The Last Frontier (1955)

I feel as if Victor Mature is vastly underrated and gives one of his finest performances in this Columbia western. Maybe it's because of Anthony Mann's direction, or the key scenes he has with Anne Bancroft as the married woman who is the object of his savage affections. But he's also quite splendid in scenes with Guy Madison and James Whitmore, especially with Whitmore. It's like two things are happening with Vic here-- he's having the time of his life with the other members of the cast, and he's thrown himself so completely into playing the part of an undisciplined trapper that he's practically possessed. He has several tirades in this film, often in long takes, and Mann wisely lets the camera go after him. It's most absorbing.We also have Robert Preston playing Bancroft's husband, a bloodthirsty commanding officer. You would nearly expect Vic's larger than life portrayal to push the other players off to the sidelines. But Preston brings his own intensity, a spectacular version of a deranged leader, right up through the center of this story. So we have Vic clowning around in alcohol-induced rants, and Preston forging ahead to commit a series of pre-meditated killings, involving both the enemy natives and his own soldiers. Two train wrecks happening at once, and it's no wonder viewers cannot take their eyes off the screen.It was one of the year's top grossing films when it was released back in the mid-1950s. Audiences devoured it whole. If this film was released first-run today, it would still be a smash hit.

This is by no means a bad western. In fact, most would call it a classic. It is however, a bad action movie. Instead of battle scenes, the film chooses to focus on a fur trapper's struggle with fast-approaching civilization. When the trapper, played by a visibly aging Victor Mature, pays a visit to a cavalry fort, the officer in command convinces the trapper and his buddies to join up as scouts. With the Civil War raging back east, the cavalry is in need of soldiers out west to control Indian trouble. I've always liked Victor Mature, but he's better when he has a co-star to help him carry the movie. The final battle is pretty good, but for a cavalry movie, this is a snoozer.

Robert Preston, not Preston Forster (alias Foster) does a fine job along with Victor Mature and James Whitemore in this "B" western filmed in color. It's fun to see the legendary Anne Bancroft in one of her first movies, before she returned to the stage in The Miracle Worker. Contrary to other opinions, if you are a real movie lover, The Last Frontier is well worth your time.

While this picture may be minor Anthony Mann, it's a very off-beat, well acted, western. Mature is the anti-thesis of Mann's uber-hero, the driven, edgy loner played to perfection by Jimmy Stewart. Mann plays to Mature's strengths by casting him as the uncivilized, passion driven scout given to bouts of raucous drunkenness. Robert Preston is very good as the obsessed, kill-crazy Colonel whose wife (Anne Bancroft) Mature covets He also slugs her! Wow! Savage Mature!