The Last Hunt

Last updated

The Last Hunt
LasthuntOS.jpg
Theatrical Film Poster
Directed by Richard Brooks
Screenplay byRichard Brooks
Based on The Last Hunt
1954 novel
by Milton Lott
Produced by Dore Schary
Starring
Cinematography Russell Harlan
Edited by Ben Lewis
Music by Daniele Amfitheatrof
Color process Eastmancolor
Production
company
Distributed byMetro-Goldwyn-Mayer
Release dates
  • April 30, 1956 (1956-04-30)(United States)

25 February 1956 (Bahamas)
Running time
108 minutes
104 minutes (TCM print)
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
Budget$2,121,000 [1]
Box office$2,983,000 [1]

The Last Hunt is a 1956 American Western film directed by Richard Brooks and starring Robert Taylor and Stewart Granger, with Lloyd Nolan, Debra Paget and Russ Tamblyn. It was produced by Dore Schary at Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. The screenplay was by Richard Brooks from the novel The Last Hunt , by Milton Lott. The music score was by Daniele Amfitheatrof and the cinematography by Russell Harlan.

Contents

Plot

It is 1883. Hunting of buffalo (bison) has reduced the population from 60 million in 1853 to 3,000. This is the story of “the last of the buffalo hunts.”. [2] Sandy McKenzie, a famous buffalo hunter for the Army Engineers, has his small herd of cattle wiped out by stampeding bison. He joins up with a new partner, the obsessive Charles Gilson (Robert Taylor), who believes killing is natural. While McKenzie has grown tired of buffalo hunting, Gilson derives an intense pleasure from his "stands" – killing an entire herd of buffalo at one time. They add an old friend of McKenzie, a legendary skinner named Woodfoot because of his peg leg, and young Jimmy O'Brien, whose mother was Dakota, to their team.

When Gilson chases down and kills an Indian raiding party, he takes an Indian woman and a toddler captive. The presence of the native woman causes tension and Gilson becomes increasingly paranoid and deranged, leading to a stand-off between the two former partners. He is obsessed with the idea that McKenzie stole a valuable white buffalo hide. In fact, Jimmy took it and placed in a tree along with the body of his friend, one of Gilson's many victims, according to the religious practices of their people.

Over a landscape strewn with bones, Gilson tracks McKenzie, the woman and Jimmy to a cave high in a bluff. It is bitterly cold and snowing. McKenzie persuades Gilson to allow Jimmy to go on with the cattle, which they are taking to the Indian agency where her people are starving. It grows dark, and Gilson tells McKenzie he does not trust him. He should come down in the morning. A lone buffalo appears; Gilson kills and hastily skins it, saying “You'll keep me warm.”

In the bright morning, McKenzie and the woman emerge from shelter to find that Gilson has frozen to death during the night, pointing his gun at the cave. waiting to ambush them. The moisture in the raw buffalo skin has turned it into an icy coffin, and the snow collected on the fur makes it look like the pelt of a white buffalo. McKenzie and the woman ride away, and the camera pans up to a nearby tree, the white buffalo skin stretched in its branches.

Cast

Original novel

The New York Times said "except for A.B. Guthrie's "The Big Sky" and "The Way West" I can think of no novel about the Old West published within the last fifteen years as good as "The Last Hunt", by Milton Lott. This is the real thing, a gritty, tough, exciting story reeking with the pungent smells of dead buffalo and of dirty men." [3] W.R. Burnett called it an "undeniably able and interesting book." [4]

Development

MGM bought the film rights and announced it as a vehicle for Stewart Granger in February 1955. "It's real Americana", said the star. [5] Richard Brooks was assigned the job of adapting and directing. [6] The film was the first of only three westerns directed by Brooks, and was his first film following the critically acclaimed Blackboard Jungle (1955).

In March Robert Taylor was announced as co-star. [7] Russ Tamblyn was then given the lead support part as a half Indian. [8]

Lloyd Nolan was also cast – his first film role in over a year and a half, during which time he had played The Caine Mutiny Court Martial on stage. [9] Anne Bancroft was cast as the Indian girl. [10]

Production

Eighty percent of the movie was shot on location over a seven-week period. This took place at the Badlands National Park and Custer State Park in South Dakota during the then-annual "thinning" of the buffalo herd. [11]

Actual footage of buffalo being shot and killed (by government marksmen) was used for the film. Harvey Lancaster of Custer was the main marksman for the filming.

The story takes place during the winter but was actually filmed during the scorching summer months in Custer State Park. When temperatures reached triple digits, Stewart Granger, whose costume consisted of full winter clothing, passed out from heat exhaustion and the crew had to cut away his clothes to revive him.

Granger and director Brooks were reportedly not fond of one another, especially after Brooks married Granger's ex-wife, Jean Simmons.

