Sa dernière chevauchée

Broderick Crawford gives one of his usual solid performances playing a worn-out alcoholic sheriff struggling through life. The storyline keeps the viewer interested and the chase through New Mexico takes us into great scenery. The actions scenes aren't particularly convincing though but the film does good service to the Western genre by clearly defining the Bad guys from the Good guys. Very watchable.

For those of you who like discovering unknown sleeper westerns than The Last Posse is for you. No cowboy heroes in this one just an honest sheriff doing his job and a young man who let's his better side take over rather than live with a lie.

A posse comes in from the hunt with the bodies of the men they were hunting, the man whom these people robbed and a badly wounded Broderick Crawford who is the town sheriff. Some of the town's leading citizens like Will Wright, Warner Anderson, Raymond Greenleaf and Tom Powers are with the posse along with the adopted son of the robbery victim Charles Bickford. It's the son played by John Derek on whom the responsibility for the truth lies.

We hear some of the truth in flashback from the posse members. Bickford owns the local Ponderosa and he's not a benevolent type like Ben Cartwright. In fact he's pushed another rancher James Bell far enough. Bell and sons Guy Wilkerson and Skip Homeier rob him as he's making a deposit of six figures. It's Bickford who pulls a posse together and doesn't want the sheriff along, but Crawford goes anyway.

The desert trip brings out the truth about a lot of things and Derek has to face up to a different version about his past than he's been told. It's not a pretty picture.

The film is in stark black and white and plays for much of the time like a noir thriller. But this B film from Columbia is a real sleeper and not to be missed by either noir or western fans.

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

It's noirish credentials burnished by being framed within a flashback. This tough little western short on action but long on moody menace is shot by Burnett Guffey so that it in places even resembles a silent film. The climax takes against a backdrop of oppressively sun-bleached rockland and it has a neat ending.

Add me to the list of those wondering why this was made in black and white. Crawford and bickford were pretty big names, back in the day. Maybe because its a period piece in the old west, to give it authenticity? When a rancher pays dirt low prices for cattle, the family takes the money back and makes a run for it. Out in the brutally hot desert, with not much food... (where did they plan on going??) When the posse returns without the wanted men, the town is anxious to find out what happened. As the film goes along, the facts come out in small bits and pieces. It's not bad. Stars broderick crawford, charles bickford, and a twenty seven year old john derek. Directed by al werker. Story by seymour and connie bennett. Filmed in the fun alabama hills and in yuma. Showing on the roku channel.