MovieChat Forums > The Last Hunt (1956) Discussion > one of the best sadists in film history

one of the best sadists in film history

posted 14 years ago by drystyx
2 replies | jump to latest

Hollywood goes overboard on sadists. And the 70s totally destroyed Westerns, as we all know, but more than that, it destroyed films for a while. Each producer had to come up with a more outlandish Sadist. We literally had a succession of films which were totally "My Sadist can outSadist your Sadist." And that trend was not only annoying, not only patheitcally one dimensional, not only the ultimate in cliches, but also completely void of being fun for the viewer,

But here we have the Sadist as depicted in the earlier, more realistic stages. Taylor's character was sadistic, but also need human companionship and acceptance. He had issues, but he wanted to be a part of a society. He wanted others to lookup to him.

We also get the most realistic characters across the board. Did you notice this is one of the very select few action Westerns of violence in which the hero doesn't actually kill another person. What happens is ultra realistic, and mostly because of great writing..

Now go away or I shall taunt you a second time
that's not funny!

[–] mandrake62 13 years ago

In addition to the writing was some exceptional acting on the part of Robert Taylor. I recall the first time I saw this film watching it with a friend who was an actor. We were both blown away by the energy Taylor put into this character. Ben Mankiewicz, the TCM host, singled out Taylor's acting when he introduced this film. Stewart Granger deserves a lot of credit for providing a perfect character with which Taylor's character could contrast.

But the end belonged to the writer. Finding Taylor frozen in a buffalo skin was ironic and had a surrealistic quality.

[–] rtw416 9 years ago

"Stiff as a board!"- "skinned less than a couple hours ago and the moisture from the animal left it stiff as a board"......I guess the only reason for that scene was to foreshadow what was gonna happen to Charlie after skinning the buffalo for warmth.