Brightlyme i know i wasted 90 mins of my life.

YouHeart I gave it a 7.5 out of 10

Pacionsbo Absolutely Fantastic

Comwayon A Disappointing Continuation

MartinHafer Historically speaking, "The Last Outpost" is a dumb mess. And, logically speaking, it's not a lot better. It's a film best enjoyed with your brain completely turned off--otherwise your pesky mind will balk at the writing and silly plot.This film is set during the Civil War. One brother (the dull one) fights for the North, the other (the duller one) fights for the South. And, it just so happens that BOTH are out West when 99.9% of their compatriots are fighting well to the East...what are the odds?! Anyway, the Southern soldier is on a secret mission to contact the Indians and be sure they stay out of the war. The one fighting for the North has been ordered to help the Indian agent from Washington--but the agent has an insane plan to get the Indians to fight for the Union and take Confederate scalps (though HOW you tell it's a Southern and Northern scalp is beyond me). This Northern officer HATES this and later catches his brother in a Union uniform--acting as a spy! The Southern brother escapes and soon the Indians attack. Just as it looks as if all the civilians and Union soldiers will be massacred, the Southern Cavalry arrives to save the say and all are happy friends (that is, aside from all the Natives who were just killed) and have a pizza party (I added this final part but who would notice?!).As a retired American history teacher, I just don't know where to start. ALL of this is complete fiction--all of it. None of this happened, nor would Southern soldiers swoop in to save the day. And, if they did (which they wouldn't), they wouldn't have all left good friends!! This brainless plot wasn't even especially entertaining and overall it's one of Ronald Reagan's dullest films. Even the presence of the incredibly pretty Rhonda Fleming wasn't enough to breath any life into this dumb film.

bkoganbing Ronald Reagan's first starring western occurred in 1951 when he did this horse opera for the Pine-Thomas Paramount B picture unit. Reagan was always a good rider and would have loved to do more westerns in his career. But according to the Citadel Film series book on The Films of Ronald Reagan the real clincher for him okaying the Pine-Thomas deal was a chance to ride his own horse in the film. So Reagan's horse which was named Tarbaby got some screen immortality.The Last Outpost casts Reagan and Bruce Bennett who are brothers and who have split their loyalties during the Civil War. Fate has brought them together in the west with Bennett taking command of a Federal outpost in Arizona territory to deal with a band of pesky Confederate raiders. Little does Bennett know that Reagan is commanding those raiders and little does Reagan know that the girl he left behind played by Rhonda Fleming is out west and unhappily married to trading post owner John Ridgely.Ridgely gets killed early on in the film, but not before he sets in motion a plan whereby he will be legally allowed to sell whiskey and arms to the Apaches in exchange for them just taking out the men in gray. In fact Lloyd Corrigan has come east as a member of the government to implement said plan. Reagan refers to him as 'the expediter' and he's the kind of government bureaucrat Reagan would make fun of when he later got into politics.Bennett is the solid dependable brother, but Reagan invests his part with a certain dash and rakish charm which if you didn't know better you would swear was coming from Errol Flynn. But the most interesting role came from actor Charles Evans playing Apache Chief Grey Cloud who is a disgraced former American general who left the army because his society wouldn't accept the Apache woman he married. Evans really makes his few scenes count and I wish we had seen more of him.The Last Outpost is a solidly entertaining western with the cast giving fitted performances in the roles they are doing.

frankfob "The Last Outpost" is a pretty mediocre Civil War western. Bruce Bennett is a Union officer out west, who finds himself beset by rampaging Apaches on one side and a Confederate guerrilla band led by his brother, Ronald Reagan, on the other side. Rhonda Fleming is the wife of a corrupt trader who's playing footsie with the Apaches. Competently acted, it moves along fairly slowly until almost the end of the picture, when there is a well-staged Indian attack on the town and a very exciting cavalry charge. Even though Fleming isn't called upon to do much more than stand around and look gorgeous, she does that quite well; she was born for Technicolor, and has seldom looked more beautiful. Reagan is a bit stiff in the lead, but not unbearably so, as he is more often than not. Overall not a bad western, but nothing particularly special.

Michael Morrison All them Yankee writers in Hollywood usually manage to make at least one stupid mistake per script when they try to depict Southerners. When the Noah Beery character says to his commanding officer, played by Ronald Reagan, "Y'all gonna get us killed," it didn't quite ruin the movie -- "y'all" is a plural, and no real Southerner has ever said "y'all" to one person -- but did detract. The cast is quite good -- Rhonda Fleming seems almost the reason Technicolor was invented; Ronald Reagan made a great cowboy or, in this case, cavalry officer -- the story is intriguing; the battle scene near the end begins with a spine-tingling charge that, every time I see it, literally sends chills down my spine. Overall, the film is enjoyable, well worth watching.