Armand it is not the best word but includes the atmosphere, the flavor of old classic western, the sentimental scenes , the acting and the tension between characters, the end and the message, the few images who defines a kind of magic and, sure, the performances. it is little more than a western - seems be more profound by many movies of genre - and it has the virtue of interesting meeting, Kirk Douglas and Rock Hudson in admirable exploration of roles nuances. a film about past, love and justice. about subtle links between people. and, sure, about hope. a good occasion to remember values and art of great actors.a beautiful film. not the greatest but useful for rediscover the spirit of a special art to do a good film - the recipes of Robert Aldrich seems be unique.

vincentlynch-moonoi There was a time, particularly during the 1950s, when Americans (including me) were addicted to Westerns. We'd watch just about any Western that came along. Our love of Westerns faded as the 1960s rolled in, and today a Western is a relatively rare commodity. Now I will watch only the exceptional Western. I'm saying this is one of the great Westerns, but it is a cut above the average Western, and it is unique enough to earn some extra points there. It isn't as good as "Rio Bravo" or "The Man Who Shot Liberty Valence", but it's pretty darned good.So what is different about it? Two things, really. First that you have a bounty hunter taking in a murderer...but along they way they cooperate to bring a herd of cattle from Mexico to Texas. But more importantly -- although it sure surprised me when it fell into my lap -- it has undertones about potential incest. Yes, you read that right. Some may have guessed it. I didn't. And when it appeared, I was just a little stunned.But I'll let you discover all the twists and turns here. Instead, I'll focus on the cast.Rock Hudson is the nominal lead here over Kirk Douglas...and yes, Douglas does play the sort of "bad guy". Both are very good here, though I'd give the edge here to Douglas. I've never been able to quite decide on how good an actress Dorothy Malone was; here she does rather nicely as the love interest, particularly of Hudson. In his prime, Joseph Cotten was a better actor than either Hudson or Douglas. His role here is rather small, but pivotal. I kinda hated seeing him relegated to such a small role. Carol Lynley...well, nothing very special here from her. Worth mentioning is a small character role for dependable Regis Toomey.Some have criticized the shadows in the last scene. I probably wouldn't have thought of it if it hadn't been mentioned. But yes, it was sloppy film-making to see noon-time shadows at sunset.Great, no. Very good, however. Worth watching...once.

SimonJack The hunter and hunted plot has been used in many a Western movie. Some have been exceptional films – "The Searchers" with John Wayne, Jeffrey Hunter and Natalie Wood; Charles Bronson and Henry Fonda in "Once Upon a Time in West;" and James Stewart and others in "The Man from Laramie." Many such films become formulaic but still manage to entertain for their suspense, scenery and frequent action with gun play – if not for their acting. "The Last Sunset" isn't in the top tier of such Westerns, but it's not far off. Where this film excels is in its cast of notable roles and in the different twists from the usual plot of hunter-hunted films. There are just enough twists here to give it a refreshing feel. To say much more would be to give away the plot and enjoyment on first viewing. Suffice it in this review to draw attention to the difference in the usual theme, and to note something on the quality. The acting is very good all around. Joseph Cotton, Dorothy Malone and Carol Lynley give first rate performances. As Dana Stribling, Rock Hudson is an unusual character in his politeness and decency. He plays his role with a seeming ease and almost aloofness that seems to fit nicely in the plot. As Bren O'Malley, Kirk Douglas is also unusual as the bad guy. He doesn't fit the frequent mold of crude, dumb, or barbaric cowboy. He does a great job in the diverse emotions he portrays from one scene to the next. I agree with some other reviewers who note Douglas' performance as exceptional. While Douglas wasn't in the small group of handsome leading men of the Hollywood studios of his time, he was nevertheless a handsome, popular and very talented actor. In his movie prime, he played a variety of roles, with as many characterizations. Only later would he slip into a general characterization. He won one Golden Globe for acting ("Lust for Life," 1957), and received two more GG nominations and three Academy Award nominations. He's among a considerable list of outstanding actors who have never won an Oscar. "The Last Sunset" is an interesting and very good Western that I think most movie fans would enjoy a great deal.

dougdoepke A lawman (Hudson) and an outlaw (Douglas) join a trail drive where they meet rivalry, romance and danger.Looks like Douglas' production company Brynaprod was aiming for an epic western on the order of Red River (1948). In terms of cinematic sweep and star-studded cast, they got it. The trail herd and surrounding vistas suggest a grand scale western. The problem is the rest of the film fails to equal that impressive dimension.Now director Aldrich can do epic westerns better than most, as his estimable Vera Cruz (1954) shows. Here, however, he's saddled with four marquee performers, each of whom requires screen time equal to his or her status. That means the pacing gets disrupted by lengthy cameo scenes, especially the drawn-out romantic scenes. Thus the film tends to lumber rather than unfold. Then too, scripter Trumbo can do screenplays with the best. Here, however, he's faced with the same problem and what we get is a meandering story, more contrived than most. The four main adults perform well enough; however, an 18-year old Lynley, even if she does bring in a younger audience, appears distinctly out of place on a trail drive, especially since she looks and acts like a malt shop refugee.It also looks like the main force behind the on-screen results is Douglas himself. Hudson may get top billing, but the dramatics belong to O'Malley (Douglas). All in all, the movie boils down to a showcase for Douglas' many moods, including that overblown repose-in-death scene, lacking only a violin accompaniment. Also looks to me like most any Hollywood actor could have handled Hudson's rather one- dimensional role as the straight shooting Stribling. It's a rather odd career choice for Hudson then at the peak of his box-office. (And what's with wasting such first-rate baddies as Brand and Elam, who may build up the supporting cast, but get little dialog or screen time. Ditto for the abandoned Regis Toomey, except I'm not sure who he's supposed to be.)Moreover, I'm still puzzled over how the script's one interesting idea, the incest angle, is supposed to play out. Specifically, why is there a romantic haystack scene (Douglas & Lynley) following O'Malley's discovery about Missy. Now, one way of looking at that scene is to view O' Malley as in a predicament. On one hand, he's been "intimate" with Missy, while on the other, he's likely her father. His predicament is that he can't tell her the facts since it might well ruin her life. At the same time, he doesn't want to hurt her feelings by suddenly ending the romance. So he tries to ease out of the relationship in the haystack scene. That may help her situation, but he's left with the grim knowledge for which there's only one solution, which he takes, thus providing motivation for throwing the shootout.I don't know if this is what Trumbo had in mind. After all, I may have missed something. But it is one interpretation for an otherwise puzzling scene.The movie does have one unusual and really riveting scene. The courtly John Breckenridge (Cotton) is challenged by saloon room thugs to drop his pants in order to show a war wound and avoid a shootout. It's humiliating for the southern gentleman, to say the least, and is unlike any other saloon dust-up that I've seen. Too bad that Cotten, a fine actor and character here, drops out so soon. Nonetheless, considering all the talent involved, the film adds up to a disappointing two hours of lumbering horse opera. Frankly, I'm not surprised this was Brynaprod's final production.(In passing—I can't help noticing that the Colorado-born Trumbo works two obscure Colorado towns into his script— Breckenridge and Julesburg. Such, I guess, are perquisites of screen writing.)