Broderick Crawford plays Sheriff Frazier, the man who once cleaned up Roswell with his quick gun.
Now he’s a drunken sheriff in a thriving town, kept around for nostalgia as much as anything.
Then comes Founders Day — the day the down-on-the-luck Romer family decides to get even with cattle baron Sampson Drune (Charles Bickford) by stealing $105,000 he’s just made selling a herd he’d purchased from them a year earlier at $5 per head when they were down on their luck.
Drune sets out on their trail with his adopted son of a foreman (John Derek as Jed Clayton).
The town leaders know Drune well enough to realize he wants more than his money back; he wants blood. So they tag along.
The sheriff heads out to join the posse. He also knows Drune wants the Romers dead, and the primary reason has nothing to do with beef or stolen money.
It has more to do with a secret they’ve kept for 15 years, a secret Drune never wants to come out.
Broderick Crawford as the aging Sheriff Frazier, the man who knows Sampson Drune’s secret in The Last Posse (1953)
John Derek as Jed Clayton, a young man devoted to Sampson Drune in The Last Posse (1953)
Review:
Told flashback style, the plot has enough originality to hold your interest. As he’d oft do in his Westerns, Derek plays an angst-ridden young man. Bickford is solid as always in the role of the domineering figure who controls those he loves and hates with a vengeance.
If there’s a problem with the film, it’s the role Crawford plays. He’s portrayed as a hopeless drunk through most of the film, yet he somehow musters the strength to not only lead the posse through the desert, but to climb out of his death bed to make sure the truth comes out.
It doesn’t help that the film also portrays him as one of the clumsiest sheriffs ever in a serious Western. Twice he falls off his horse while chasing the bad guys, only to bounce right back up and ride off again.
Charles Bickford as Sampson Drune, the cattle king with a knack for making enemies in The Last Posse (1953)
Wanda Hendrix as Deborah Morley, the woman in love with Jed Clayton in The Last Posse (1953)
Directed by:
Alfred Werker
Cast:
Broderick Crawford … Sheriff Frazier
John Derek … Jed Clayton
Charles Bickford … Sampson Drune
Warner Anderson … Robert Emerson
Henry Hull … Ollie Stokely
Will Wright … Tom Mitchell
Tom Powers … Frank White
Raymond Greenleaf … Arthur Hagan
James Kirkwood … Judge Parker
Eddy Waller … Dr. Pryor
Skip Homeier … Art Romer
Guy Wilkerson … George Romer
James Bell … Will Romer
Wanda Hendrix … Deborah Morely
Runtime: 73 min.
James Bell as Will Romer, Guy Wilkerson as George Romer and Skip Homeier as Art Romer in The Last Posse (1953)
Will Wright as Tom Mitchell, Warner Anderson as Robert Emerson and Tom Powers as Frank White, leading citizens, in The Last Posse (1953)
Memorable lines:
Drune: “If you’re looking for improvement, why don’t you get a new sheriff?”
Emerson: “Where’s you’re civic pride, Drune? Every town should have a monument to its past. We’ve got one that walks and talks.”
Drune, about the sheriff: “What’s he trying to do? Die with his boots on?”
Emerson: “Can you think of a better way for him to go?
Clayton: “How’s it feel to track down your friends?”
Sheriff Frazier: “Sheriff’s got no friends. Just a job.”
Charles Bickford as Sampson Drune and John Derek as Jed Clayton, his adopted son in The Last Posse (1953)
James Kirkwood as Judge Parker, inquiring about the posse’s experience in The Last Posse (1953)
Henry Hull as Ollie Stokely and Broderick Crawford as Sheriff Frazer, watching a fight break out in The Last Posse (1953)
John Derek as Jed Clayton with Wanda Hendrix as Deborah Morely in The Last Posse (1953)
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