The Last Hard Men (1976)

Director:

Andrew V. McLaglen

Writers:

Brian Garfield (novel)
Guerdon Trueblood (screenplay)

Release Date:

1 June 1976 (USA)

Genre:

Western

Tagline:

The Last Hard Men ... one of them is going to die hard!

Plot:

In the early 20th century, some convicts while on a road gang escape and one of the convicts is Zach Provo...

Plot Keywords:

Escape | Arizona | Violence | Cowboy | Pump Action Shotgun

Cast

Charlton Heston	...	Sam Burgade
James Coburn	...	Provo
Barbara Hershey	...	Susan Burgade
Jorge Rivero	...	Menendez
Michael Parks	...	Noel Nye
Larry Wilcox	...	Shelby
Thalmus Rasulala	...	Weed
Morgan Paull	...	Shiraz
John Quade	...	Gant
Robert Donner	...	Lee Roy
Sam Gilman	...	Dutch Vestal
James Bacon	...	Deputy Jetfore
Riley Hill	...	Gus
Dick Alexander	...	Bo Simpson
Yolanda Schutz	...	Paloma
Alberto Piña	...	Storekeeper
David Herrera	...	Indian Policeman
Christopher Mitchum	...	Hal Brickman
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Robert Apel	...	Biker (uncredited)
Lee Lazarow	...	Prisoner (uncredited)
Earl W. Smith	...	Charlie (uncredited)

Directed by
Andrew V. McLaglen

Writing credits
Brian Garfield		(novel "Gun Down")
Guerdon Trueblood		(screenplay)

Produced by
William Belasco	....	executive producer
Walter Seltzer	....	producer
Russell Thacher	....	producer
Guerdon Trueblood	....	associate producer

Original Music by
Jerry Goldsmith

Cinematography by
Duke Callaghan		(director of photography)

Film Editing by
Fred A. Chulack		(as Fred Chulack)

Casting by
Jack Baur

Art Direction by
Edward C. Carfagno		(as Edward Carfagno)

Set Decoration by
Bob Signorelli

Makeup Department
Lon Bentley	....	makeup artist
Adele Taylor	....	hair stylist

Production Management
Sam Manners	....	production manager

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Blair Robertson	....	first assistant director
Jack Roe	....	assistant director

Art Department
John Alvin	....	poster artist
Mark Wade	....	property master
Hendrik Wynands	....	construction coordinator (as Hendrik G. Wynands)

Sound Department
Don J. Bassman	....	sound re-recording mixer (as Don Bassman)
Charles Sherlock	....	boom operator
Bill Teague	....	sound recording mixer

Special Effects by
Paul Stewart	....	special effects

Stunts
Joe Canutt	....	stunt coordinator
Joe Canutt	....	stunt double: Charlton Heston
Tap Canutt	....	stunt double: James Coburn
Tony Brubaker	....	stunts (uncredited)
Joe Canutt	....	stunts (uncredited)
Tap Canutt	....	stunts (uncredited)
Neil Summers	....	stunts (uncredited)

Camera and Electrical Department
Richard Hart	....	gaffer
John London	....	key grip
Frederic J. Smith	....	assistant camera (as Fred Smith)
Jack Willoughby	....	camera operator

Casting Department
Jack N. Young	....	extras casting (uncredited)

Costume and Wardrobe Department
Charles E. James	....	wardrobe: men (as Charles James)
Donna Roberts	....	wardrobe: women

Editorial Department
Michael Cipriano	....	assistant film editor

Music Department
Leonard A. Engel	....	music editor (as Leonard Engel)
Jerry Goldsmith	....	composer: stock music
Kenneth Hall	....	music editor (as Ken Hall)

Other crew
Don Ericson	....	stand-in: Michael Parks
Al Jank	....	wrangler
Gary Morris	....	stand-in: Charlton Heston
Marshall J. Wolins	....	script supervisor (as Marshall Wolins)

Production Companies

• Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation

Distributors

• Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation (1976) (USA) (theatrical)
• Columbia Broadcasting System (CBS) (1979) (USA) (TV) (broadcast premiere)
• Comet Video (????) (USA) (DVD)
• EuroVideo (2012) (Germany) (DVD)
• Shout! Factory (2012) (USA) (DVD)
• Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment (2008) (Netherlands) (DVD)

