He'll be safe. The first time he don't look safe, he'll get dead. We open with a pursuit of a man across Canyon Of Death {Oak Creek Canyon}, the man being pursued is Comanche Todd. Todd is a white man with Comanche blood coursing thru his veins, he's also a wanted man, wanted for the murder of three men. After his capture by Sheriff Bull Harper, Todd and his captor run into a wagon train of Christian settlers who suffer an attack by the Apache. Severely depleted and ill equipped to deal with the terrain and threat of further attacks, the remaining settlers must put their trust in Todd to hopefully steer them all to safety. The Last Wagon is one in a long line of Westerns that feature a similar plot, but this Delmer Daves {Dark Passage & 3:10 to Yuma} picture is a touch above many of the others due to having a few things in its favour. Primarily the picture's major draw card is the performance of Richard Widmark as Todd. In what could have been a by the numbers character, Widmark fills the role out with a sort of resentful angst. Resentful and angry angst that is coated with delicate flecks of romanticism! With the romantic plot strand here being no hindrance at all. In fact the romance here with Felicia Farr's {delightful performance} Jenny is sexy and mixes well with the dramatic core of The Last Wagon's being. As a character study of a group of people under duress, Daves an…

_**One of the better Westerns of the 50s**_ Richard Widmark stars as Comanche Todd, a white man raised by Comanches and under arrest for murder. Deep in hostile Apache territory in 1873 he soon finds himself the leader of a small group of youths from a wagon train. Will they make it out alive? And, even if they do, can Todd escape the sentence of death-by-hanging? Shot on location in Sedona, Arizona, at the mouth of Oak Creek Canyon, this is a gorgeous-looking Western. Not only is the plot engaging, the characters, cast and practically everything else are well done. The film successfully takes you back to the late 1800s and gives a good glimpse of what it must have been like to travel out West during that time. Felicia Farr and Susan Kohner stand out in the supporting cast; both beautiful in different ways. Each youth has his/her issues and grows much as a result of their experiences with Comanche Todd in the dire situation. For instance, Susan (Jolie) is ashamed that she's half-Indian but Todd teaches her to be proud of who and what she is. Others hate Todd for being an "injun lover" but later see the error of their ways. Todd himself is lost in in a fog of bitterness & revenge but a new prospect is thrown in his lap. Can he get over his disillusionment to see the blessing in his current situation? This is just a taste of the character arcs in the story. Christianity and C…

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