The Last Frontier (1955 film)
The Last Frontier is a 1955 American Western film directed by Anthony Mann and starring Victor Mature, Guy Madison, Robert Preston, and Anne Bancroft. The film is set during the American Civil War at an isolated army base at the far reaches of the American frontier, where the Indians still far outnumber the whites. "The Last Frontier" was filmed in Technicolor and CinemaScope. On television, it has been shown retitled as "Savage Wilderness". Plot. Trapper Jed Cooper (Victor Mature) and his two best friends Gus (James Whitmore) and Mungo (Pat Hogan) are relieved of their  possessions by some unfriendly Indians, so they seek shelter at a nearby army fort, commanded by Captain Riordan (Guy Madison). The captain recruits the three men as scouts. Also at the fort is Corrina Marston (Anne Bancroft), waiting for her missing husband, Colonel Frank Marston (Robert Preston). Jed quickly falls in love with Mrs. Marston, sensing her ambivalence about her husband; when the colonel returns, he is revealed to be an unmitigated tyrant. Colonel Marston is driven to redeem himself after a disastrous battle at Shiloh, where over a thousand of his men were killed unnecessarily. Marston wants to attack  the regional Indian chief, Red Cloud, believing this will restore his good name and return him to the battle back east. He ignores the fact that most of the men at the fort are raw recruits, hopelessly outnumbered and completely unprepared for the vicious fighting they will face with the Indians. Jed is faced with the decision of letting Marston go on with his mad scheme, or finding a way to do away with him. Production. The film was originally known as "The Gilded Rooster", the title of the 1947 novel on which the script was based. Film rights were  acquired by Columbia in 1953. Marlon Brando was sought for the title role. The role was eventually given to Victor Mature who had just signed a two-picture deal with Columbia. Filming was to have started in January 1955 but this was pushed back, in part so Mature could make "Violent Saturday". Production began 21 March 1955 on location in Mexico. Yordan says he rewrote the film coming up with the theme that the Mature character wanted to get into the army so he could woo a woman. "That's the whole picture—about a guy trying to get a  blue uniform", he said.