ThiefHott
Too much of everything
RyothChatty
ridiculous rating
PiraBit
if their story seems completely bonkers, almost like a feverish work of fiction, you ain't heard nothing yet.
Micah Lloyd
Excellent characters with emotional depth. My wife, daughter and granddaughter all enjoyed it...and me, too! Very good movie! You won't be disappointed.
Richie-67-485852
Its a Western and honors the theme quite well. It has familiar faces, horses, drinking, fighting, saloon activity, bank robbery, little town, scenery and a woman or two or three to make the connection to the audience. What I liked the best was the story. Realize that there must have been millions of stories having to do with settling in the West during the start-up period. All remain remarkable and unique some succeeding and many failing. Here we are introduced to a town that made it through the rough period and it looks like they have a future or do they? Let the story tell it. Also look forward to what I consider a decent ending if only for this reason. It leaves quite a bit to the viewers imagination as to what happened after the end credits. The questions are obvious and I don't want to spoil it for you. It is interesting to note that a rancher made over 100,000.00 in this movie selling cattle (beef) to the a middleman who sells it to the end users. This was in high demand at the time and a person could get wealthy running cattle if they could get past all the hardships including but no limited to: Rustling, drought, death, weather, illness, and huge logistics problems. If one navigated successfully, you made a fortune and did it again and again giving jobs to many and helping a town grow as well as yourself and your holdings. Much wealth early on was generated this way and handed down. Of course people in the cities had to have beef and they ate tons of it. They still do. Today, the prices are outrageously high for this city boy who lives in CA. I wonder if it is cheaper where they raise them? I bet it is. Enjoy a good sandwich and tasty drink while watching this and a decent snack after that. Oh and special mention to Broderick Crawford who I liked who played in Highway Patrol always speaking in his car microphone 2150 by...LOL
dougdoepke
The movie's plot-heavy but interesting. A bedraggled posse rides into town after completing their mission. But their story of what happened is hiding something. Still, they're the town's most respectable men, including the wounded sheriff. So what really happened; we know it's not their official story. Later, we learn the truth by flashback, with some surprises.Producer Harry Joe Brown shows his continuing fascination with the neolithic Alabama Hills by filming the chase and showdown amid the bare rock slabs. It's staging he would later use in his classic Ranown westerns with Randolph Scott. The wobbly sheriff seems like an odd role for an Oscar winner of only a couple years earlier. But then, the tubby, homely Crawford was not exactly movie star material. His role here, however, is a gutsy one for any former Oscar winner. The looks department goes instead to John Derek in a pivotal role that he unfortunately appears bored with. At the same time, the fetching ingénue Hendrix gets a tacked-on role as relief from all the ugly guys. Too bad that great impersonator of ornery young punks, Skip Homeier, doesn't get more screen time.All in all, there's enough plot and interesting characters to merit a longer runtime. Then too, it's well enough produced to also merit Technicolor instead of b&w. Nonetheless, the movie's a non- formula western, more interesting than most, with lots of compelling scenery, pretty good action-- especially around the rock slabs—and a fine cast. So horse opera fans should enjoy it, despite the sometimes clotted storyline.
whpratt1
This film is not just your ordinary Western mainly because the film starts out with flashbacks from the very beginning to the end. Broderick Crawford, (Sheriff John Frazer) is a burned out sheriff who was well respected and decided to hit the bottle and drift off to retirement. Charles Pickford, (Sampson Drune) plays the role of a cattle baron who is ruthless and cruel and treats other cattlemen poorly and cheats them out of their money when they are facing hard luck and about to lose their ranches. John Derek, (Jed Clayton) is a son to Sampson and thinks the world of his father, however, Sheriff Frazer knows some very dark secrets about Sampson and the two have no use for each other. Wanda Hendrix, (Deborah) is a young gal who is very interested in Jed Clayton and has hopes to settling down with him someday. Sampson Drune is robbed of a Hundred and Five Thousand dollars and a posse is organized and even Sheriff Frazer manages to ride along with them. Charles Pickford gave a great supporting role along with John Derek.
alexandre michel liberman (tmwest)
Alfred Werker directed many westerns, I remember "Three Hours To Kill" which was quite a good film. "The Last Posse" went by unnoticed when originally released in 1953. I remember seeing it as a young boy and not really liking it. But somehow it got stuck in my memory. Seeing it recently I have quite a different opinion. This is a remarkable western that departs from the conventional, it uses flashbacks in a very effective way, it makes a strong criticism about people in a small town and never lets you know what to expect. At the beginning a posse returns with one man missing Sampson Drune (Charles Bickford) and the sheriff John Frazier(Broderick Crawford) seriously wounded. All the members of the posse act in a strange way, and the film uses flashbacks to explain what happened. John Derek is Jed Clayton an orphan that was adopted by Drune who totally dominates him. Jed is in love with Deborah (Wanda Hendrix) who resents Drune. Drune also bought cattle from the Romers when there was a drought and now sells it for ten times the price he paid. The Romers want some kind of compensation and when Drune denies, they steal the money and run away. The posse goes after them. Frazier is the sheriff who cleaned the town in the past, but started drinking heavily. He does not care for the town leaders and lost their respect because of his drinking. Even without being invited, he joins the posse. What is curious is that instead of being a fictitious place where the film happens, which is usual, the town mentioned is Roswell, New Mexico.