The Last of the Mohicans (1992 film)

The Last of the Mohicans is a 1992 American epic historical drama film set in 1757 during the French and Indian War. It was co-written and directed by Michael Mann and was based on James Fenimore Cooper's 1826 novel The Last of the Mohicans: A Narrative of 1757 and George B. Seitz's 1936 film adaptation, owing more to the film than the novel. The film stars Daniel Day-Lewis and Madeleine Stowe, with Jodhi May, Russell Means, Wes Studi, Eric Schweig, and Steven Waddington in supporting roles.

The Last of the Mohicans
Theatrical release poster
Directed byMichael Mann
Produced by
  • Michael Mann
  • Hunt Lowry
Screenplay by
  • Michael Mann
  • Christopher Crowe
Adaptation by
Based on
Starring
Music by
CinematographyDante Spinotti
Edited by
Production
company
Distributed by
Release date
  • August 26, 1992 (1992-08-26) (France)
  • September 25, 1992 (1992-09-25) (United States)
Running time
112 minutes[1]
CountryUnited States
Language
Budget$40 million[3]
Box office$143 million

The soundtrack features music by Trevor Jones and Randy Edelman, and the song "I Will Find You" by Clannad. The main theme of the film is taken from the tune "The Gael" by Scottish singer-songwriter Dougie MacLean.

Released in the United States on September 25, 1992, The Last of the Mohicans was met with positive reviews and commercial success during its box-office run. It has increased in popularity and critical success in later years, and is now widely considered the best film adaptation of the novel. It won the Academy Award for Best Sound, the only Oscar won by a film directed by Michael Mann.

Plot

In 1757, British Army Major Duncan Heyward arrives in Albany, New York during the French and Indian War. He is assigned to serve Colonel Edmund Munro, the commander of Fort William Henry in the Adirondack Mountains. Heyward is tasked with escorting Munro's two daughters, Cora and Alice, to their father. Before they leave, Heyward asks Cora to marry him, but she does not give him an answer.

A Mohawk named Magua is tasked with guiding Heyward, the two women, and a troop of British soldiers to the fort, but he is actually a Huron and leads them into an ambush. Mohican Chingachgook, his son Uncas, and his white, adopted son, "Hawkeye", kill all of the Hurons except Magua, who escapes. The trio agrees to take the women and Heyward to the fort. During the trek, Cora and Hawkeye are attracted to each other, as are Uncas and Alice.

They find the fort under siege by the French and their Huron allies, but successfully sneak in. Colonel Munro is surprised to see his daughters, and Heyward becomes jealous of Hawkeye when Cora tells him she will not accept his marriage proposal.

Munro refuses to honor the agreement that the militiamen could leave to protect their homesteads if they were threatened. After Hawkeye helps them sneak away, he is arrested for sedition and sentenced to hang. However, without reinforcements, Munro is forced to accept French General Louis-Joseph de Montcalm's offer: the British can leave the fort honorably with their arms. Magua is furious because this robs him of his chance to kill Munro, against whom he bears a grudge.

Once Munro, his soldiers and civilians leave the fort, Huron warriors attack and massacre them. Magua personally kills Munro by cutting out his heart. Hawkeye, Uncas, and Chingachgook fight their way out, taking Cora, Alice, Heyward, and a few others. They hide in a cave behind a waterfall, but Magua catches up with them, capturing Heyward and the women.

Magua takes his three prisoners to a Huron settlement. While he is addressing a sachem, Hawkeye walks in unarmed to plead for their lives. The paramount chief rules that Heyward is to be returned to the British, Alice be given to Magua for the wrongs done to him by Munro, and Cora be burned alive. Although Hawkeye is told he may leave in peace for his bravery, he offers to take Cora's place. Heyward, who is acting as interpreter, instead trades his life for Cora's.

After Hawkeye and Cora leave the village, he shoots Heyward as he is being burned alive. Chingachgook, Uncas, and Hawkeye then pursue Magua's party to rescue Alice. Uncas races ahead, but is killed in personal combat by Magua. Alice then leaps to her death, despite Magua's attempt to dissuade her. In anger, Hawkeye and Chingachgook slay some of the Hurons. Then as Hawkeye holds the rest at bay, Chingachgook duels and kills Magua.

Afterward, Hawkeye and Cora watch as Chingachgook prays to the Great Spirit to receive Uncas, proclaiming himself "the last of the Mohicans."

Cast

Production

Development

Much care was taken with recreating accurate costumes and props. Daniel Winkler made the tomahawks used in the film and knifemaker Randall King made the knives.[4] Wayne Watson is the maker of Hawkeye's "Killdeer" rifle used in the film. The gunstock war club made for Chingachgook was created by Jim Yellow Eagle. Magua's tomahawk was made by Fred A. Mitchell of Odin Forge & Fabrication.

Costumes were originally designed by multiple Academy Award winner James Acheson, but he left the film and had his name removed because of artistic differences with Mann. Designer Elsa Zamparelli was brought in to finish.

