The Last Wagon (1956)

Arrested for killing the men who murdered his wife and sons, "Comanche" Todd survives being chained to a wagon wheel when Apache ambush the wagon train leaving only 6 young people as well as Todd: it falls to him to lead them to safety through hostile territory.Richard Widmark has a meaty action hero leading role as Todd in this 1956 western. The other characters are an interesting bunch, with Nick Adams in the thankless role of aggressive ass, Tommy Rettig as substitute son, and Felicia Farr as tasty young thing who could easily adapt to frontier wife.The action is good, the music is typical western fare, and the scenery is wonderful. This is a very traditional western, but a good one.

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.

If you watch this film with care, you will see that every shot has been perfectly crafted. The deep blue skies and reddish rock colour go perfectly with the steely blue eyes and yellowish skin of Richard Widmark. Even the colour of his tunic blends in with the rest. The cameraman here must have been a real genius as every shot is perfect.Great attention seems to have been paid to the color of the sky, the position of the sun and even the shots in "contre-jour" come out perfectly - in short, a real FEAST for the eyes. This film has only recently been made available on DVD in the USA and is of course absent from Europe, though we have plenty of other, and many inferior quality Westerns available on DVD....this should have been one of the first to come out...but this was not to be the case. Plot-wise the film is quite enthralling, and it's interesting to note the change in attitude of the people with time towards Widmark, from suspicion and hate towards gratitude and love by the end. The other actors give reasonable performances but of course in this film, Widmark steals the show, just as he did in "No Way Out". The scenes with the Indians, smoke signals etc are awesome and very colourful. Also the soundtrack is very good, I even thought it was Dimitri Tiomkin who had composed it, but I was wrong. When I saw the film initially, I was fearing some ghastly sad ending, thinking that Widmark would inevitably come a cropper, but fortunately, love rules OK and all turns out right ! Phew ! This is a film that every true Western-lover should have on the shelves of his/her DVDthèque.

The Last Wagon is a film with some good intentions and some very good moments, but it could have been a whole lot better.A really brutal sheriff played by George Matthews brings a prisoner in to a small wagon train. By his manner he puts off a whole lot of the wagon train member. They start having some sympathy with prisoner Richard Widmark.When some of the young people of the train go off and frolic in a midnight swim, they return and find the Apaches have massacred the train except for one survivor. Widmark survived by a fluke I won't reveal.Widmark's a white man who lived with the Comanches and he's the only one who might insure the survival of the rest. Reluctantly they trust him and the adventure begins.Widmark's is the only really developed character in The Last Wagon, the rest have some strange motivations and attitudes that are not fully explained. Still their are some exciting sequences in the film and it can be enjoyed on that level.