The Last Wagon (1956)

Richard Widmark is Comanche Todd, a white man raised by Indians who goes on a killing rampage after his Indian wife and sons are butchered. He’s captured for those slayings by Sheirff Bull Harper, who attaches himself to a wagon train headed West through Apache territory.

But things quickly turn bad. First, Comanche Todd gets hold of a hatchet and kills the sheriff. Then the Apaches attack. The lone survivors are Todd, who’s been pushed off a cliff along with the wagon wheel he was chained to, and six of the younger settlers with the wagon train. They were off swimming when the attack occurred.

Jenny (Felicia Farr) and her younger brother Billy (Tommy Rettig) quickly realize their best chance at survival is putting their trust in the man who’s been branded a killer. The rest are more reluctant to do so, especially Valinda Normand (Stephanie Griffin), who hates everything Indian; and Ridge (Nick Adams), who fancies himself the leader of the small band.

Reluctantly, Comanche Todd takes all six along on a trek through the Valley of Death, making no guarantees that any of them will make it. Along the way, Valinda and Ridge shed much of their bigotry, Valinda’s half-sister Jolie (Susan Kohner) learns to be proud of her Indian heritage, Clint grows up and Jenny falls for Comanche Todd.

Then, when things look bleakest, the small band runs across a cavalry patrol headed for ambush. Comanche Todd’s options: Save them and risk being identified as a wanted man on the run, or let them be massacred. He chooses the former, of course.

Review:

Quite entertaining, in spite of a few oh-my-gosh moments (the Canyon of Death?!?) and an incredibly hokey ending. Widmark is excellent, of course, and he’s working with a fine and young supporting cast. Stephanie Griffin is particularly effective in her role as the spoiled young white girl, pure in action, filthy in thought.

Much more baffling if you think about it for more than a second is youngster Tommy Rettig’s willingness to embrace Comanche Todd as a friend, even though he’s a killer and brutally slays the sheriff in front of everyone in the wagon train.

As for the title, if refers to the fact that the small band patch together one last wagon from the ruins of all the others to help them on their trek to safety. As for that young cast: This marked the only feature film for Griffin, who did most of her work on TV; one of just a handful for Kohner, who was even more prolific as a TV actress; and just the third credited role for James Drury. He plays a cavalry officer here; he would gain fame six years later as star of the TV show “The Virginian,” which ran for more than 240 episodes on NBC.

Directed by:
Delmer Daves

Cast:
Richard Widmark … Comanche Todd
Felicia Farr … Jenny
Tommy Rettig … Billy
Susan Kohner … Jolie Normand
Stephanie Griffin … Valinda Normand
Ray Stricklyn … Clint
Nick Adams … Ridge
Carl Benton Red … Gen. Howard
Douglas Kennedy … Col. Normand
George Mathews … Sheriff Bull Harper
James Drury … Lt. Kelly
Ken Clark … Sergeant

Runtime: 98 min.

Memorable lines:

Col. Normand, of Comanche Todd: “He’ll be safe in your custody, I suppose? It’s just that we’ve got women and children with us.”
Sheriff Harper: “He’ll be safe. The first time he don’t look safe, he’ll get dead.”

Sheriff Harper, of Comanche Todd: “Don’t nobody get soft-bellied or sorry for him. He’s what they scrape off the bottom of the barrel — an injun-lovin’ murderer.”

Valind Normand to her half-sister Jolie: “Sure you’re on his side. You’re nothing but an Indian yourself. You haven’t gotten any feelings. You haven’t even cried. You don’t care if our father’s dead.”
Jolie slaps her across the face.
Comanche Todd: “That gal’s kinda quick-sprung, ain’t she?”

Comanche Todd: “From this point on, we become scavengers … And don’t mind robbing the dead. They’re beyond caring.”

Jenny: “Your wife — was she a Comanche girl?”
Comanche Todd: “Yeh.”
Jenny: “Young?”
Comanche Todd: “Fifteen when she come to me.”
Jenny: “That seems awfully young.”
Comanche Todd: “Well, girls and ponies, both, younger you break them in, the better. Apt to get wild otherwise. You been broke in?”

Jenny: “I didn’t know Comanches kissed like this.”
Comanche Todd: “They don’t.”

Gen. Howard: “Four brothers, Harpers all of them. Did you or did you not kill these men?”
Comanche Todd: “I killed them.”
Gen. Howard: “In cold blood?”
Comanche Todd: “What’s that mean?”
Gen. Howard: “If a man kills another man in hot anger, perhaps even temporary insanity, hot blood that is, the law calls it second-degree murder, even manslaughter. But if a man plans to kill and cold-bloodedly sets out to do it, that’s murder in the first degree, punishable by hanging.”
Comanche Todd: “It was the second way with me. I wanted to kill them. And I did.”