The Last Challenge (1967)

User Rating:

5.8/10   

Director:

Richard Thorpe

Writers:

Albert Maltz (novel)
Albert Maltz (writer) ...

Release Date:

September 1967 (Japan)

Genre:

Western

Tagline:

Killer Vs. Killer

Plot Keywords:

Gunslinger | Whiskey | Derringer | Rattlesnake | Fishing

Cast

Glenn Ford	...	Marshal Dan Blaine
Angie Dickinson	...	Lisa Denton
Chad Everett	...	Lot McGuire
Gary Merrill	...	Squint Calloway
Jack Elam	...	Ernest Scarnes
Delphi Lawrence	...	Marie Webster
Royal Dano	...	Pretty Horse
Kevin Hagen	...	Frank Garrison
Florence Sundstrom	...	Outdoors
Marian Collier	...	Sadie
Robert Sorrells	...	Deputy Harry Bell
John Milford	...	Billy Turpin
Frank McGrath	...	Ballard Weeks

Also Known As:

The Pistolero of Red River (UK)

Runtime:

105 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Metrocolor)

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (Westrex Recording System)

Certification:

Argentina:13 | Finland:K-16 | Sweden:11 | USA:Approved (certificate #21498)

Filming Locations:

Joshua Tree, California, USA

Company:

Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM)

Trivia:

The final film of veteran director Richard Thorpe.

Goofs:

Continuity: During the card game, there is a woman in a yellow dress watching on the far end of the table. Her right hand is alternately on her belly/at the top of her dress between shots.

Quotes:

Marshal Dan Blaine: He was a no good drifter. He'd steal the pennies off a dead man's eyes.

"If you mean will I kill you..the answer is still yes!"

The western showdown is as ritualistic as a bullfight which, in many respects, it resembles... The end is as quick, clean and emotionless as the dispatch of a brave fighting bull by the matador... The outcome is usually as predictable but the clash is a heightened moment of suspense that is as exciting as anything the cinema has ever produced...

Richard Thorpe, a reliable director of all genre, and one of MGM's most prolific filmmaker since 1935 directed and produced 'The Last Challenge'/'The Pistolero of Red River.'

Wanting a particular personal style, Thorpe never directed a great motion picture, but had a consistently acceptable batting average as a director of fine, unpretentious entertainment ranging from drama and polished adventure to comedy, musicals and westerns...

With a beautiful body and a timeless loveliness of a face, Angie Dickinson looks great in her black gown... She again figures effectively as the young lady, in love, who wants to stop the shootout... The movie has a Marshal (Glenn Ford) with a reputation as a legendary wild gunfighter, heading for a showdown with a dangerous good-looking challenger Chad Everett...

The John Sherry-Robert Emmett Ginna screenplay features Gary Merrill as a bushy-brow 'Five Card Stud' player, and Jack Elam as the hired killer with an evil leer...