Le pistolero de la rivière rouge

With elements of the TV western Gunsmoke and the film High Noon in it, The Last Challenge is a worthy addition to the western genre. All the players involved have done westerns before and look very comfortable in their roles.

Glenn Ford is the town marshal and the fastest draw in these here parts and when you're the former, it sure helps if you're the latter. He's got a gal pal in Angie Dickinson who's a combination of Miss Kitty and oddly enough Grace Kelly in High Noon. Because oddly enough a confident young gun hand played by Chad Everett has come to town and he's got Angie worried.

Let's just say that Angie makes a move that Kitty would never even contemplate insofar as Matt Dillon was concerned. It costs her big time.

The western as an adult theme arrived in this film because we have a scene with Glenn and Angie sleeping in a big double bed. We never got to Ms. Kitty's bedroom in Gunsmoke and a scene of a man and woman in the same bed was something never contemplated in the past. Not even that very married couple Roy Rogers and Dale Evans would have heard of such a thing.

What happens with Glenn and Chad. You have to watch the film to find out. But I will say you'll see an ending very much influenced by High Noon.

Richard Thorpe's "The Last Challenge" aka. "The Pistolero of Red River" of 1967 is an entertaining standard American Western with a good cast. Even though in no way outstanding, this is a solid film that is well worth watching for genre-fans.

Dan Blaine (Glen Ford), the Marshal of a small town in the West, has the reputation of being the fastest and most precise shot around. Since he has been sheriff, the formerly dangerous area has become calm. Blaine, whose beautiful and rich girlfriend (Angie Dickinson) owns a local saloon, is therefore highly respected in his community. One day, however, a young gunslinger named Lot McGuire (Chad Everett) comes to town, with the intention to challenge Blaine in a duel. While he wishes to duel with the sheriff, McGuire is an otherwise friendly and likable guy. Blaine therefore wants to dissuade the young man from his wish...

Glen Ford is very good in the lead, and Chad Everett also delivers a solid performance as the young gunslinger. Beautiful Angie Dickinson is, as always, great in the female lead. The supporting cast includes the great genre actor Jack Elam, who also fits in his role very well. The film is overall entertaining and definitely worth the time. When it comes to Westerns from the late 60s, however, the Italian Westerns are usually incomparably better than those from the United States. While everybody is a bastard in Italian Westerns of the time, all characters are kinda good in this film, which makes it less interesting to me. "The Last Challenge" sure is a solid and entertaining little western, but it also confirmed what I already knew - American Westerns from the late sixties can not compete with their Italian counterparts, as the Spaghetti Westerns beat them in all respects. Nevertheless, a decent film. 6/10

This Western deals with an aging ex-gunslinger (Glenn Ford) become marshal and challenged to a duel by a rough young (Chad Everett). He is searching for peace and quiet but unable to avoid his reputation and the showdown-challenges it invites .

This is a mature , humourless Hollywood Western with Ford as the gunman turned sheriff attempting and inevitably failing to runaway from his past . It carries a surprising feeling of authenticity for a Western of this twilight period . The filmmaker is good at staging some action sequences , however is slow-moving and developed with dry sense of entertainment . The picture is produced in medium budget by Metro Goldwyn Mayer where the director Richard Thorpe spent 33 years in the same studio and he was to become the longest-servicing filmmaker in their story . In time he became known as the studio's ¨one take¨ because of his rapid shooting schedules . The flick relies heavily on tiring relationship between Glenn Ford and Angie Dickinson who plays a Saloon owner , formerly call-girl . There are good supporting portrayals from Gary Merrill as tough cardsharp , Royal Dano as drunk Indian chief and Jack Elam in his usual role as outlaw .

The picture is professionally directed by Richard Thorpe , though with no originality . Richard liked making escapist movies and many of them have rousing action scenes , handled with great confidence . He directed lesser Western and thrillers when he moved into features in 1924 and did little of note before joining MGM in 1935 . Thorpe made routine studio fare until 1950s when he was given more major assignment . He then made various big-budget productions financed by Pando S Bergman among his best known films are all the MGM Tarzans following his arrival at the studio in 1935 and a series of swashbuckling adventures in the early 1950s featuring Robert Taylor , the most successful of these were three swashbucklers made in England as ¨Knights of Round Table , Ivanhoe and Quentin Durward¨ . Thorpe was an expert on all kind of genres as Western as ¨Vengeance valley , Wild horse , Under Montana skies and Last challenge¨ but his specialty resulted to be adventures as ¨Prisoner of Zenda , The prodigal , Challenge to Lassie , Malaya , Tarzan's secret treasure ,Tarzan escapes , Tarzan finds a son¨ and Musicals as ¨Fun in Acapulco , Rainbow over Broadway , The prince student¨ and his biggest money-maker to date was ¨The great Caruso¨ and his last big box-office hit was ¨Presley' Jailhouse Rock¨ . He also worked briefly in television before retiring in 1968 , his last film was ¨The last challenge', also titled ¨The Pistolero of Red River ¨.

As a history teacher, I have a lot more knowledge about what the old west REALLY was like...and for the most part it was little like you see in westerns. In the case of this film, there is the famed fast- draw sheriff, young punks wanting to prove they are faster and the famed shootouts on main street...all stuff that really did not happen. Sure, it could have happened once or twice (anything is possible) but the west was a lot safer and civilized than you would imagine if you got your history from films! So, I knew going into "The Last Challenge" that the film was complete fiction...a myth of a west filmmakers WISHED had really been.

When the film begins, yet another stupid punk comes into town to challenge the brave Marshall (Glenn Ford). Marshall Blaine blows the snot out of him and the immediate threat is gone. But of course there is another who is on his way to town to challenge the fast- draw sheriff. But something unusual happens--the pair meet on friendly terms while fishing and seem to like each other. Will that change anything or is one of them still destined to assume room temperature?

This is a moderately enjoyable film with a finale that is, pretty much, a foregone conclusion. Not a bad movie...just not at all like the real west. Although a shootout between two guys is common in films, in reality lawmen were very happy to just shoot guys in the back or shotgun them or attack the thug with a group. The whole manly shootout to prove who is the fastest is just mythical.

Loved the cast. Loved the non-politically correct nature of the script. Especially in the modern era, this movie plays as refreshing and fun. It doesn't bow to any pressure concerning treatment of women or Indians. Delivering complex three dimensional leads and delivers a conclusion out of the box. Absolutely wonderful.