Good dramatic Western with nice acting and spectacular lanscapes from Red Rock Crossing , Sedona, Arizona . Pretty tough Western with great acting and masterfully made , it stars Richard Widmark as the primitive Commanche Todd whom the others believe to be a murderer but they are forced to accept him as a leader . Todd (Richard Widmark) is son of a white missionary whose family was killed and brought up by Comanches , he exacts vendetta on the four brothers who raped and murdered his Indian wife and children . Widmark deals with the more or less racist members of a wagon train and is left with the survivors on his hands after an Indian attack . They entrust the sheriff's (George Matthews) prisoner, who is captured and dragged to trial . As they must put their lives into the hands of the scout Comanche Todd . Todd who has charismatic qualities of leadership , as he could be defined as a two-fisted hero , as he emerges from the dust to stop vengeful Indians and later on , the young settlers atttempt to escape to freedom through rugged Indian territory. While Todd falls for a drippy colonist , (Felicia Farr) . Along the way hundreds of vengeful Apaches track them down, thirsting for blood . Nothing could stop the last wagon from coming through! .To save their lives, he'll have to risk his own.
This movie has a formidable combination of fine performances, intense drama and spectacular outdoors . Director Delmer Daves aims for psychological realism with a contemporary treatment and about an innocent and harassed man who becomes leader of a group of youthful people . The plot is plain and simple some settlers result to be ambushed and massacred by the Indians whose families were slaughtered by the whites, then a few survivors trust on an expert scout despite his wanted-for-murder status. A blending of talent actors with great leading players of whom Richard Widmark holds the best character as a brave frontiersman . The hothouse plot drives mercilessly forward with action , thrills , attacks and turns . The tale is strong one and the yarn is wonderfully located against a background of Arizona mountains . Very good main cast , standiing out Richard Widmark as the white man who has lived with the Comanches most of his life and is wanted for the murder of three men , he is the great hero dysplaying an inflexible sense of purpose , contriving some complexity about his role , including a certain riveting ambiguity . From his successful beginning with Kiss of death , Street with no name , Panic in the streets , Widmark has developed a brilliant and fruitful career , specially in Western genre that include : Broken Lance , The law and Jake Wade , Warlock , The Alamo , Two rode together , How the West was won , Cheyenne Autumn , Alvarez Kelly , The way west , Death of a gunfighter , Mr Horn , When the legends die and his last one : Texas Guns . Support cast is frankly well such as : Nick Adams , Susan Kohner , Tommy Rettig , George Mathews , Douglas Kennedy ,James Drury , Ken Clark , Carl Benton Reid, Timothy Carey , Bob Reeves , Abel Fernández , among others . The literate storyline sustains interest thanks to the relationships among the misfit characters and enhanced by cinemascope cinematography by cameraman Wilford Cline . Containing gorgeous outdoors exteriors from Oak Creek Canyon, Boynton Canyon,Sedona, Red Rock Crossing, Bell Rock, Sedona, Schnebly Hill, Arizona . Being well accompanied by a sensitive and moving musical score by Lionel Newman .
This red-blooded Western was compelling and stylishly directed by Delmer Daves and superbly filmed on location . Being made in the middle of his best period-all Western- . Daves was a fine , first-rate filmmaker who mingled moral or ethic analysis , documentary , lyrism , and large open spaces . Daves made some Western masterpieces , he was one of the greatest directors . As he was a western expert, including titles as ¨Broken arrow¨, the first pro-Indian western with James Stewart , ¨Drum beat¨ with Charles Bronson, ¨The last wagon¨ with Richard Widmark , ¨The badlanders¨ with Alan Ladd and Borgnine, ¨3:10 to Yuma¨ with Glenn Ford, ¨Cowboy¨ with Jack Lemmon, ¨The return of the Texan¨ with Dale Robertson , and ¨The hanging tree¨ with Gary Cooper , among others . Rating 7/10. Better than average
