Hawkeye and the Last of the Mohicans (TV Series) Hawkeye's Homecoming (1957) User Reviews

Excellent debut episode features Michael Ansara

[kevinolzak · 8/10 · 8 November 2014]

THE LAST OF THE MOHICANS proudly boasts of its heritage to James Fenimore Cooper, its one syndicated season lasting a full 39 episodes, filmed in wintry Canadian locations in Pickering, Ontario, with indoor facilities in Toronto's Lakeshore Studio (about a 12 month period beginning in July 1956). Former Lone Ranger John Hart toplines as frontiersman Nat Cutler, known as 'Hawkeye, the Long Rifle' to his Indian friends, protecting white settlers during the ongoing French and Indian War along the New York-Canadian border. Co-starring was Lon Chaney as Mohican blood brother Chingachgook, a role played in the 1920 German version by none other than Bela Lugosi, while Chaney was no stranger to dignified Indian portrayals, from 1952's "Battles of Chief Pontiac" (title role) to 1956's "Daniel Boone, Trail Blazer" (as Shawnee Chief Blackfish). Like Tonto, Chingachgook remains steadfast in his devotion to the loner Hawkeye, ignored by the white man and unloved by his Native American brethren (the last of his devastated tribe). Director Sam Newfield and his brother, producer Sigmund Neufeld (as well as Leon Fromkess), were responsible for the entire series, a decade after the demise of their Poverty Row unit at PRC. Nowadays advertised as HAWKEYE AND THE LAST OF THE MOHICANS, all 39 episodes available in one format or another, this excellent debut episode, "Hawkeye's Homecoming," was the only one directed by Sidney Salkow rather than Newfield, with John Hart's Hawkeye returning to his mother's cabin along the Iroquois Trail, where he learns that younger brother Tommy (Don Garner) now proudly serves as a sergeant for the British army. Unfortunately, his assignment from Col. Thorne (Leslie Denison) to deliver a dispatch to Albany is foiled by Mohawk scout Ogana (Michael Ansara), a Huron chief in disguise, who plots an attack on Fort William Henry that will be a triumph for his people, not the French. The show couldn't have begun on a higher note, the only episode shot in Hollywood, Ansara just beginning his 2 season run as Cochise in the TV series BROKEN ARROW, John Hart quite serviceable as Hawkeye, eager to clear his brother's name by exposing Ogana's treachery, their inevitable showdown well played and tense. Lon Chaney's Chingachgook reveals the truth to Hawkeye after examining Ogana's knife, that he couldn't have acquired it from a dead Huron: "red man never carry tomahawk or knife that belongs to enemy, bad medicine!" (incredibly, the theme music during the end credits was borrowed by Ed Wood for his "Plan 9 from Outer Space"!). Yes, one can argue that it's The Lone Ranger and Tonto on a lower budget, but younger viewers still enjoyed it. Chaney had previously appeared opposite Michael Ansara in 1950's "Only the Valiant," Leslie Denison in 1952's "The Black Castle," and Casey Adams in 1955's "Indestructible Man."

Wonderful Opening Episode

[Rainey-Dawn · 8/10 · 12 July 2019]

This is a fabulous opening for the show. Hawkeye comes home to find his brother has been murdered after joining the British Army and is out for revenge.

Chingachgook (Chaney) is a wonderful sidekick/companion for Hawkeye (Hart)... they are like Tonto and the Lone Ranger together.

8.5/10