dougdoepke The movie's plot-heavy but interesting. A bedraggled posse rides into town after completing their mission. But their story of what happened is hiding something. Still, they're the town's most respectable men, including the wounded sheriff. So what really happened; we know it's not their official story. Later, we learn the truth by flashback, with some surprises.Producer Harry Joe Brown shows his continuing fascination with the neolithic Alabama Hills by filming the chase and showdown amid the bare rock slabs. It's staging he would later use in his classic Ranown westerns with Randolph Scott. The wobbly sheriff seems like an odd role for an Oscar winner of only a couple years earlier. But then, the tubby, homely Crawford was not exactly movie star material. His role here, however, is a gutsy one for any former Oscar winner. The looks department goes instead to John Derek in a pivotal role that he unfortunately appears bored with. At the same time, the fetching ingénue Hendrix gets a tacked-on role as relief from all the ugly guys. Too bad that great impersonator of ornery young punks, Skip Homeier, doesn't get more screen time.All in all, there's enough plot and interesting characters to merit a longer runtime. Then too, it's well enough produced to also merit Technicolor instead of b&w. Nonetheless, the movie's a non- formula western, more interesting than most, with lots of compelling scenery, pretty good action-- especially around the rock slabs—and a fine cast. So horse opera fans should enjoy it, despite the sometimes clotted storyline.

bkoganbing For those of you who like discovering unknown sleeper westerns than The Last Posse is for you. No cowboy heroes in this one just an honest sheriff doing his job and a young man who let's his better side take over rather than live with a lie.A posse comes in from the hunt with the bodies of the men they were hunting, the man whom these people robbed and a badly wounded Broderick Crawford who is the town sheriff. Some of the town's leading citizens like Will Wright, Warner Anderson, Raymond Greenleaf and Tom Powers are with the posse along with the adopted son of the robbery victim Charles Bickford. It's the son played by John Derek on whom the responsibility for the truth lies.We hear some of the truth in flashback from the posse members. Bickford owns the local Ponderosa and he's not a benevolent type like Ben Cartwright. In fact he's pushed another rancher James Bell far enough. Bell and sons Guy Wilkerson and Skip Homeier rob him as he's making a deposit of six figures. It's Bickford who pulls a posse together and doesn't want the sheriff along, but Crawford goes anyway.The desert trip brings out the truth about a lot of things and Derek has to face up to a different version about his past than he's been told. It's not a pretty picture.The film is in stark black and white and plays for much of the time like a noir thriller. But this B film from Columbia is a real sleeper and not to be missed by either noir or western fans.

Michael O'Keefe This dusty western is directed by Alfred L. Werker. After winning the Oscar for Best Actor in 1949's ALL THE KING'S MEN, Broderick Crawford was afforded very little in comparison in the remainder of his contract with Columbia. The fair to middling western THE LAST POSSE is a little noticed sagebrush saga. Sheriff John Frazier(Crawford)collects a posse made up of honest respected citizens of Roswell, New Mexico to track down the desperadoes that robbed a prominent cattle baron. Something in the arid heat causes a few of the posse to plot keeping the stolen loot for themselves. Greed ignites the proverbial shootout and the surviving posse members limp back into town with heads hung low and severely wounded Sheriff Frazier in tow. The cast also includes: John Derek, Charles Bickford, Henry Hull, Will Wright, James Bell and Wanda Hendrix.

alexandre michel liberman (tmwest) Alfred Werker directed many westerns, I remember "Three Hours To Kill" which was quite a good film. "The Last Posse" went by unnoticed when originally released in 1953. I remember seeing it as a young boy and not really liking it. But somehow it got stuck in my memory. Seeing it recently I have quite a different opinion. This is a remarkable western that departs from the conventional, it uses flashbacks in a very effective way, it makes a strong criticism about people in a small town and never lets you know what to expect. At the beginning a posse returns with one man missing Sampson Drune (Charles Bickford) and the sheriff John Frazier(Broderick Crawford) seriously wounded. All the members of the posse act in a strange way, and the film uses flashbacks to explain what happened. John Derek is Jed Clayton an orphan that was adopted by Drune who totally dominates him. Jed is in love with Deborah (Wanda Hendrix) who resents Drune. Drune also bought cattle from the Romers when there was a drought and now sells it for ten times the price he paid. The Romers want some kind of compensation and when Drune denies, they steal the money and run away. The posse goes after them. Frazier is the sheriff who cleaned the town in the past, but started drinking heavily. He does not care for the town leaders and lost their respect because of his drinking. Even without being invited, he joins the posse. What is curious is that instead of being a fictitious place where the film happens, which is usual, the town mentioned is Roswell, New Mexico.