Sterling Hayden stars as Jim Bowie, who, yes, is the inventor of the Bowie knife. As the story opens, Bowie lives peacefully in Mexico-owned 19th century Texas. But his American-citizen neighbors, Mike Radin (Ernest Borgnine) and William Travis (Richard Carlson) are itching for secession. Although Radin and Bowie eventually end up in a knife fight (word to the wise - don't get into knife fights with people who invent knives), Bowie winds up siding with the secessionists. This, of course, leads to a showdown at the Alamo, during which 187 men hold off an onslaught of 7,000 Mexicans for nearly two weeks. The narrative builds slowly, but the final battle is terrifically staged, even if you aren't surprised by the outcome.
Historians are always complaining that Hollywood plays loose with the facts, and The Last Command is certainly no different than other Alamo pictures in that regard. It's best to just sit back and enjoy Hayden's gruff performance, and Borgnine's rather inexplicable street-smart presence. No amount of frontier garb could fully take the New York out of this performer. (He seems to forever be digesting a Nathan's hot dog and a beer.) Max Steiner's rousing score is also a big highlight.
You'll probably recall that John Wayne directed and starred in The Alamo (1960), an overblown variation of this story which co-starred Richard Widmark. Wayne had been trying to get the film off the ground for quite a while, and was actually negotiating the deal with Republic, who financed The Last Command. Unfortunately, Wayne wanted to make a much more ambitious (i.e. costly) film than Republic head Herbert Yates was prepared to finance. Some people also believe that Yates insisted on using Vera Hruba Ralston, a former Czechoslovakian figure skater and would-be Republic "movie star," as the Duke's love interest. Wayne had already worked with the marginally talented Ralston on Dakota (1945), and blanched at doing it again. So there went the deal.
But that wasn't the end of Republic's interest in the Alamo. In a move that seemed at least partially designed to get Wayne's goat, Yates rushed The Last Command into production. The film he ended up with certainly can't compete with Wayne's epic in terms of sheer scale, but as Western novelist Brian Garfield notes in his Western Films guide, it has "considerably more verve and drama." Wayne's picture, though visually spectacular, is simply too grandiose and lumbering to sustain much tension. Sometimes, it seems, smaller really is better. Especially if you're the guy putting up the money.
Producer/Director: Frank Lloyd
Screenplay: Warren Duff (based on the story by Sy Bartlett)
Cinematographer: Jack Marta
Editor: Tony Martinelli
Music: Max Steiner
Art Design: Frank Arrigo
Principal Cast: Sterling Hayden (James Bowie), Anna Maria Alberghetti (Consuela), Richard Carlson (William Travis), Arthur Hunnicutt (Davy Crockett), Ernest Borgnine (Mike Radin), J. Carrol Naish (Santa Ana), Ben Cooper (Jeb Lacey), John Russell (Lt. Dickinson), Virginia Grey (Mrs. Dickinson), Jim Davis (Evans), Eduard Franz (Lorenzo de Quesada), Otto Kruger (Stephen Austin), Russell Simpson (The Parson), Roy Roberts (Dr. Sutherland), Slim Pickens (Abe), Hugh Sanders (Sam Houston).
C-110m.
by Paul Tatara
