Tue 20 Jul 2010
A Western Movie Review by Walter Albert: THE LAST OUTLAW (1936).
Posted by Steve under Reviews , Western movies[6] Comments
THE LAST OUTLAW. RKO, 1936. Harry Carey, Hoot Gibson, Tom Tyler, Henry B. Walthall, Margaret Callahan. Director: Christy Cabanne. Shown at Cinecon 27, Hollywood CA, September 1993.
One of the sleeper hits of the convention. Harry Carey (Sr.) is released from prison after serving a thirty-five year sentence for bank robbery.
Carey is initially bewildered by the world he finds outside but soon discovers that crime hasn’t changed all that much. In an unlikely alliance with the lawman who had sent him to prison and with a new, younger friend (Hoot Gibson), Carey dons his pistols, saddles up and goes after the varmints who’ve done him wrong.
A great shoot-out at a canyon cabin is the perfect conclusion to this delightful, touching portrait of men living by an older code that shows up the inadequacy of the new order.
This was a remake of a 1919 silent that starred Carey, and was written and directed by John Ford. Harry Carey, Jr. had planned to attend the showing, but illness forced him to cancel his appearance.
Editorial Comment: This movie was released on video cassette, but it has not appeared as a commercial DVD, to my knowledge.
July 20th, 2010 at 1:48 am
Carey teamed with Gibson — and Bob Steele in the first THREE MESQUITEERS film, 1935’s POWDERSMOKE RANGE, based on the characters created by William Colt MacDonald, and later Tyler would have a run as one of the Mesquiteers along with John Wayne and Bob Livingston.
Sounds like a good film. Sadly I’ve only seen a handful of Carey’s B westerns where he was a lead.
I saw LAW AND ORDER based on W.R. Burnett’s SAINT JOHNSON, his version of the O.K. Corral with Carey as the Doc Holiday figure to Walter Huston’s Earp stand in a few weeks back. Something a bit different for Carey and really offbeat role for Andy Devine as a killer called Johnny Deuce.
July 20th, 2010 at 1:50 am
Dawned on me that I didn’t make it clear that Wayne, Tyler, Livingston, and Bob Steele all played the role of Stony and didn’t appear together. Carey in his film is Tucson.
July 20th, 2010 at 5:19 am
Harry Carey is one of my top favorite western actors. Mainly because of the older, more mature parts that he played. Eventually, I got tired of the good looking, clean cut, young cowboys, that always starred in the B-westerns. By the way the new Criterion edition of STAGECOACH has a tremendous extra: a newly restored silent film directed by John Ford and starring Harry Carey. BUCKING BROADWAY is a 1917 movie made at the beginning of Ford’s career. One great scene shows cowboys riding down Broadway in NYC and ending up in a swanky hotel.
July 20th, 2010 at 6:15 am
Walter is right: this is a little gem. Carey and Gibson starred in John Ford’s silent STRAIGHT SHOOTING, and they play off each other beautifully here. And as ever, Tom Tyler makes a fine, nasty bad guy.
July 20th, 2010 at 10:33 am
I didn’t know about the extra on the new Criterion “Stagecoach” release. That goes on my “must see” list.
July 20th, 2010 at 7:12 pm
Barnes & Noble is currently having a 50% off sale for all Criterion DVDs, both in the store and (I believe) online.