The Last Round-Up
Cast & Crew
Henry Hathaway
Randolph Scott
Barbara Fritchie
Monte Blue
Fuzzy Knight
Fred Kohler
Film Details
Technical Specs
Synopsis
Jack Kells's bandit gang, the Border Legion, is run out of a mining town and regroups in Utah. News of a gold strike in Arizona City leads the gang there, and they execute stagecoach robberies to announce their arrival. Jim Cleve, meanwhile, loses all his money at an Arizona City bar. After he sees an old miner killed outside of town, a stagecoach finds Jim by the body and the passengers suspect him of the murder. One passenger, Joan Randall, who is headed to the bar as an entertainer, believes he is innocent, however. Later, Kells and his sidekick, Charles Bunko McGee, a disbarred lawyer, meet up with Joan, who happens to be Kells' former girl friend. Judge Savin is prepared to convict Jim on circumstantial evidence, but when Kells is recognized at the bar, he draws his guns and gives Jim a chance to escape. Jim later joins the Legion because Kells showed more common faith than the townspeople. Kells reproaches one of his gang members, mean Sam Gulden, for killing the old miner, but later has Sam kidnap Joan so he can rekindle their romance. While Kells moves the camp closer to town, Jim and Bunko guard the cabin where Joan is being held against her will. Incensed that Kells is keeping Joan captive, Jim escapes and tells the judge and sheriff where to find her. Kells hopes Jim's rash act will empty the town, so he can rob it, but the suspicious men instead prepare the town for the Legion's arrival. The townspeople explode dynamite and engage in a gunfight against the Legion. Kells and Bunko hide in a saloon where Jim is again being held captive. The three men escape, but Bunko is shot and dies. After Kells tells Jim he is not cut out to be an outlaw, Jim returns for Joan. Kells and Sam team up against Jim and vie for Joan, but when Kells says that she belongs with Jim, Sam shoots him in the back. Kells manages to survive long enough to kill Sam, saving Jim and Joan, and sends them on their way. As the couple rides off for their new life together, Kells slumps in his saddle and dies.
Director
Henry Hathaway
Cast
Randolph Scott
Barbara Fritchie
Monte Blue
Fuzzy Knight
Fred Kohler
Richard Carle
Barton Maclane
Charles B. Middleton
Frank Rice
Dick Rush
Buck Connors
Bob Miles
Sam Allen
Ben Corbett
J. Merrill Holmes
Jim Corey
Crew
Film Details
Technical Specs
Quotes
Trivia
Notes
This film was the last of a series of Paramount westerns based on Zane Grey novels and directed by Henry Hathaway. Barbara Fritchie made her screen debut in the film. Rodeo rider Bob Miles coached Scott on "tricks of the saddle and rope," according to the pressbook in copyright records. This was filmed at Paramount Ranch in Calabasas, CA. Other films based on the Zane Grey novel are Goldwyn's 1918 The Border Legion, directed by T. Hayes Hunter and starring Blanche Bates and Hobart Bosworth (see AFI Catalog of Feature Films, 1911-20; F1.0431); Paramount's 1924 The Border Legion, directed by William K. Howard and starring Antonio Moreno and Helene Chadwick; Paramount's 1930 The Border Legion, directed by Otto Brower and Edwin H. Knopf, and starring Richard Arlen, Jack Holt and Fay Wray (see AFI Catalog of Feature Films, 1921-30; F2.0525 and F2.0526); and Republic's 1940 Border Legion.
