L'assedio di Fort Point

Ronald Reagan was a great President, true. he was a decent horse-rider, and a very sweet, radiant personality. But as an actor, he was rather second-rate and very forgettable, indeed. Well, yes, you can watch his movies, turn it off and then easily forget what was in the movie ten minutes later/ This movie is a typical example - a very much of a period piece, with all the obvious errata goofs of that era - rather predictable plot, unrealistic love-part,typical portrayal of Indians, and some extremely cheap dialogs, which you can utter a second before a word spells out form a speaker's lips. Battle scenes are funny in fact, too. They have no suspense and deliver no thrill. A very good B-movie, with a very average casting and all the plot twists that you can imagine. Some sprinkle of humor often seems to be at odd with the general mood of the film, and very generic performance of all characters make this movie very lightweight, unserious and not memorable. Yup, Reagan grew to some grand things a bit later, smiling his way up. Here, even his smile is a bit of a lame duckie.

Ronald Reagan's first starring western occurred in 1951 when he did this horse opera for the Pine-Thomas Paramount B picture unit. Reagan was always a good rider and would have loved to do more westerns in his career. But according to the Citadel Film series book on The Films of Ronald Reagan the real clincher for him okaying the Pine-Thomas deal was a chance to ride his own horse in the film. So Reagan's horse which was named Tarbaby got some screen immortality.

The Last Outpost casts Reagan and Bruce Bennett who are brothers and who have split their loyalties during the Civil War. Fate has brought them together in the west with Bennett taking command of a Federal outpost in Arizona territory to deal with a band of pesky Confederate raiders. Little does Bennett know that Reagan is commanding those raiders and little does Reagan know that the girl he left behind played by Rhonda Fleming is out west and unhappily married to trading post owner John Ridgely.

Ridgely gets killed early on in the film, but not before he sets in motion a plan whereby he will be legally allowed to sell whiskey and arms to the Apaches in exchange for them just taking out the men in gray. In fact Lloyd Corrigan has come east as a member of the government to implement said plan. Reagan refers to him as 'the expediter' and he's the kind of government bureaucrat Reagan would make fun of when he later got into politics.

Bennett is the solid dependable brother, but Reagan invests his part with a certain dash and rakish charm which if you didn't know better you would swear was coming from Errol Flynn. But the most interesting role came from actor Charles Evans playing Apache Chief Grey Cloud who is a disgraced former American general who left the army because his society wouldn't accept the Apache woman he married. Evans really makes his few scenes count and I wish we had seen more of him.

The Last Outpost is a solidly entertaining western with the cast giving fitted performances in the roles they are doing.

RELEASED IN 1951 and directed by Lewis R. Foster, "The Last Outpost" (re-released in 1962 as "Cavalry Charge") chronicles events in Arizona during the Civil War where two brothers, officers for the Confederacy and Union (Ronald Reagan and Bruce Bennett), have to settle their differences to protect the outpost/town of San Gil from an Indian attack. Rhonda Fleming plays the former's maybe babe.

The old-fashioned style of filmmaking takes a while to acclimate to if you're used to newer movies. It doesn't help that the talky, contrived story is so convoluted that it takes forever to become engrossed into the characters and events. But there are some highlights: It's great seeing Reagan when he was young; and curvy Fleming is jaw-dropping. The climax is action-packed, but with those eye-rolling stunt hits (i.e. someone gets shot or arrowed and throws his hands in the air in a melodramatic manner, falling to the ground).

THE FILM RUNS 1 hour & 29 minutes and was shot in Old Tucson and surrounding areas (e.g. Sierrita Mountains).

GRADE: C

"The Last Outpost" is a pretty mediocre Civil War western. Bruce Bennett is a Union officer out west, who finds himself beset by rampaging Apaches on one side and a Confederate guerrilla band led by his brother, Ronald Reagan, on the other side. Rhonda Fleming is the wife of a corrupt trader who's playing footsie with the Apaches. Competently acted, it moves along fairly slowly until almost the end of the picture, when there is a well-staged Indian attack on the town and a very exciting cavalry charge. Even though Fleming isn't called upon to do much more than stand around and look gorgeous, she does that quite well; she was born for Technicolor, and has seldom looked more beautiful. Reagan is a bit stiff in the lead, but not unbearably so, as he is more often than not. Overall not a bad western, but nothing particularly special.

Ronald Reagan in his first western is the biggest hit for Pine-Thomas Productions. Technicolor must have been invented for Rhonda Fleming's beauty and stunning auburn hair. She's married to a crooked trading post operator. What kind of man is McQuade (John Ridgely) wanting to stir up the Indians? "There no money in it for him in peaceful Indians they're not a good market for the guns and rot gut whisky he sells them." Reagan learns that not only his brother and fellow Baltimorean, Col. Jeb Britton (Bruce Bennett) is now stationed at Ft. Gil, but that his ex-fiance is there also. Noah Beery, the most beloved character actor in the business brings a needed ebullience to the part of Sgt. Calhoun. Other great parts were by Bill "Willie" Williams, Peter Hansen, Lloyd Corrigan and TV's all time favorite dad Hugh Beaumont.