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People are voting emotionally.

Good start, but then it gets ruined

The story-telling is good with flashbacks.The film is both funny and heartbreaking. You smile in a scene and get a soulcrushing revelation in the next.

It is a whirlwind of delight --- attractive actors, stunning couture, spectacular sets and outrageous parties. It's a feast for the eyes. But what really makes this dramedy work is the acting.

Richard Widmark's costume does indeed show evidence of Comanche Todd being shot in the shoulder at the beginning of the movie: a tear and powder burn. Very clear when watching the movie on an IPad.

This is a terrific women's film. Richard Widmark's character, Comanche Todd, is everything a man should be in the Wild West – brave, resourceful, resilient, stoical, astute, firm but fair with children, tender with women, able to lead and command, not violent by nature but able and willing to use violence to protect or avenge. Moreover, he is devastatingly handsome, with his golden tan, physical agility and unsophisticated eloquence. And this is combined with an extremely literal vulnerability: in the first scene he is captured by his brutal enemy and is dragged behind a horse, starved, parched, manacled and lashed to a wagon wheel. As the story progresses and he has to save the young people who survive the massacre of a wagon train, he is freed by gradual stages, as they come to trust him. Some commenters have complained that the action is too tame, and the threat from the Indians is not made real. Indeed, the film is family friendly, and there is no gore on screen. But we are continually reminded that Todd's every action is under the shadow of the gallows, we see and hear the Indians massed for attack, we share the tension of what might be the party's final night, and the adult viewer will be aware of what children will miss – Todd twice makes sure that their remaining three bullets are kept for the girls, to spare them the fate that befell the females of the wagon train. He fights two Indians barehanded rather than use the gun. Stoicism is a quality that is at a premium in this setting, and the member of the party who doesn't have it, the younger of two sisters, has to develop it. This is a different world from our modern one. The same man can be a hero to the young boy, Billy (Tommy Rettig), and a romantic figure to his older sister, Jenny (Felicia Farr). For most of the film, the boy is ahead of his sister in his admiration and growing affection, and gives it frank expression for both of them. The love scenes between Jenny and Todd are very well written and played. The characters are clumsy and unsubtle as they signal their interest in each other, but their sincerity saves them from awkwardness. The final courtroom scene does clunk a bit, as various members of the party give their testimony in support of Todd, apparently unasked, or in response to an unspoken, off camera gesture from the judge. But it is satisfying, nevertheless, as it ties up the character arc of each of the young people, their growth measured by their relationship with Todd, who embodies the best qualities of both the Indians and the settlers.

THE LAST WAGON is one of those splendid unforgettable Cinemascope/Colour westerns Fox was so good at producing in the fifties. "Garden Of Evil", "Broken Lance", "The Tall Men","Warlock" and "The Bravados" etc. were all part of "Fox's Fifties Cinemascope Western Cycle" but THE LAST WAGON stands out in front as being arguably the most beautiful looking among them! Directed by the stalwart yet somewhat underrated Delmer Daves whose movies always had a certain glossy and radiant look to them. Particularly striking about his films was the rich location photography i.e. "Broken Arrow", "Jubal", "The Hanging Tree", "Susan Slade", "Spencer's Mountain" etc. THE LAST WAGON is no exception with the beautiful Arizona locations looking even more spectacular than usual.Lionel Newman's strident Indian theme over the titles immediately sets the tone for the adventure that is to follow. Richard Widmark - sporting the colourful name of Comanche Todd - plays a wrongly accused outlaw guiding a group of teenagers across hostile Indian country after their folks have been massacred by Apaches. Widmark is terrific in the part, bringing to his role a palpable authenticity and hard bitten realism. It is one of his great he-man outdoor action roles and not unlike the part he played the same year in "Run For The Sun" (itself a splendid reworking of "The Most Dangerous Game"). The supporting cast are excellent. George Mathews as the unsavoury and brutish sheriff, Douglas Kennedy as the upright Wagonmaster, the beautiful Susan Kohner (whatever happened to?),as his half breed daughter, Stephenie Griffin as her bigoted sister, Ray Stricklyn, the ill-fated Nick Adams and Tommy Rettig as the young brother of the film's leading lady the lovely Felicia Farr. Trivia fans will no doubt remember the ill-fated Rettig played Widmark's eight year old son in Kazan's brilliant "Panic In The Streets" six years earlier. Also in the cast is a young James Drury as a cavalry officer in one of his early Pre "Virginian" roles.The DVD looks gorgeous! With glowing colour, well defined sharp as a button images and the Cinemascope camera of Wilfrid Cline taking full advantage of those eye-catching backdrops (the incredible red rock locations at Sedona, Arizona). And not forgetting the wonderful score by Lionel Newman which is probably the best thing this younger brother of the great Alfred Newman ever did. Extras include a good trailer and a couple of photo galleries. A must for the collection of every western and every Widmark fan.Typical line from Widmark - referring to the Nick Adams character.... "We've got six bullets and that idiot uses up three of them on a stinkin' rattler you could kill with a stick". Great Stuff!

Alas, this is another victim of over hype. It was shown as part of the London Film Festival and the brochure talked a great game. Any film with Richard Widmark is, by definition, never a total loss but even actors of his calibre can't work miracles. Likewise helmer Delmer Daves has some fine credits yet somehow these two A-listers managed to concoct something ho-hum. It was probably daring at the time (1956) to have Widmark shoot a man in the back in the very first scene - by this time Widmark had graduated from the psychopathic killers (Kiss Of Death, No Way Out) that had made his name to four-square heroes so we know there has to be a damn good reason for what he did. There is, but we have to wait til the final reel which sees Comanche Todd (Widmark) on trial for murder to discover that three brothers raped his Comanche wife then killed her and his two sons. For his trouble in the opening scene Widmark is 'captured' by brutal 'sheriff' Bull Harper (George Matthews) and winds up tied to a wagon wheel, part of a wagon train of pioneers heading West, yet is still able to bury an axe in Harper's head. When a group of the younger people sneak off for a midnight swim they return to find that Apaches have killed everyone except Widmark who is halfway down a cliff still tied to the wagon. There's really only one way for the story to go from here; Widmark must lead the survivors to safety through Apache territory and they are evenly divided between those who like him and those who hate him. Given that it's a 'journey' movie everyone learns something about themselves. It's watchable because it revolves around Widmark but there isn't half as much chemistry as there should be between him and leading lady Felicia Farr (on the other hand that was the year she married Jack Lemmon so maybe she had other things on her mind) and of the three prominent females Susan Kohner walks away with the acting honours.