After three weeks of filming, Anne Bancroft was injured during filming after falling from a horse. She was replaced by Debra Paget. [12] [13]

During filming Dore Schary announced Taylor and Granger would be reteamed in another western, The Return of Johnny Burro with Granger playing a villain and Taylor a hero. [14] However the film was not made.

Reception

The film earned $1,750,000 in North American rental during its first year of release. [15] It recorded admissions of 1,201,326 in France. [16]

According to MGM records, the film earned $1,604,000 in the US and Canada and $1,379,000 overseas, resulting in a loss of $323,000. [1]

In his March 1, 1956, review for The New York Times , Bosley Crowther wrote: “ Buffaloes never looked lovelier than they do…in "The Last Hunt," …Great shaggy beasts with tiny soft eyes and heads like mahogany lions roam in huge herds across the landscape… Indeed, they appear so noble in their natural habitat on the western plains that it shocks one to sit in the theatre and see them deliberately slain. And that is what you see in this picture…. the killing that is witnessed by the audience is contemporary and real. It is the annual "thinning" of the protected herd at Custer State Park in South Dakota, … It is official and necessary killing, …Even so…the cold-blooded shooting down of them as they stand in all their majesty and grandeur around a water hole…is startling and slightly nauseating. … Of course, that is as it was intended, for "The Last Hunt" is aimed to display the low and demoralizing influence of a lust for slaughter upon the nature of man. …But, unfortunately, what follows … is mainly an account of bitter conflict between two hard-bitten buffalo-hunting men. One..is a bestial and brutal type who hates Indians and likes to kill them almost as much as he likes to kill buffaloes. The other…is a decent, deliberate sort of chap who has a high regard for the Indians and eventually for buffaloes. He develops, especially, a soft spot for a beautiful Indian girl…And while his companion..is alternately beating on the girl and making vain efforts to assault her, Mr. Granger is, …working up his nerve to slug his pal. ….The picture has been made with clear devotion …. The equating of Indian-hating with a lust for slaughter is morally good. But it does seem to take Mr. Granger an awfully long time to get around to freezing out Mr. Taylor. That's the way sermons sometimes go.” [17]

"The public couldn't stand it", said Brooks. "In England most of the scenes with the buffalo were cut out. In the States they couldn't stand it because of their own guilt... I learnt something very valuable: when you deal with a subject that is traditional, don't deny it to the public... If you want to do the real thing, the way the West really was, do it on a small budget and don't expect any miracles." [18]

Comic book adaptation

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">American bison</span> Species of bovid artiodactyl mammal

The American bison, commonly known as the American buffalo, or simply buffalo, is a species of bison that is endemic to North America. It is one of two extant species of bison, along with the European bison. Its historical range circa 9000 BC is referred to as the great bison belt, a tract of rich grassland spanning from Alaska south to the Gulf of Mexico, and east to the Atlantic Seaboard, as far north as New York, south to Georgia, and according to some sources, further south to northern Florida, with sightings in North Carolina near Buffalo Ford on the Catawba River as late as 1750.

<i>Young Bess</i> 1953 film by George Sidney

Young Bess is a 1953 Technicolor biographical film made by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer about the early life of Elizabeth I, from her turbulent childhood to the eve of her accession to the throne of England. It stars Jean Simmons as Elizabeth and Stewart Granger as Thomas Seymour, with Charles Laughton as Elizabeth's father, Henry VIII, a part he had played 20 years before in The Private Life of Henry VIII. The film was directed by George Sidney and produced by Sidney Franklin, from a screenplay by Jan Lustig and Arthur Wimperis based on the novel of the same title by Margaret Irwin (1944).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Stewart Granger</span> British actor (1913–1993)

Stewart Granger was a British film actor, mainly associated with heroic and romantic leading roles. He was a popular leading man from the 1940s to the early 1960s, rising to fame through his appearances in the Gainsborough melodramas.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Russ Tamblyn</span> American actor

Russell Irving Tamblyn, also known as Rusty Tamblyn, is an American film and television actor and dancer.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jeff Chandler</span> American actor (1918–1961)

Jeff Chandler was an American actor. He was best known for his portrayal of Cochise in Broken Arrow (1950), for which he was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor. He was one of Universal Pictures' more popular male stars of the 1950s. His other credits include Sword in the Desert (1948), Deported (1950), Female on the Beach (1955), and Away All Boats (1956). He also performed as a radio actor and as a singer.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Plains Indians</span> Native Americans/First Nations peoples of the Great Plains of North America

