The Last Hard Men [HD]

Rape And Revenge In Arizona
Easily one of the least-known western movies in history to pair two great actors against one another, THE LAST HARD MEN is a painfully underrated sagebrush saga that at first might seem old-fashioned but turns out to be a very timely meditation on the final days of the West. It is on video now through Unicorn, but this 1976 film deserves to be released by its original distributor, 20th Century Fox, on video and DVD in its uncut form. It only runs 97 minutes here; in its uncut form, it was 105 minutes.

Based on the 1972 novel "Gun Down" by Brian Garfield, who also wrote "Death Wish" and is a western enthusiast, THE LAST HARD MEN stars Charlton Heston as an aging lawman who had once been a proud member of the Arizona Territorial Police but now in 1908 has now turned the reins of law enforcement over to a reform-minded younger man (Michael Parks). He laments about how the railroad changed the makeup of the West--that and, as Parks points out, the auto, the telegraph, and...

Glad to see these '70s classics getting the widescreen treatment!!
Action Double Feature: The Last Hard Men / Sky RidersThis release is long overdue! This is a great James Coburn double feature (even though its not billed as such) coming from an era of the '70s when they made lower budget movies and turned out pretty good. The Last Hard Men looks great for DVD. The colors are bold, picture detail is good for this older release. Sky Riders the same thing. It's a pure joy to see these two in their original aspect ratio of 2.35 (even though the cover says 1.78)! This comes from an era when they really made widescreen movies (such as other classics from the '70s: Chinatown, Jaws, to name a few). These movies really suffered over the years in poorly pan and scan videotape editions. Shout! just keeps releasing these classics that no other company would dare touch. They just keep outdoing themselves. The two movies on this disc aren't the greatest, but the five star rating is for the...

Violent revenge Western
James Coburn plays a violent mixed race outlaw who escapes from Yuma prison as part of a chain gang along with a group of other equally thuggish types .He persuades them to join him by recounting tales of a hidden cache of gold that will make them all rich men ;his primary motive is to use tham to help him gain revenge on his nemesis ,a retired lawman (Charlton Heston)responsible for his incarceration..He lures Heston away from town by feinting to rob a gold shipment being conveyed by train and while the lawman is engaged on this wild goose chase rides into town at the head of his gang and abductes Heston's daughter (Barbara Hershey).There follows a sadistic ,violent denouement involving rape and a great deal of rather gloating violence
This is well acted by the stars and supporting cast .It has an excellent score and the photography is exemplary .The themes of violence and retribution are punched across with some vigour but for many the stumbling block here will be the...

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