Redundant and unnecessary.

hyped garbage

Brilliant and touching

Although it has its amusing moments, in eneral the plot does not convince.

Copyright 1956 by 20th Century-Fox Film Corp. New York opening at the Globe: 21 September 1956. U.S. release: September 1956. U.K. release: November 1956. Australian release: 15 November 1956. Sydney opening at the Plaza. 99 minutes.SYNOPSIS: Set in the Arizona territory in 1875, the story tells what happens to a small group of people, mostly teenagers, who, quite by accident, survive an Apache attack on their wagon train and endure terrible hardships in the long trek to safety.NOTES: Fox's 62nd CinemaScope feature. Locations in Sedona, Arizona.COMMENT: This rugged western, filmed against picturesque backdrops in Northern Arizona, was not highly regarded in its day due to its somewhat protracted and overlong story-line, as well as its too verbose and even pretentious moralizing. Widmark's over-intense acting did not help either. I'm sure the movie would go over much better with a modern audience who will tolerate any amount of pretension, garrulousness and thespic hamminess, so long as these stretches of tedium are occasionally enlivened by bouts of blazing action. I'm amazed that Fox have not theatrically re-issued "The Last Wagon". I'm sure that admirers of director Delmer Daves ("Broken Arrow", "Jubal", "3:10 to Yuma", "Cowboy") would welcome the opportunity to re-assess this one.

This is a terrific women's film. Richard Widmark's character, Comanche Todd, is everything a man should be in the Wild West – brave, resourceful, resilient, stoical, astute, firm but fair with children, tender with women, able to lead and command, not violent by nature but able and willing to use violence to protect or avenge. Moreover, he is devastatingly handsome, with his golden tan, physical agility and unsophisticated eloquence. And this is combined with an extremely literal vulnerability: in the first scene he is captured by his brutal enemy and is dragged behind a horse, starved, parched, manacled and lashed to a wagon wheel. As the story progresses and he has to save the young people who survive the massacre of a wagon train, he is freed by gradual stages, as they come to trust him. Some commenters have complained that the action is too tame, and the threat from the Indians is not made real. Indeed, the film is family friendly, and there is no gore on screen. But we are continually reminded that Todd's every action is under the shadow of the gallows, we see and hear the Indians massed for attack, we share the tension of what might be the party's final night, and the adult viewer will be aware of what children will miss – Todd twice makes sure that their remaining three bullets are kept for the girls, to spare them the fate that befell the females of the wagon train. He fights two Indians barehanded rather than use the gun. Stoicism is a quality that is at a premium in this setting, and the member of the party who doesn't have it, the younger of two sisters, has to develop it. This is a different world from our modern one. The same man can be a hero to the young boy, Billy (Tommy Rettig), and a romantic figure to his older sister, Jenny (Felicia Farr). For most of the film, the boy is ahead of his sister in his admiration and growing affection, and gives it frank expression for both of them. The love scenes between Jenny and Todd are very well written and played. The characters are clumsy and unsubtle as they signal their interest in each other, but their sincerity saves them from awkwardness. The final courtroom scene does clunk a bit, as various members of the party give their testimony in support of Todd, apparently unasked, or in response to an unspoken, off camera gesture from the judge. But it is satisfying, nevertheless, as it ties up the character arc of each of the young people, their growth measured by their relationship with Todd, who embodies the best qualities of both the Indians and the settlers.

I caught "The Last Wagon" for the first time on TV many moons ago. All I remember is that it kicked axx from beginning to end. Seeing it again last night, I'm happy to report that this 1956 Western holds up well despite the dated score.THE STORY: Richard Widmark stars as Comanche Todd, a white man raised by Comanches and under arrest for murder. Deep in hostile Apache territory he soon finds himself the leader of a small group of youths from a wagon train. Will they make it out alive? And, even if they do, can Todd escape the sentence of death-by-hanging? First of all, this film is gorgeous to look at -- shot on location in Sedona, Arizona, at the mouth of Oak Creek Canyon.Secondly, not only is the plot excellent, so are the characters, cast and everything else. The film successfully takes you back to the late 1800s and gives a good glimpse of what it must have been like to travel out West during that time.Felicia Farr and Susan Kohner stand out in the supporting cast; both are incredibly beautiful. Each youth has his/her issue(s) and grows much as a result of their experiences with Comanche Todd and the dire situation. For instance, Susan (Jolie) is ashamed that she's half-Indian but Todd teaches her to be proud of who and what she is. Others hate Todd for being an "injun lover" but later see the error of their ways. Todd himself is lost in in a fog of bitterness & revenge but a new potential family is thrown in his lap. Can he get over his disillusionment to see the blessing in his current situation? This is just a taste of the character arcs addressed in the story.Stop the presses! Christianity and Christians are actually portrayed in a positive light -- amazing! Yet so are the beliefs/practices of the Natives. The film does an outstanding job of taking the middle road with the settlers and the natives. Not to mention, the Indians are portrayed realistically, unlike many 50's Westerns where you just roll your eyes at their silly depiction.Aside from the dated score (which isn't bad, just dated), the only negative I can cite would be the way in which the conflict with the Apaches is concluded. But the film makes up for it with a powerful end-commentary on the nature of universal justice.The DVD features both the widescreen and fullscreen versions.MY GRADE: A

Though he never achieved the status of John Ford, Delmer Daves was responsible for elevating many average scripts into films that became more than the sum of their parts (Dark Passage, 3:10 To Yuma). This is a film I can first recall seeing on the late show in my early teens with my nine-year-old brother. Thirty years later we still call each other when we see it listed in the TV guide. In Commanche Todd Richard Widmark gives us one of his most likable and unforgettable characters in what could easily have become a throwaway performance in a "B" movie. The supporting cast is excellent especially Felicia Farr as Jenny. She took what could have been a potentially thankless role and turns Jenny into a strong and extremely desirable woman. Despite the sappy Hollywood ending that is somewhat at odds with the tone of the rest of the film this is a film that holds up after almost fifty years.