The Last Outpost (1951)

Union Col. Jeb Britton (Bruce Bennett) is sent West to put an end to Rebel cavalry raids that are disrupting the flow of supplies and gold to the troops back East.

He’s surprised to discover the officer behind those raids is none other than his own brother, Capt. Vance Britten (Ronald Reagan).

But if that puts the brothers at odds, they’re about to share a mutual problem.

Disgruntled trader Sam McQuade has convinced Union authorities that a sure-fire way to end the Rebel problem is to get the Apaches to hunt down the Confederates.

The Brittons know that’s not a solution to anything, but rather a recipe that could lead to a wholesale massacre of whites in the territory.

Posing as a Union officer, Vance convinces the Apache to stay neutral. In return, they want the release of the braves held responsible for the ambush on McQuade.

Those braves are in the Union-controlled town of San Gil. That’s also the destination for an “expeditor” from back East, assigned the job of implementing the plan that would put the Indians on the warpath.

Also in San Gil: a Union gold shipment just begging to be stolen, lots of people who might identify Vance as something other than a Union major and McQuade’s lovely widow Julie (Rhonda Fleming), who just happened to be Vance’s lover before the war.

Review:

The plot is totally implausible, but it matters little since the film doesn’t take itself very seriously.

Reagan is the charmer who can’t be trusted; Bennett plays the more straight-laced brother, and Fleming the jilted lover not so quick to welcome Reagan back. Oh, yeah, her husband is killed off early in the film so their romance can blossom once again.

As for those broad dashes of humor — Vance and his Confederates catch a Union troop swimming in the film’s opening scene and burn their uniforms along with their supplies, sending them back to their post in nothing but long johns.

And Reagan’s men include Noah Beery Jr. as a trooper with a problematic sweet tooth.

Directed by:
Lewis R. Foster

Cast:
Ronald Reagan … Capt. Vance Britten
Rhonda Fleming … Julie McQuade
Bruce Bennett … Col. Jeb Britton
Bill Williams … Sgt. Tucket
Noah Beery Jr. … Sgt. Calhoun
Lloyd Corrigan … Mr. Delacourt
John Ridgely … Sam McQuade
Peter Hanson … Lt. Crosby
Hugh Beaumont … Lt. Fenton
Charles Evans … Chief Grey Cloud
Ewing Mitchell … Maj. Riordan

Runtime: 88 min.

Memorable lines:

Major Harding: “Is that all the men you brought?
Col. Britton: “That’s all the general could spare. Besides, I understand these Rebels number only about 100 or so.”
Harding: “That’s true, but they’re crack troops, Texas dragoons. They’ve really been giving us a headache.”
Britton: “I presume they have the usual number of arms and legs apiece.”
Harding: “Sure.”
Britton: “Then we have enough men.”

Julie McQuade to Vance Britton: “Then you’re the famous Rebel leader. They’ll not only shoot you, they’ll make you dig your own grave.”

Delacourt, as San Gil residents panic over smoke signals: “Haven’t you people ever seen smoke before?”
Union officer: “In this country, where there’s smoke, there’s likely to be Indians under it.”

Jeb Britton: “Can you shoot a gun?”
Delacourt: “As a boy, I shot rabbits.”
Britton, handing him a musket: “Well, get up high and shoot Indians.”
Delacourt: “Alright, but I never hit the rabbits.”

John Ridgely as Sam McQuade, encouraging Union officers to get Indians to attack the Confederates in The Last Outpost (1951)

Richard Crane at Lt. McReady, a Union officer whose man are caught bathing by Capt. Vance Bitten and his men in The Last Outpost (1951)