The Last Outpost
The Last Outpost
NR | 04 April 1951 (USA)
The Last Outpost Trailers

The cavalry defend a small town from indians.

Reviews
NekoHomey Purely Joyful Movie!
Executscan Expected more
Infamousta brilliant actors, brilliant editing
Tyreece Hulme One of the best movies of the year! Incredible from the beginning to the end.
gordonl56 THE LAST OUTPOST aka CAVALRY CHARGE 1951This one has the North against the South, brother against brother, Cavalry against the Apache along with a little romance thrown in. This 1951 Technicolor western was made by Pine-Thomas Productions and released through Paramount Pictures. The film stars, Ronald Reagan, Rhonda Fleming, Bruce Bennett, Noah Beery Jr, Hugh Beaumont, John Ridgely and Lloyd Corrigan. The action is set in Arizona where Ronald Reagan is in charge of a small band of Confederate Cavalry. The unit is raiding Union wagon trains along the Santa Fe Trail. They take what they need and then burn the rest. Union Headquarters in Washington sends out a new officer, Bruce Bennett, to take charge of hunting down the Confederates. Bennett plans an operation to rid the area of the Confederate gnats. The plan backfires and Bennett and his detachment are captured by Reagan and his men. Now the viewer finds out that Bennett and Reagan are actually brothers. One had stayed Union, and the other went with the Stars and Bars. Reagan takes the Union weapons, boots and then sets them free. Needless to say that Bennett is fuming by the time he and his men straggle back to the fort. Complicating matters is local store-owner and whiskey trader, John Ridgely. Ridgely wants the US Army to enlist the aid of the local Apache tribes in the fight against the Confederates. Ridgely has sent this idea on to Washington. Ridgely of course would profit from this by selling rotgut and poor quality rifles to the Apache. Also in town is Ridgely's wife, Rhonda Fleming. Fleming and Bennett's brother, Reagan, had been an item back east before the war. When Reagan had left to join the South, Fleming had married Ridgely out of spite. The marriage is not a happy one. Reagan and his merry band now capture a high ranking Union officer, Ewing Mitchell. Mitchell is out from Washington to see if Ridgely's idea of enlisting the Apache is valid. Reagan is horrified at the idea of the Apache on the warpath. He knows that they would attack everyone, north or south, once the blood lust set in. Reagan dresses up in Mitchell's uniform and keeps the meeting with the Apache chiefs. He tells them that they should remain out of the war. Of course the old fly in the ointment appears. It seems that Ridgely has been killed by several warriors for selling them bad whiskey. The men had been captured are sitting in the town jailhouse. The Apache want Reagan to have them released. If Reagan can do this, the Apache will remain at peace. He is given 24 hours. Reagan agrees and heads for town.Reagan and two of his men, Richard Crane and Noah Beery Jr, still dressed as Union types, hit town. They try to bluff their way into getting the prisoners released. Also in town is a government bigwig from Washington, Lloyd Corrigan. Corrigan is also looking into the Apache matter. Reagan's cover as a Union officer is nearly blown when Miss Fleming shows.Matters do go sideways for Reagan when he is collared by his brother Bennett. Bennett, not wanting to have his own brother shot, lets him get away after he promises to leave the area. Reagan had no chose but to go along with the deal. The next day, as Reagan and his unit are riding off they hear gunfire in the distance. The Apache have gathered and are attacking the town to recover their warriors. The badly outnumbered garrison is getting beat with the heavy end of the stick. The Confederates come in hard and fast into the flank of the Apache attack. The fighting is brutal with plenty of dead and wounded on all sides. The Apache finally decide that they have had enough and retreat back into the hills. The Union and Confederate types are momentarily comrades while the dead are buried, and the wounded patched up. Reagan and Bennett shake hands and Fleming promises to wait for Reagan till after the war ends.For a Pine-Thomas production, this one has some heavy action. The "Dollar Bills", as William Pine and William Thomas were called, were known for mostly low end B films. This was their most expensive film to date, and was also their biggest moneymaker.The director was the reliable B-film veteran, Lewis R Foster. Foster was a two time Oscar nominated and one time winning writer. (Mr. Smith goes to Washington)He also directed with, EL PASO, CAPTAIN CHINA, THE EAGLE AND THE HAWK, CRASHOUT and MANHANDLED as examples of his work. Handling the cinematography is another Oscar type, Loyal Griggs. The four time nominated, and two time winner, Griggs, is best known for lensing, THE TEN COMMANMENTS and the superb western, SHANE. On the writing front there is also plenty of talent with Daniel Mainwaring, Winston Miller and George W Yates. Mainwaring is well known to noir fans for, THE BIG STEAL, ROUGHSHOD, ROADBLOCK, INVASION OF THE BODY SNATCHERS and OUT OF THE PAST. Miller's work includes, RED MOUTAIN, THE BOUNTY HUNTER, MY DARLING CLEMENTINE, STATION WEST and BRANDED. Yates had a hand in, THE TALL TARGET, THEM and THIS WOMAN IS DANGEROUS.
