''The Last Sunset'' is a 1961 American

Western Western may refer to: Places *Western, Nebraska, a village in the US *Western, New York, a town in the US *Western Creek, Tasmania, a locality in Australia *Western Junction, Tasmania, a locality in Australia *Western world, countries that id ...

film directed by

Robert Aldrich Robert Burgess Aldrich (August 9, 1918 – December 5, 1983) was an American film director, producer, and screenwriter. His notable credits include '' Vera Cruz'' (1954), '' Kiss Me Deadly'' (1955), '' The Big Knife'' (1955), '' Autumn ...

and starring

Rock Hudson Rock Hudson (born Roy Harold Scherer Jr.; November 17, 1925 – October 2, 1985) was an American actor. One of the most popular movie stars of his time, he had a screen career spanning more than three decades. A prominent heartthrob in the Gold ...

Kirk Douglas Kirk Douglas (born Issur Danielovitch; December 9, 1916 – February 5, 2020) was an American actor and filmmaker. After an impoverished childhood, he made his film debut in '' The Strange Love of Martha Ivers'' (1946) with Barbara Stanwyck. D ...

, and Dorothy Malone. The film was released by

Universal Pictures Universal Pictures (legally Universal City Studios LLC, also known as Universal Studios, or simply Universal; common metonym: Uni, and formerly named Universal Film Manufacturing Company and Universal-International Pictures Inc.) is an Americ ...

and shot in

Eastmancolor Eastmancolor is a trade name used by Eastman Kodak for a number of related film and processing technologies associated with color motion picture production and referring to George Eastman, founder of Kodak. Eastmancolor, introduced in 1950, was on ...

in Mexico. The screenplay by Dalton Trumbo was adapted from Howard Rigsby's 1957 novel ''Sundown at Crazy Horse''. The supporting cast features

Joseph Cotten Joseph Cheshire Cotten Jr. (May 15, 1905 – February 6, 1994) was an American film, stage, radio and television actor. Cotten achieved prominence on Broadway, starring in the original stage productions of '' The Philadelphia Story'' and '' Sab ...

Carol Lynley Carol Lynley (born Carole Ann Jones; February 13, 1942 – September 3, 2019) was an American actress known for her roles in the films ''Blue Denim'' (1959) and '' The Poseidon Adventure'' (1972). Lynley was born in Manhattan to an Irish ...

, Neville Brand and

Jack Elam William Scott "Jack" Elam (November 13, 1920 – October 20, 2003) was an American film and television actor best known for his numerous roles as villains in Western films and, later in his career, comedies (sometimes spoofing his villaino ...

Plot summary

Brendan O'Malley crosses the

border Borders are usually defined as geographical boundaries, imposed either by features such as oceans and terrain, or by political entities such as governments, sovereign states, federated states, and other subnational entities. Political borders ca ...

into Mexico to escape justice for a murder, pursued by Sheriff Dana Stribling. He arrives at the ranch of a former lover, Belle Breckenridge. Brendan is determined to win back Belle. O'Malley meets her daughter Melissa. He is immediately attracted to Missy, who reminds him of Belle when they were lovers years ago. The next day they are joined by the well-mannered Virginian drunkard John Breckenridge, Belle's husband. He hires O'Malley to drive his herd to Crazy Horse, Texas. O'Malley accepts under condition he is paid with one fifth of the herd, but also tells Breckenridge he will take his wife once the cattle drive is finished. Breckenridge doesn't take him seriously. Stribling arrives at the ranch to serve a warrant for the murder. He does not have jurisdiction to arrest O'Malley in Mexico so he also agrees to join the cattle drive to Texas. He promises to deliver O'Malley to the law upon their arrival. During the cattle drive Breckenridge separates and goes to a bar where he gets drunk. Two former Confederates confront Breckenridge and accuse him of cowardice during a battle in the Civil War. Although Stribling and O'Malley team up to try and save Breckenridge's life, Breckinridge is shot in the back and killed trying to leave the bar. Stribling and O'Malley respond by shooting the man who shot Breckinridge, and then bury Breckinridge back at the cattle drive camp. Along the journey, Stribling and Belle become attracted to each other and plan to marry. O'Malley is crushed when he sees them and eventually falls in love with Missy, who convinces him she's not too young for him. O’Malley also finds out that the man he murdered was Stribling's brother-in-law and that his sister hanged herself after the death of her husband. The group manages to get safely to Texas where Belle begs Stribling not to confront O’Malley. He has mixed feelings but doesn't want to back down. On the eve of the showdown between the two men, Belle discloses the secret that Missy is the daughter of O'Malley and their incestuous love cannot continue. He is stunned but refuses to believe her. He spends the day with Missy and promises to leave with her. O'Malley then leaves for the gunfight, where he is gunned down by Stribling. Upon looking at O'Malley's gun, Stribling realizes that the pistol was unloaded, and that O'Malley had effectively committed suicide.

