Clevercell Very disappointing...

Humaira Grant It’s not bad or unwatchable but despite the amplitude of the spectacle, the end result is underwhelming.

Fleur Actress is magnificent and exudes a hypnotic screen presence in this affecting drama.

Justina The film never slows down or bores, plunging from one harrowing sequence to the next.

zardoz-13 Anthony Mann's "The Last Frontier" qualifies as a terrific U.S. Calvary versus the Indians western that is reminiscent of John Ford's "Fort Apache." Victor Mature of "My Darling Clementine" plays the leading character, Jed Cooper, a frontiersman who can get the drop on a Sioux Indian. Jed, his illiterate, surrogate father Gus (James Whitmore), and their Native American friend Mungo (Pat Hogan) are three frontiersmen who almost die when Sioux Chief Red Cloud demands not only their firearms but also their animal pelts. The trio discusses their predicament, and Gus convinces them that their lives are worth far more than their guns and their pelts. They surrender everything, and Red Cloud and his army of Indians allow them to go. Red Cloud warns them that they cannot return least he kill them. Our heroes learn that Red Cloud is agitated because the U.S. Calvary has cut down lots of trees to construct a fortress in the middle of nowhere near Laramie. Captain Glenn Riordan (Guy Madison of "Payment in Blood") and his army engineers have established the fort and have orders to hold it. Our heroic trio marches into Fort Shallan and Captain Riordan hires them as scouts. Deep down inside, Jed wants to become a blue coat, but Riordan refuses to let him enlist because he feels that Jed isn't civilized enough. Riordan explains the concept of civilization. He specifies that a civilized man has a wife, children, and knows and works with many people. Jed is just the opposite. He has no wife, no children, and no sense of responsibility.During the first evening, Jed, Gus, and Mungo get roaring drunk. Jed wanders noisily around the fort and stumbles into a woman's quarters, and Corinna Marston (Anne Bancroft of "The Graduate") tolerates his intrusion, and he notices a photograph of her husband. Corinna's martinet husband, Colonel Frank Marston (Robert Preston of "Best of the Badmen"), reminded me of Henry Fonda's ramrod-stiff, Custer style officer Lieutenant Colonel Owen Thursday. Marston has a reputation for sacrificing men. He fought in the historic battle of Shiloh and his men were slaughtered in a barrage of cannon. When he arrives as Fort Shallan, Marston orders that Riordan's men must be trained to be soldiers. Odious Sergeant Major Decker (Peter Whitney of "The Big Heat") whips these engineers into shape, but he doesn't cotton to Jed. Eventually, Jed and Decker engage in a knockdown drag-out fistfight. Marston intends to use the soldiers to launch an attack on Red Cloud. Jed warns everybody that Marston will get them killed. One day, Jed and Marston ride out of the fort and spy on Red Cloud's village. Jed explains that the village is only one of many that Red Cloud has established around the fort. Meantime, Jed admires Corinna from afar and she senses his lust. During their surveillance of the Indian camp, Jed warns Marston that they risk their own exposure if they remain too long. On the way back to their horses, Marston plunges into a bear pit. Audaciously, Jed refuses to help Marston out of the pit unless he promises not to attack Red Cloud. Marston refuses and Jed leaves him there for a day or two. Reluctantly, he returns and helps Marston out of the bear trap.Inevitably, Marston attacks Red Cloud, and Gus dies during the battle. Jed warns the infantry that they must retreat to Fort Shallan, while Marston and his horse-mounted troopers are massacred. The ending with Jed ultimately becoming a sergeant is rather to good to be true. Nevertheless, everything about this western looks beautiful, including the massively built fort, and nobody gives a bad performance. This is one of Victor Mature's best performances, and Peter Whitney plays against type as a sadistic sergeant who will perform any task that Marston assigns him no matter how beyond the pale it is. Nothing about this wonderful western seems contrived. "The Last Frontier" is nothing like Mann's westerns with James Stewart.

jarrodmcdonald-1 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.

Jeff (actionrating.com) 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.

bux The casting of Mature as the "savage" and Robert Preston (NOT Preston Foster!!) as the crazed cavalry officer made this one very appealing. The story, pushing the envelope for it's time, has our hero attempting to steal a married woman. James Whitmore has a nice supporting role, and take it from me-the BEST westerns came out of the 50s!