Other Companies

• Pacific Title  titles and opticals

Also Known As:

Runtime:

98 min | Sweden:93 min (15-rated version) | Norway:94 min (cut)

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (Westrex Recording System)

Certification:

Norway:16 | Sweden:(Banned) (1976) | Sweden:15 (re-rating) | USA:R | Iceland:16 | Finland:K-16 (cut) (1976) | Finland:K-16 (uncut) (1989) | Singapore:PG | Australia:MA (Cable TV rating) | Germany:18

Filming Locations:

Old Tucson - 201 S. Kinney Road, Tucson, Arizona, USA

Company:

Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation

Trivia:

After award-winning composer Leonard Rosenman recorded a score for the film, which he personally didn't care for but was given freedom to be experimentally creative, the score was rejected. While Jerry Goldsmith is credited with "Music" on the film's credits, the credit is misleading as he composed no original score for the film, instead it was tracked with cues from various other scores he did, including "100 Rifles". Which is why he did not receive a credit like "Original Music composed & Conducted by".

Goofs:

Revealing mistakes: After having his ear shot by Shelby, Gant shows no sign of the injury in the next scenes, no scab, scar, blood or bandage, nothing.

Quotes:

Sam Burgade:You can go back if you have to. I'll go where I have to.
Pima County Sheriff Noel Nye:Yeah, well, I know where you're going. You're going about six feet under, that's where you're going, because they got seven guns to your one.

THE LAST HARD MEN (Andrew V. McLaglen, 1976) **

This one came out during the Western genre’s last gasp; unfortunately, it emerges to be a very minor and altogether unsatisfactory effort – even if made by and with veterans in the field! To begin with, the plot offers nothing remotely new: James Coburn escapes from a chain gang, intent on killing the man (now retired) who put him there – Charlton Heston. While the latter lays a trap for him, Coburn outwits Heston by kidnapping his daughter (Barbara Hershey). Naturally, the former lawman – accompanied by Hershey’s greenhorn fiancé (Chris Mitchum) – sets out in pursuit of Coburn and his followers, all of whom broke jail along with him.

Rather than handling the proceedings in his customary sub-Fordian style, McLaglen goes for a Sam Peckinpah approach – with which he’s never fully at ease: repellent characters, plenty of violence, and the sexual tension generated by Hershey’s presence among Coburn’s lusty bunch. Incidentally, Heston and Coburn had previously appeared together in a Sam Peckinpah Western – the troubled MAJOR DUNDEE (1965; I really need to pick up the restored edition of this one on DVD, though I recently taped the theatrical version in pan-and-scan format off TCM UK). Anyway, the film is too generic to yield the elegiac mood it clearly strives for (suggested also by the title): then again, both stars had already paid a fitting valediction to this most American of genres – WILL PENNY (1968) for Heston and Coburn with PAT GARRETT & BILLY THE KID (1973)!

At least, though, Heston maintains a modicum of dignity here – his ageing character attempting to stay ahead of half-breed Coburn by anticipating what his next move will be; the latter, however, tackles an uncommonly brutish role and only really comes into his own at the climax (relishing his moment of vengeance by sadistically forcing Heston to witness his associates’ gang-rape of Hershey). Apart from the latter, this lengthy sequence sees Heston try to fool Coburn with a trick borrowed from his own EL CID (1961), the villainous gang is then trapped inside a bushfire ignited by the practiced Heston and the violent death of the two ‘obsolete’ protagonists (as was his fashion, Heston’s demise takes the form of a gratuitous sacrifice!).

The supporting cast includes Michael Parks as the ineffectual town sheriff, Jorge Rivero as Coburn’s Mexican lieutenant, and Larry Wilcox – of the TV series CHiPs! – as the youngest member of Coburn’s gang who’s assigned the task of watching over Hershey (while doing his best to keep his drooling mates away!). Jerry Goldsmith contributes a flavorful but, at the same time, unremarkable score.