Plains Indians or Indigenous peoples of the Great Plains and Canadian Prairies are the Native American tribes and First Nation band governments who have historically lived on the Interior Plains of North America. While hunting-farming cultures have lived on the Great Plains for centuries prior to European contact, the region is known for the horse cultures that flourished from the 17th century through the late 19th century. Their historic nomadism and armed resistance to domination by the government and military forces of Canada and the United States have made the Plains Indian culture groups an archetype in literature and art for Native Americans everywhere.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ann Blyth</span> American actress

Ann Marie Blyth is an American retired actress and singer. For her performance as Veda in the 1945 Michael Curtiz film Mildred Pierce, Blyth was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress. She is one of the last surviving stars from the Golden Age of Hollywood cinema, and became the oldest acting Academy Award nominee upon the death of Angela Lansbury in 2022.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Debra Paget</span> American actress and entertainer (born 1933)

Debra Paget is an American retired actress and entertainer. She is perhaps best known for her performances in Cecil B. DeMille's epic The Ten Commandments (1956) and in Elvis Presley's film debut, Love Me Tender (1956), as well as for the risqué snake dance scene in The Indian Tomb (1959).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Edmund Purdom</span> English actor (1924–2009)

Edmund Anthony Cutlar Purdom was an English actor, voice artist, and director. He worked first on stage in Britain, performing various works by Shakespeare, then in America on Broadway and in Hollywood, and eventually in Italy. He is perhaps best known for his starring role in 1954's historical epic The Egyptian.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">George Bird Grinnell</span> American anthropologist

George Bird Grinnell was an American anthropologist, historian, naturalist, and writer. Originally specializing in zoology, he became a prominent early conservationist and student of Native American life. Grinnell has been recognized for his influence on public opinion and work on legislation to preserve the American bison. Mount Grinnell in Glacier National Park in Montana is named after him.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Custer State Park</span> State park in South Dakota, United States

Custer State Park is a South Dakota State Park and wildlife reserve in the Black Hills of the United States. Located in Custer County, the park is South Dakota's first and largest state park, named after Lieutenant Colonel George Armstrong Custer. The park covers an area of over 71,000 acres (287 km2) of varied terrain including rolling prairie grasslands and rugged mountains.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Plains bison</span> Subspecies of bison

The plains bison is one of two subspecies/ecotypes of the American bison, the other being the wood bison. A natural population of plains bison survives in Yellowstone National Park and multiple smaller reintroduced herds of bison in many places in the United States as well as southern portions of the Canadian Prairies.

<i>Moonfleet</i> (film) 1954 film by Fritz Lang

Moonfleet is a 1955 Eastman Color swashbuckler film shot in CinemaScope directed by Fritz Lang. It was inspired by the 1898 novel Moonfleet by J. Meade Falkner, although significant alterations were made in the characters and plot.

<i>The Wonderful World of the Brothers Grimm</i> 1962 film by George Pal, Henry Levin

The Wonderful World of the Brothers Grimm is a 1962 American biographical fantasy film directed by Henry Levin and George Pal. The latter was the producer and also in charge of the stop motion animation. The film was one of the highest-grossing films of 1962. It won one Oscar and was nominated for three additional Academy Awards. The cast included several prominent actors—including Laurence Harvey, Karlheinz Böhm, Jim Backus, Barbara Eden and Buddy Hackett.

<i>Beau Brummell</i> (1954 film) 1954 film by Curtis Bernhardt

Beau Brummell is a 1954 British historical film released by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. It was directed by Curtis Bernhardt and produced by Sam Zimbalist from a screenplay by Karl Tunberg, based on the 1890 play Beau Brummell by Clyde Fitch. The play was previously adapted as a silent film made in 1924 and starring John Barrymore as Beau Brummell, Mary Astor, and Willard Louis as the Prince of Wales.

<i>The Kings Thief</i> 1955 adventure film by Robert Z. Leonard

The King's Thief is a 1955 swashbuckling CinemaScope adventure film directed by Robert Z. Leonard, who replaced Hugo Fregonese during filming. Released on August 5, 1955, the film takes place in London at the time of Charles II and stars Ann Blyth, Edmund Purdom, David Niven, George Sanders and Roger Moore.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bison hunting</span>

Bison hunting was an activity fundamental to the economy and society of the Plains Indians peoples who inhabited the vast grasslands on the Interior Plains of North America, before the animal's near-extinction in the late 19th century following US expansion into the West. Bison hunting was an important spiritual practice and source of material for these groups, especially after the European introduction of the horse in the 16th through 19th centuries enabled new hunting techniques. The species' dramatic decline was the result of habitat loss due to the expansion of ranching and farming in western North America, industrial-scale hunting practiced by non-Indigenous hunters increased Indigenous hunting pressure due to non-Indigenous demand for bison hides and meat, and cases of a deliberate policy by settler governments to destroy the food source of the Indigenous peoples during times of conflict.

