Memorable, crazy movie

I wanted to but couldn't!

Absolutely Fantastic

Like the great film, it's made with a great deal of visible affection both in front of and behind the camera.

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.

This film made me go back in time. I saw it when I was 9 years old and loved it so much I kept annoying people by trying to tell them the film story. Today, I rate it as an average western, colorful, and where everything happens very fast contributing to its entertainment value. Ronald Reagan is Confederate Captain Vance Britten who has a brother who is an officer in the Union. Reagan ends up changing colors of uniform in order to avoid a great Indian attack and meets his brother and his old sweetheart, the beautiful Rhonda Fleming in most awkward circumstances. Noah Beery Jr. as always is his lovable sidekick Sgt. Calhoun. If ever an actor was stereotyped in a role it was Beery Jr. The best of the film is Lloyd Corrigan as Mr. Betancourt, the "expediter". His bureaucracy and pomposity are a fantastic caricature of what we see in our everyday life.

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.

I saw this movie under it's reissue name "Cavalry Charge", and must say that it's original title makes a lot more sense. The film is not a cavalry Western per se, but a story that takes place in 1862 along the route of the Santa Fe Trail, with Union and Confederate forces alternately getting the upper hand in the action taking place. But it's not your typical Civil War yarn either, as brothers on opposing sides of the War reunite with opposing views on the U.S. Government's efforts to enlist Apache aid in defeating the Rebels.Ronald Reagan stars, and portrays three different characters before it's all over. He's introduced as Confederate Captain McCready, surprising a band of Union soldiers taking a swim break, while routing their horses and burning their uniforms, though taking no prisoners. His identity is revealed to be that of Vance Britten, brother of Union Colonel Jeb Britten (Bruce Bennett) when the two meet up in an ambush within an ambush within an ambush, trust me on this. Later, he assumes the identity of a Union Major dispatched from Washington, in an attempt to subvert his brother's mission of securing help in the war effort from the Apaches.Rhonda Fleming appears as the unhappy wife of a trader stationed at Fort Point, harboring memories of her romance with Vance Britten years earlier. With her husband killed in an Indian attack, she's free once again to take up her romance with Britten, though there are ups and downs along the way, and you never get the feeling Reagan's character is playing it straight with her.The prominent Indian Chief Grey Cloud is portrayed by Charles Evans, in a role stating that he was once a Union General who became an Apache when he married a squaw, renounced by the military for doing so. Even though their screen time was limited, it was still fun to see Iron Eyes Cody and Chief Yowlachie as fellow chiefs who agree to remain neutral in the white man's war. That of course goes all to hell in a war bonnet in the movie's latter third, when an impatient civilian fires on Grey Cloud standing under a white flag. Arguably, the white man comes across looking pretty poorly at this point, leaving the Indians no resort but to attack Fort Gil.Up to that point the film had an entertaining appeal, questionable as the premise was. With the Confederates coming to the aid of the Union soldiers and civilians within the fort, any hope of keeping the Indians neutral went up in smoke. Speaking of which, stay attentive during the Indian attack; when a white bearded civilian is hit with a burning arrow in the back, he falls into a pile of hay, but the hay ignites into flame somewhat to the right of where the man fell.Except for the rather exceptional cast of talent in the film, the movie is really nothing special. In addition to the starring players already mentioned, notable support comes by way of Noah Beery Jr. and Hugh Beaumont, both as Confederate officers.I got a kick out of one of Reagan's lines in the film - while impersonating Union Major Riordan at Fort Gil, he encounters a mob that wants to lynch Geronimo for his attack on trader McQuade's wagons, resulting in three dead white men. To keep the mob from erupting, he orders one of his men to shoot the leader if the mob got out of hand. In a weirdly prophetic line that would later become a hallmark of his presidency, Reagan's character states: "That's what's known as delegating authority."