denis888 Ronald Reagan was a great President, true. he was a decent horse-rider, and a very sweet, radiant personality. But as an actor, he was rather second-rate and very forgettable, indeed. Well, yes, you can watch his movies, turn it off and then easily forget what was in the movie ten minutes later/ This movie is a typical example - a very much of a period piece, with all the obvious errata goofs of that era - rather predictable plot, unrealistic love-part,typical portrayal of Indians, and some extremely cheap dialogs, which you can utter a second before a word spells out form a speaker's lips. Battle scenes are funny in fact, too. They have no suspense and deliver no thrill. A very good B-movie, with a very average casting and all the plot twists that you can imagine. Some sprinkle of humor often seems to be at odd with the general mood of the film, and very generic performance of all characters make this movie very lightweight, unserious and not memorable. Yup, Reagan grew to some grand things a bit later, smiling his way up. Here, even his smile is a bit of a lame duckie.
drystyx This isn't one of those "researched" cavalry Westerns. This is just a fun fest. It's everything that is cool in a film. It is Raiders of the Lost Ark, only it's an old fashioned Western.First, we have the "cool" Robin Hood style hero, this time in the guise of a Confederate officer, along with his cool merry men, particularly the affable Noah Beery.Then we have his old sweetheart married to a sneaky bad guy.Then we have the older brother as a more officious officer on the Union side. Naturally, they clash.Then we have the noble native American chiefs. This is middle of the road in treatment of the Indian. The Indians are treated with great dignity and respect, and like most old Hollywood Westerns, they are never bad, but misled by evil white men.However, as many note, this is almost like two different movies from the first two thirds to the last third. In the end, although the evil guys are a pair of white men, the Indians get the brunt of the assault.The other major problem is that the main bad guy is killed almost immediately, and we're left without a villain, until a towns-person takes the role, but it looks like an afterthought, as though there was a contract dispute with an actor somewhere. It is a novel idea, but not dramatic, and certainly not Hollywood.However, this is an Indiana Jones style adventure, filled with humor and pathos along the way. We know a few good men will die. We aren't sure who, but there are clues that give us good ideas.This isn't a "look for reality" movie, nor does it pretend to be. It is a barroom brawl fun-house film, made to be cool. And it succeeds.
frankfob "The Last Outpost" is a pretty mediocre Civil War western. Bruce Bennett is a Union officer out west, who finds himself beset by rampaging Apaches on one side and a Confederate guerrilla band led by his brother, Ronald Reagan, on the other side. Rhonda Fleming is the wife of a corrupt trader who's playing footsie with the Apaches. Competently acted, it moves along fairly slowly until almost the end of the picture, when there is a well-staged Indian attack on the town and a very exciting cavalry charge. Even though Fleming isn't called upon to do much more than stand around and look gorgeous, she does that quite well; she was born for Technicolor, and has seldom looked more beautiful. Reagan is a bit stiff in the lead, but not unbearably so, as he is more often than not. Overall not a bad western, but nothing particularly special.