Casting

Through the making of this film, actors Wes Studi and Maurice Roeves became lifelong friends.[5]

Locations

Although the story takes place in upstate colonial New York, filming was done mostly in the Blue Ridge Mountains of North Carolina.[6] Locations used include Lake James, Chimney Rock Park and The Biltmore Estate. Some of the waterfalls that were used in the movie include Hooker Falls, Triple Falls, Bridal Veil Falls, and High Falls, all located in the DuPont State Recreational Forest.[6] Another of these falls was Linville Falls, in the mountains of North Carolina. Also, Hickory Nut Falls at Chimney Rock was in the movie near the end. Scenes of Albany were shot in Asheville, NC at The Manor on Charlotte Street.[6]

The set of Fort William Henry was constructed on felled forestry land (35°47′40.69″N 81°52′12.10″W) adjacent to Lake James in NC. Highway 126, which ran between the set and the lake, had to be closed for the duration of the filming.[7]

Soundtrack
Main article: The Last of the Mohicans (soundtrack)

Release

The film opened in the United States on September 25, 1992, in 1,856 theaters. It was the number 1 movie on its opening weekend.[8][9] By the end of its first weekend, The Last of the Mohicans had generated $10,976,661, and by the end of its domestic run, the film had made $75,505,856 in the United States and Canada.[3] It was ranked the 17th highest-grossing film of 1992 in the United States.[10] Internationally, the film grossed more than $67 million[11] for a worldwide total of over $143 million.

Alternate versions

When the film was released theatrically in the United States, its running length was 112 minutes. This was the same length when a VHS version was released in the U.S. on June 23, 1993. It was later re-edited to a length of 117 minutes[12] for its U.S. DVD release on November 23, 1999,[13] which was billed as the "Director's Expanded Edition". It was again re-edited for its U.S. Blu-ray release on October 5, 2010,[14] this time billed as the "Director's Definitive Cut", with a length of 114 mins.[15]

Reception

The Last of the Mohicans opened with critics praising the film for its cinematography and music. Critic Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times gave the film three stars and called it "quite an improvement on Cooper's all but unreadable book, and a worthy successor to the Randolph Scott version," going on to say that "The Last of the Mohicans is not as authentic and uncompromised as it claims to be — more of a matinee fantasy than it wants to admit — but it is probably more entertaining as a result."[16]

Desson Howe of The Washington Post classified the film as "glam-opera" and "the MTV version of gothic romance".[17] Rita Kempley of the Post recognized the "heavy drama," writing that the film "sets new standards when it comes to pent-up passion", but commented positively on the "spectacular scenery".[18]

At review aggregation website Rotten Tomatoes the film has a "Certified Fresh" rating of 93% based on reviews from 41 critics, with an average rating of 7.74/10. The site's consensus states: "The Last of the Mohicans is a breathless romantic adventure that plays loose with history -- and comes out with a richer action movie for it."[19]

Awards and nominations

The film won the Academy Award for Best Sound (Chris Jenkins, Doug Hemphill, Mark Smith, Simon Kaye).[20]

American Film Institute recognition:

References
  1. "The Last of the Mohicans". British Board of Film Classification. Retrieved July 21, 2015.
  2. {{cite web |url=http://www.native-languages.org/mailbag/last-mohican-languages.htm
  3. "The Last of the Mohicans (1992)". Box Office Mojo. Retrieved March 18, 2007.
  4. Haskew, Mike (2006-09-01). "Star-Spangled Hawks Take Wing". 33 (9). Blade Magazine. pp. 30–37.
  5. "Scots actor Maurice Roeves dies aged 83". BBC News. 15 July 2020. Retrieved 15 July 2020.
  6. "The Last Of The Mohicans". www.movie-locations.com. Retrieved July 19, 2020.
  7. "THE FILMING AT LAKE JAMES". www.mohicanpress.com. Retrieved July 19, 2020.
  8. "Weekend Box Office". The Los Angeles Times. 1992-10-06. Retrieved 2011-05-30.
  9. Fox, David J. (1992-10-06). "Box Office Hasn't Seen the Last of 'Mohicans". The Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 2011-05-30.
  10. "1992 Yearly Box Office Results". Box Office Mojo. Retrieved 2012-02-14.
  11. Groves, Don (April 19, 1993). "Disney fare is cats' meow; Clint rides". Variety. p. 34.
  12. Wurm, Gerald (2010-04-07). "Last Of The Mohicans, The (Comparison: Theatrical Version - Director's Expanded Edition)". Movie-Censorship.com. Retrieved 2016-12-18.
  13. "Last of the Mohicans (Director's Expanded Edition): Daniel Day-Lewis, Madeleine Stowe, Russell Means, Eric Schweig, Jodhi May, Steven Waddington, Wes Studi, Maurice Roëves, Patrice Chéreau, Edward Blatchford, Terry Kinney, Tracey Ellis, Michael Mann, Christopher Crowe, Daniel Moore, James Fenimore Cooper, John L. Balderston, Paul Perez, Philip Dunne: Movies & TV". Amazon.com. Retrieved 2016-12-18.
  14. "The Last of the Mohicans Blu-ray: Director's Definitive Cut". Blu-ray.com. Retrieved 2016-12-18.
  15. Wurm, Gerald (2010-10-29). "Last of the Mohicans, The (Comparison: Theatrical Version - Director's Definitive Cut)". Movie-Censorship.com. Retrieved 2016-12-18.
  16. Ebert, Roger (September 25, 1992). "The Last of The Mohicans". Chicago Sun-Times. Retrieved 2007-03-18.
  17. Howe, Desson (September 25, 1992). "The Last of The Mohicans". The Washington Post. Retrieved 2007-03-18.
  18. Kempley, Rita (September 25, 1992). "The Last of The Mohicans". The Washington Post. Retrieved 2007-03-18.
  19. "Freshness count". Rotten Tomatoes. March 18, 2007. Retrieved 2007-03-18.
  20. "The 65th Academy Awards (1993) Nominees and Winners". oscars.org. Retrieved 2011-10-22.
  21. AFI's 100 Years...100 Heroes and Villains Nominees
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