THE LAST WAGON
US, 1956, 99 minutes, Colour.
Richard Widmark, Felicia Farr, Susan Kohner, Tommy Rettig, Nick Adams.
Directed by Delmer Daves.
The Last Wagon has the standard Western ingredients of outlaws, heroes, Indians, wagon-trains and survival. But it also has a focus on a mother and boy and a group of older adolescents. Richard Widmark is very good in this kind of film. Delmer Daves wrote and directed many good Westerns in the mid-50's including Cowboy and 3:10 to Yuma.
1. The impact of this film as an enjoyable Western? How well did it use western conventions - landscapes. single hero, whites and Indians. stagecoach and siege. army, clash of characters? Was it better than the average Western? Why? The use of locations and scenery,, colour and Cinemascope?
2. Audience interest in Comanche Todd? Sympathy or antipathy for him at the opening with the killings? Richard Widmark as the hero? His characteristics as hero? Sympathy for him and judgment on his actions? The impact of the humiliation of Todd after his capture? His being hanged, being tied to the wheel? The meaning of his suffering? People's response to him?
3. The picturing of anti-Indian hostility? The wagon-train group and their hostility towards Todd. their changing in their attitude to him? The prejudice against things Indian? The two sisters?
4. The importance of the picturing of the wagon-train people? Their sincere attitudes? Pioneers? Wanting to do good. finding crises difficult? A cross-section of humanity? Todd's interventions with them and for them?
5. Jenny and Billy as standing out from the group? Attractive in themselves? Sympathy for Todd.. love,, providing meals etc.? The hostility of the sheriff? The realisation of Todd's goodness and the sheriff's evil?
6. The two sisters and their love-hate relationship? Their backgrounds, their father's marriages. his love for them both? Sympathy and hatred leading to crisis. and realisation of the truth? How convincing were the changes in them both?
7. Clint and Ridge? The young men of the group? Their life before them? Their attitudes towards Todd? To the wagon-train? Especially when Todd took over? The lessons they learned about behaviour. leadership. themselves?
8. The impact of the massacre and the irony of the group going for a swim? The reaction to the massacre? Their reliance on Todd? The theme of survival in the desert? Learning from the Indians' ways? The foolish mistakes they made about water? Noise? Todd's getting them into a coherent group? Their willingness to survive? The generosity of Todd and the Indian sister for the white sister? The picturing of the ingenuity. obedience. Indian techniques, clashes and changes?
9. The melodrama of the final siege? Todd willing to give his life for the group? Jenny's supporting him? The relief of the soldiers? The strategy of the chase? How interesting and exciting?
10. How well did the trial fit into the atmosphere of the previous journey through the desert? The presentation of the opinions about Todd? Questions of justice and law? The speech of the judge, the testimony of the group? Seeing Todd as a Saviour figure? The group willing to give their lives for him?
