever seen. No kidding. The characters aren't one-dimensional and are therefore interesting. Take, for instance, Preston's Colonel Marston: He's sort of made out to be the antagonist, but you can't help respect his decisiveness, courage and honorability. A lesser man, for example, would've hated the young Captain (Madison) for defying him whereas the Colonel actually respects him for his bold actions and even commends him (!). He understandably seeks redemption for his gallant failure at Shiloh, which unnecessarily cost the lives of a thousand men. This would be fine if it were only HIS life on the line rather than an entire brigade of raw recruits.The love affair subplot is handled well and the action-packed climax is unpredictable, although one-element (the final one) is eye-rolling and tacked-on by the studio (NOT approved by Mann). Nevertheless, "The Last Frontier" was a huge hit at the box off. It's akin to a mid-50's version of the remarkable "The Last of the Mohicans" (1992), albeit taking place a hundred years later in the remote northwest. THE MOVIE RUNS 98 minutes and was shot in Popocatépetl Volcano, Puebla, Mexico (SE of Mexico City), which is an acceptable substitute for the Oregon/Wyoming/Montana region. WRITERS: Philyp Yordan & Russell S. Hughes based on Richard Emery Roberts' novel "The Gilded Rooster." GRADE: A

Anthony Mann's "The Last Frontier" qualifies as a terrific U.S. Calvary versus the Indians western that is reminiscent of John Ford's "Fort Apache." Victor Mature of "My Darling Clementine" plays the leading character, Jed Cooper, a frontiersman who can get the drop on a Sioux Indian. Jed, his illiterate, surrogate father Gus (James Whitmore), and their Native American friend Mungo (Pat Hogan) are three frontiersmen who almost die when Sioux Chief Red Cloud demands not only their firearms but also their animal pelts. The trio discusses their predicament, and Gus convinces them that their lives are worth far more than their guns and their pelts. They surrender everything, and Red Cloud and his army of Indians allow them to go. Red Cloud warns them that they cannot return least he kill them. Our heroes learn that Red Cloud is agitated because the U.S. Calvary has cut down lots of trees to construct a fortress in the middle of nowhere near Laramie. Captain Glenn Riordan (Guy Madison of "Payment in Blood") and his army engineers have established the fort and have orders to hold it. Our heroic trio marches into Fort Shallan and Captain Riordan hires them as scouts. Deep down inside, Jed wants to become a blue coat, but Riordan refuses to let him enlist because he feels that Jed isn't civilized enough. Riordan explains the concept of civilization. He specifies that a civilized man has a wife, children, and knows and works with many people. Jed is just the opposite. He has no wife, no children, and no sense of responsibility.During the first evening, Jed, Gus, and Mungo get roaring drunk. Jed wanders noisily around the fort and stumbles into a woman's quarters, and Corinna Marston (Anne Bancroft of "The Graduate") tolerates his intrusion, and he notices a photograph of her husband. Corinna's martinet husband, Colonel Frank Marston (Robert Preston of "Best of the Badmen"), reminded me of Henry Fonda's ramrod-stiff, Custer style officer Lieutenant Colonel Owen Thursday. Marston has a reputation for sacrificing men. He fought in the historic battle of Shiloh and his men were slaughtered in a barrage of cannon. When he arrives as Fort Shallan, Marston orders that Riordan's men must be trained to be soldiers. Odious Sergeant Major Decker (Peter Whitney of "The Big Heat") whips these engineers into shape, but he doesn't cotton to Jed. Eventually, Jed and Decker engage in a knockdown drag-out fistfight. Marston intends to use the soldiers to launch an attack on Red Cloud. Jed warns everybody that Marston will get them killed. One day, Jed and Marston ride out of the fort and spy on Red Cloud's village. Jed explains that the village is only one of many that Red Cloud has established around the fort. Meantime, Jed admires Corinna from afar and she senses his lust. During their surveillance of the Indian camp, Jed warns Marston that they risk their own exposure if they remain too long. On the way back to their horses, Marston plunges into a bear pit. Audaciously, Jed refuses to help Marston out of the pit unless he promises not to attack Red Cloud. Marston refuses and Jed leaves him there for a day or two. Reluctantly, he returns and helps Marston out of the bear trap.Inevitably, Marston attacks Red Cloud, and Gus dies during the battle. Jed warns the infantry that they must retreat to Fort Shallan, while Marston and his horse-mounted troopers are massacred. The ending with Jed ultimately becoming a sergeant is rather to good to be true. Nevertheless, everything about this western looks beautiful, including the massively built fort, and nobody gives a bad performance. This is one of Victor Mature's best performances, and Peter Whitney plays against type as a sadistic sergeant who will perform any task that Marston assigns him no matter how beyond the pale it is. Nothing about this wonderful western seems contrived. "The Last Frontier" is nothing like Mann's westerns with James Stewart.

More of an army drama set in the West vs. a Western this has solid direction and some good actors. Victor Mature is hammy but Guy Madison gives a stronger performance here than was usual for him, relaxed and assured. Robert Preston is the cruel commander who is revealed early on as a soulless martinet. He is married to a soft and startlingly blond Anne Bancroft who is good but whose role is incidental. The film makes some veiled and some pointed references to early pioneers disregard for the ways not only of the Indians but of trappers and others who had easily coexisted with them destroying their way of life as valueless merely because it was not the settlers way.