The Last Of The Mohicans [1992] [DVD]

Director Michael Mann was inspired as much by 1936 Randolph Scott version of "The Last of the Mohicans," with a screenplay by Philip Dunne, as he was by James Fenimore Cooper's original novel. This is just as good, because after seeing Mann's movie I tried to read Cooper's novel and I could not even get halfway through that ponderous book. This version is also skewed by the television series "M*A*S*H," where the character of Benjamin Franklin Pierce was called "Hawkeye" because his father loved Cooper's novel. Ironically, this meant the name was so identified with Alan Alda's character that it would no longer work in its original context. But then the name of Cooper's hero was Natty Bumppo, and that was not going to work either, so in this incarnation our hero is called "Nathaniel."

Nathaniel is played by Daniel Day-Lewis, and his character spends a lot of time in this movie running through scenes with an intensity that becomes palatably ferocious at times. Although filmed in North Carolina, the movie is set in upstate New York during the French & Indian War. Nathaniel is hunting deer in the forest with his adopted family, Chingachgook (Russell Means) and Uncas (Eric Schweig) and planning on wintering down south in Ken-tuck-ee. The French are invading and the local settlers are in danger, but this is not Nathaniel's concern. But then he comes across signs of a Huron war party and comes to rescue of a party of British troops, led by the haughty Major Duncan Heyward (Steven Waddington), and escorting Cora Munro (Madeleine Stowe) and her younger sister Alice (Jodhi May) to Fort William Henry, commanded by their father, Colonel Edmund Munro (Maurice Roëves).

The British party was betrayed by its scout, Magua (Wes Studi), who has been insulted by Colonel Munro and wants to see him dead and to wipe his seed from the earth. Major Hayward, already angered by Cora's refusal of his proposal of marriage, is enraged by not only her interest in Nathaniel, but in the Nathaniel agrees to see to their safety and escrots them to the besieged fort. The scene in which they enter, lit at night by only by the light of torches, while the musical score carries the scenes, is by favorite in a film filled with gorgeous photography and heroic music. Mann has always thought in terms of that particular combination, going to back to not only his "MTV Cops" on "Miami Vice," but his use of Iron Butterfly's 'In-a-gadda-da-vida" at the end of "Manhunter" (the original film version of "The Red Dragon" by Thomas Harris). But in "The Last of the Mohicans" he creates a sublime fusion between images and sound again and again throughout the film.

The musical score by Randy Edelman and Trevor Jones is one of my all-time favorites and if I had to guess which non-musical soundtrack I have listened to the most in my life, this would be the winner (John Williams for the original "Star Wars" places and Randy Newman for "The Natural" shows). Given the number of times this music has been used (to wit, ripped off) in movie trailers since then, I must not be alone in my thinking (I had a bias against "Legends of the Fall," the first movie to employ "The Last of the Mohicans" score in its trailer because of its heresy in doing so). The opening deer hunt, the entrance into the fort, the stolen moments between Nathaniel and Cora, the canoe chase on the river, and the entire final chase up the mountain for the final battle, all rely on the music and the images, with a minimal of dialogue.

I think that "The Last of the Mohicans" is a prefect date movie with a great balance between the romance and the action. The romance is communicated with looks more than words. The most romantic thing either one of them says is when Cora catches Nathaniel staring at her. "What are you looking at, sir?" she demands. "I'm looking at you, miss" he replied without averting his gaze. When he has to abandon Cora to be able to save her and her sister, the closest he comes to telling Cora that he loves her is when Nathaniel tells her to stay alive, no matter what, promising "I will find you." Then they look at each other, trapped in a cave beneath a waterfall, drinking in the sight of each other for what could be the final time.

As I indicated earlier, I had not read the novel "The Last of the Mohicans," or even the Classics Illustrated comic book version. For that matter I had not seen the 1936 version. As a result, I did not know what was going to happen next in this film, and I was so caught up with what was happening that I actually sat in the theater wondering what was going to happen next when we were literally up to the final scene. This movie is so captivating than even now, when I know the plot of Cooper's original story (Uncas and Cora are the doomed lovers), I dismiss the literary source in terms of Mann's cinematic result.

In the midst of war, Cora (Madeleine Stowe), the daughter of a British General, falls in love with Hawkeye (Daniel Day Lewis), a white man raised by Indians. Their struggle to stay together inspite of the madness surrounding them forms the core of the story.

It is beautifully filmed - the landscapes are breathtaking and the fight/action scenes switch from being brutal to almost balletic at times. The acting is of a high quality throughout - Daniel Day Lewis makes a surprisingly convincing romantic lead in a departure from his previous roles and Madeleine Stowe is strong as the determined Cora. I'm no expert on the details of the time but there's plently of dirt, blood and sweat in evidence and it doesn't feel overly glamorised. The score is sublime.

If you love heroics and romance (not the soppy but the epic kind) then you will love this.