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.
Review of The Last Wagon
