` the last frontier be a superior western that overcome numerous deficiency in weave it tale of trapper jed ( victor mature ) and gu ( james whitmore ) and mongo ( pat hogan ) and their relationship with the army and particularly captain riordon ( guy madison ) and colonel marston ( robert preston ) and corrina marston and colonel wife ( anne bancroft ) . hire a scout after lose their supply to the indian and jed and gu and mungo adjust to live the ` civilized life within a fort on the edge of the ` last frontier . jed and who have be raise by gu and both inspires and look up to the ` old gu and mungo and and have an especially difficult time deal with ` civilization . his real problem start after he become strongly attract to the colonel wife and corrina . colonel marstonis a reckless man and who endanger every one around him with his dream of ruthless victory over any opponent . corrina and a woman repress by her station and sense of responsibility and love her husband for what he could be and jed for what he be . catch in the middle be captain riordon and a brave and likeable man torn among his duty to the army and his strong friendship with jed and his fear of the likely disastrous consequence of the colonel recklessness . what make this movie so interesting ( as well a entertain ) be that and in most case the weakness and the strength of ` the last frontier be exactly the same element ( forget the insipid title and dated music ) first and the screenplay . almost all of the subplots ( particularly and the reckless colonel ) have be do well elsewhere and but have rarely be assemble with such eccentricity . just when you think you know what be go to happen next and this one take off in a different direction . possible spoiler represent ` the last frontier be a ` production code movie ( back in the day the word ` virgin be taboo ) and it very surprising that the adultery factor be handle in such a mature and tolerant manner . i expect either jed or the colonel wife to reap some retribution for their sin . i be surprise and a little disappointed the movie do not exploit that expectation to create a less predictable end . second and the casting . mature be at least ten year too old to play the part of jed and the wild eyed innocent raise in the wood . james whitmore and who play gu and ` the man who raise jed be actually five year young than mature . nevertheless and mature be very endearing and play a character who be innocent of civilization but be in no way stupid . although there be several actor who could have play the role at the time ( most notably and burt lancaster and kirk douglas ) and none could have play jed well . preston ( also mature junior ) play colonel marston and miss the tic and affectation one would expect from such a driven man . however and preston perfectly capture the sense of honor someone must have see in marston to promote such a reckless fool to colonel rank . bancroft be an especially shrewd choice a corrina . bancroft dark hair have be die blonde and and this achieve the same effect a it do for winona ryder ( ` edward scissorhands ) and christina ricci ( ` sleepy hollow ) . that be and i felt conflict about the character without know exactly why while i believe the answer be that blonde and brunette have considerably different skin tone and eye shade . far and bancroft have always project a toughness that border on hardness ( here the blonde hair soften her up a bit and though ) . this enable the 24 year old bancroft to stand toe to toe with both the 40 year old mature and the 37 year old preston while yep and she could be a colonel wife . madison walk a careful balancing act a riordan and handle a complex role and sometimes ackward dialogue . play a role similar to that of john wayne in ` fort apache madison do a more skillful job at it . this movie have a ` silverado type camaraderie . that alone make it worth see . it also have memorable performance and beautiful scenerary and great action and direction . i just hope a letterbox version be available ( many have be lose ) and because this movie take full advantage of that format .