<i>Swordsman of Siena</i> 1962 Italian film

Swordsman of Siena is a 1962 French-Italian adventure film directed by Étienne Périer and Baccio Bandini and starring Stewart Granger, Sylva Koscina and Christine Kaufmann. The film is set in Spanish-controlled Italy during the sixteenth century.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Antelope Island bison herd</span> Population of bison in Utah, USA

The Antelope Island bison herd is a semi–free-ranging population of American bison in Antelope Island State Park in Great Salt Lake, Utah. Bison were introduced to Antelope Island in 1893. The herd is significant because it is one of the largest and oldest publicly owned bison herds in the nation. The Antelope Island bison herd currently numbers between 550 and 700 individuals. Though the bison on Antelope Island are plains bison, which was the most common bison subspecies in North America, the bison have a distinct genetic heritage from many of the other bison herds in the United States and they are considered to be desirable as part of the breeding and foundation stock for other bison herds, because of their separate genetic heritage and some of the distinct genetic markers that are found in the population.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Métis buffalo hunting</span>

Métis buffalo hunting began on the North American plains in the late 1700s and continued until 1878. The great buffalo hunts were subsistence, political, economic, and military operations for Métis families and communities living in the region. At the height of the buffalo hunt era, there were two major hunt seasons: summer and autumn. These hunts were highly organized, with an elected council to lead the expedition. This made sure the process was fair and all families were well-fed and provided for throughout the year.

References

  1. 1 2 3 'The Eddie Mannix Ledger’, Margaret Herrick Library, Center for Motion Picture Study, Los Angeles
  2. This written introduction to the film says that “hunters and Indians had recklessly slaughtered” the animals but in fact, as can be read in the WP article on Bison hunting, it should say “amateur and professional hunters and the government”
  3. Orville Prescott (October 13, 1954). "Books of The Times". New York Times. p. 29.
  4. W. R. Burnett (October 31, 1954). "Struggle Unto Death: THE LAST HUNT. By Milton Lott. 399 pp. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company. $3.95". New York Times. p. BR4.
  5. Hopper, Hedda (February 11, 1955). "Stewart Granger to Do Film on Buffalo Hunting in '70s". Chicago Daily Tribune. p. a10.
  6. Thomas M. Pryor (February 12, 1955). "FOX APPROPRIATES $1,000,000 FOR TV: Studio Will Convert Plant to New Medium Films -- Some Space Already Leased". New York Times. p. 10.
  7. Thomas M. Pryor (March 26, 1955). "METRO SCHEDULES FILM ABOUT BISON: Robert Taylor and Stewart Granger Will Be Teamed for 'The Last Hunt'". New York Times. p. 12.
  8. Hopper, Hedda (April 9, 1955). "Sinatra and Debbie Reynolds to Co-Star in 'Tender Trap'". Chicago Daily Tribune. p. 12.
  9. Hopper, Hedda (April 29, 1955). "Nolan Shuns Hero Movie Role; So Star with Taylor, Granger". Chicago Daily Tribune. p. a6.
  10. Hopper, Hedda (July 11, 1955). "Lucille Ball, Arnaz Plan Stage Musical". Los Angeles Times. p. b10.
  11. William H. Brownell Jr. (June 12, 1955). "HOLLYWOOD BULLETINS: M-G-M Prepares to Invade the Buffalo Country -- Busy Studio -- Other Items". New York Times. p. X5.
  12. Schallert, Edwin (August 20, 1955). "Moreno Quits Natives; Paget Now in 'Last Hunt'; Clift Eyed for Tolstoy". Los Angeles Times. p. 13.
  13. Thomas M. Pryor (August 20, 1955). "DEVIL'S DISCIPLE' PLANNED AS FILM: Hecht-Lancaster Arranging With Pascal Estate to Do Shaw's Great Comedy". New York Times. p. 20.
  14. Schallert, Edwin (October 13, 1955). "Drama: 'Johnny Burro' to Reteam Taylor, Granger; Korda to Do 'Burlington Bertie'". Los Angeles Times. p. B15.
  15. 'The Top Box-Office Hits of 1956', Variety Weekly, January 2, 1957
  16. Box office information for Stewart Granger films in France at Box Office Story
  17. Crowther, Bosley (March 1, 1956). "Screen: Out Where the Buffalo Roam; 'The Last Hunt' Has Premiere at State". The New York Times. ISSN   0362-4331 . Retrieved July 18, 2024.
  18. Mayersberg, Paul (1967). Hollywood, the haunted house. Allen Lane, Penguin P. p. 109.
  19. "Dell Four Color #678". Grand Comics Database.
  20. Dell Four Color #678 at the Comic Book DB (archived from the original )