The Last of the Mohicans (1992)

Three trappers protect a British Colonel's daughters in the midst of the French and Indian War.

Director:

Michael Mann

Writers:

James Fenimore Cooper (novel), John L. Balderston (adaptation),

Stars:

Daniel Day-Lewis, Madeleine Stowe, Russell Means

Won 1 Oscar. Another 5 wins & 10 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Daniel Day-Lewis	...	Hawkeye (Nathaniel Poe)
Madeleine Stowe	...	Cora Munro
Russell Means	...	Chingachgook
Eric Schweig	...	Uncas
Jodhi May	...	Alice Munro
Steven Waddington	...	Maj. Duncan Heyward
Wes Studi	...	Magua
Maurice Roëves	...	Col. Edmund Munro
Patrice Chéreau	...	Gen Montcalm
Edward Blatchford	...	Jack Winthrop
Terry Kinney	...	John Cameron
Tracey Ellis	...	Alexandra Cameron
Justin M. Rice	...	James Cameron
Dennis Banks	...	Ongewasgone
Pete Postlethwaite	...	Capt. Beams

Storyline

British and French troops do battle in colonial America, with aid from various native American war parties. The British troops enlist the help of local colonial militia men, who are reluctant to leave their homes undefended. A budding romance between a British officer's daughter and an independent man who was reared as a Mohican complicates things for the British officer, as the adopted Mohican pursues his own agenda despite the wrath of different people on both sides of the conflict.

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Plot Keywords:

british | french | indian war | colonel | settler | 

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Taglines:

The first American hero.

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Genres:

Action | Adventure | Romance | War

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated R for violence

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English French Mohawk

Release Date:

25 September 1992 (USA)

Also Known As:

El último de los mohicanos

Filming Locations:

Asheville, North Carolina, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$40,000,000 (estimated)

Gross:

$72,455,275 (USA)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Morgan Creek Productions

Technical Specs

Runtime:

112 min 117 min (director's cut)

Sound Mix:

70 mm 6-Track (70 mm prints) Dolby (35 mm prints)

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

When the film was pushed back from it's original summer release in 1992 to September, Composer Randy Edelman was brought in to provide additional music after Trevor Jones could not return to the film due to other commitments after having written about fifty minutes of music to rework his score from the film's original three hour cut. Edelman would provide about twenty-eight and a half minutes. Edelman was then in charge of assembling the music for the new cut of the film which clocked in at about 114 minutes which included Jones' music, Edelman's and all the source material by Daniel Lanois and Clannad. Jones and Edelman did not work together on the score which is why their names on the credits are separate from one another. The subsequent soundtrack album also represents this as Jones' music is separated from Edelman's as the album's first half is Jones' score followed by Edelman's and ending with Clannad's song to round it out. All told with their musical contributions to the film, Jones and Edelman's score combined round out to approximately seventy-eight minutes without the source music.

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Goofs

The bars of the cell in Fort William Henry, in which Hawkeye was detained, were deformed reinforcing rod (rebar). Reinforcing rod was not used in construction until at least 1848, but deformed rod requires specialized rolling machinery which did not exist at that time.

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Quotes

[first lines]
Title Card: 1757 / The American colonies. / It is the 3rd year of the war between England and France for the possession of the continent. / Three men, the last of a vanishing people, are on the frontier west of the Hudson river.

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Connections

Version of The Leatherstocking Tales (1969)

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Soundtracks

"I WILL FIND YOU"
Written and Produced by Ciarán Brennan
Performed by Clannad
Courtesy of Atlantic Records

User Reviews

anyone who didn't like this film doesn't understand art

The most amazing element of this film at IMDb.com is the overwhelming international location from viewer comment response, which means on a human level, this film really hits home, and Michael Mann was obviously swinging for the fences. It is the second widely acclaimed film released--not counting musicals, of course--where the score is as important as the actors, cinematic photography, characters or the story (2001: A Space Odyssey is the first). Set in the West of its historical time period (Hawkeye's isolationist view was that his dad, his bro and he were heading to "kan-tucky" to escape the encroaching modern civilization since you couldn't get any bare bones farther west than that in the human knowledge of the day), this is the first real chase story in literature and Mann makes it so on screen, it starts with them running and finishes with them running; everyone is pursuing something, and few reach their destination without death and violence interrupting their personal chase. The photography belongs in a museum, the music is a symphonic magnet, the acting and sparsely spoken words fit like little pieces of a jigsaw puzzle to create an immaculately magnificent picture. This is right up there with Kubrich's Barry Lyndon as the best film ever photographed for popular release. A solid -10- Must See ...if you watch this, Dances With Wolves, then The Unforgiven and The Wild Bunch, you will have seen a staggering panoramic view of western genre that covers the entire period. As a trivial sidelight, Russell Means(as Chingachkook), who is a true American Indian, and was at the last battle with FBI and government agents at Wounded Knee, once was hired in Ohio during the Bicentennial Celebration, along with Native American buddies of his, to play Indians greeting the Mayflower crew as they landed. As the ship drew close they shot arrows at the landing party and refused to let them ashore (now THAT'S a true revolutionary with the courage and the intelligence to make a point with some great humor--although the folks that hired him in Cleveland weren't laughing much then) so its only appropriate that the moving and eloquent closing speech along the North Carolina skyline at sunset is his.