Cast

as Dana Stribling *

as Brendan "Bren" O'Malley * Dorothy Malone as Belle Breckenridge *

as John Breckenridge *

as Melissa "Missy" Breckenridge * Neville Brand as Frank Hobbs *

Regis Toomey John Francis Regis Toomey (August 13, 1898October 12, 1991) was an American film and television actor. Early life Born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, he was one of four children of Francis X. and Mary Ellen Toomey, and attended Peabody High ...

as Milton Wing *Rad Fulton as Julesburg Kid * Adam Williams as Calverton *

as Ed Hobbs *John Shay as Bowman

Production

In 1959 Kirk Douglas announced he had bought the rights to ''Day of the Gun'' by Richard Telfair (the pen name for

Richard Jessup Richard Jessup (January 2, 1925 in Savannah, Georgia - October 22, 1982 in Nokomis, Florida) was an American author and screenwriter. He also wrote under the name of Richard Telfair. Biography Mr. Jessup spent his early years in and out of a l ...

). In December 1959 it was announced Douglas and Rock Hudson would star in ''Day of the Gun'' from the novel by Howard Vechel, filming to begin in

Aguascalientes Aguascalientes (; ), officially the Free and Sovereign State of Aguascalientes ( es, Estado Libre y Soberano de Aguascalientes), is one of the 32 states which comprise the Federal Entities of Mexico. At 22°N and with an average altitude of a ...

, Mexico, in March. It was the ninth film from Bryna, Douglas' production company. In May 1960 it was announced that Dalton Trumbo was on set working on the script. Trumbo had previously written ''

Spartacus Spartacus ( el, Σπάρτακος '; la, Spartacus; c. 103–71 BC) was a Thracian gladiator who, along with Crixus, Gannicus, Castus, and Oenomaus, was one of the escaped slave leaders in the Third Servile War, a major slave uprisin ...

'' for Douglas's company and Universal. At this stage Universal had not decided if Trumbo would get screen credit for his work on ''Spartacus''. However United Artists had said they would give Trumbo credit for his work on ''Exodus''. Douglas wanted

Sandra Dee Sandra Dee (born Alexandra Zuck; April 23, 1942 – February 20, 2005) was an American actress. Dee began her career as a child model, working first in commercials, and then film in her teenage years. Best known for her portrayal of ingén ...

to play a key support role. Then

Tuesday Weld Tuesday Weld (born Susan Ker Weld; August 27, 1943) is an American actress and model. She began acting as a child and progressed to mature roles in the late 1950s. She won a Golden Globe Award for Most Promising Female Newcomer in 1960. Over t ...

was cast but was unable to do it due to delays on '' High Time'' so

played the role. Douglas hired Robert Aldrich to direct. Aldrich later said he was "dead broke" at the time, after having made "two bad pictures" in Europe and spent months on an unsuccessful attempt to make a film of ''

Taras Bulba ''Taras Bulba'' (russian: «Тарас Бульба»; ) is a romanticized historical novella set in the first half of the 17th century, written by Nikolai Gogol (1809-1852). It features elderly Zaporozhian Cossack Taras Bulba and his sons And ...

''. Aldrich says the film was a "very unpleasant experience". He says Dalton Trumbo had written a script but left the project to go and work on ''

Exodus Exodus or the Exodus may refer to: Religion * Book of Exodus, second book of the Hebrew Torah and the Christian Bible * The Exodus, the biblical story of the migration of the ancient Israelites from Egypt into Canaan Historical events * E ...

'' for

Otto Preminger Otto Ludwig Preminger ( , ; 5 December 1905 – 23 April 1986) was an Austrian-American theatre and film director, film producer, and actor. He directed more than 35 feature films in a five-decade career after leaving the theatre. He first gai ...

. He did return to ''Last Sunset'', but Aldrich says "it was too late to save it" by then. Aldrich says "Kirk was impossible. He knew the screenplay wasn't right. The whole thing started badly, went on badly, ended badly. Rock Hudson of all people emerged from it more creditably than anyone. Most people don't consider him a very accomplished actor but I found him terribly hardworking and dedicated and very serious... if everybody on that picture, from producer to writer to other actors, had approached it with the same dedication it would have been a lot better." During filming the movie was known as ''The Day of the Gun'', ''Journey Into Sunset'' and ''The Hot Eye of Heaven''. "That was a toughie", said Aldrich. "I found it extremely difficult personally to do the film. But in this business you have to stay alive. You have to take subjects like this to make money to eat, to buy more properties and float another project." Aldrich admitted part of his problem with Douglas was Douglas discovered Aldrich had three writers, including

Lukas Heller Lukas Heller (21 July 1930 – 2 November 1988) was a German-born screenwriter. Biography Heller was born to a Jewish family in Kiel. His father was political philosopher Hermann Heller. He was known for writing the screen adaptions for several ...

, staying with him during filming to work on other projects. This upset Douglas, who felt Aldrich should be concentrating on ''The Last Sunset''. "He went berserk", said Aldrich. "He just went crazy." Aldrich sent his writers away to

Mexico City Mexico City ( es, link=no, Ciudad de México, ; abbr.: CDMX; Nahuatl: ''Altepetl Mexico'') is the capital and largest city of Mexico, and the most populous city in North America. One of the world's alpha cities, it is located in the Valley o ...

.Higham p. 38

References

External links

* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Last Sunset, The 1961 films Films directed by Robert Aldrich Universal Pictures films 1961 Western (genre) films Films with screenplays by Dalton Trumbo Films scored by Ernest Gold Films based on American novels Films based on Western (genre) novels American Western (genre) films Incest in film Bryna Productions films 1960s English-language films Estudios Churubusco films Films shot in Mexico 1960s American films

Plot summary

Cast

Production

See also

References

External links