The Last of the Mohicans (1992)

Director:

Michael Mann

Writers (WGA):

James Fenimore Cooper (novel)
John L. Balderston (adaptation) ...

Release Date:

25 September 1992 (USA)

Genre:

Adventure | Romance | War

Tagline:

The first American hero.

Plot:

Three trappers protect a British Colonel's daughters in the midst of the French and Indian War.

Plot Keywords:

Mohican | Settler | Battle | Native American | Fort

Awards:

Won Oscar. Another 5 wins & 10 nominations

Cast

Daniel Day-Lewis	...	Hawkeye (Nathaniel Poe)
Madeleine Stowe	...	Cora Munro
Russell Means	...	Chingachgook
Eric Schweig	...	Uncas
Jodhi May	...	Alice Munro
Steven Waddington	...	Maj. Duncan Heyward
Wes Studi	...	Magua
Maurice Roëves	...	Col. Edmund Munro
Patrice Chéreau	...	Gen Montcalm
Edward Blatchford	...	Jack Winthrop
Terry Kinney	...	John Cameron
Tracey Ellis	...	Alexandra Cameron
Justin M. Rice	...	James Cameron
Dennis Banks	...	Ongewasgone
Pete Postlethwaite	...	Capt. Beams

MPAA:

Rated R for violence.

Runtime:

112 min | USA:117 min (director's cut)

Country:

USA

Language:

English | French | Mohawk

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.20 : 1

Sound Mix:

70 mm 6-Track (70 mm prints) | Dolby (35 mm prints)

Certification:

USA:R (certificate #31878) | Iceland:16 | South Korea:15 | France:Unrated | Brazil:12 | UK:15 (video rating) (1993) | Argentina:13 | Australia:M | Canada:13+ (Quebec) | Canada:14 (Nova Scotia) | Canada:PG (Manitoba/Ontario) | Chile:14 | Finland:K-14 | Germany:16 | Ireland:15 | Netherlands:16 | Norway:15 | Singapore:PG | Spain:13 | Sweden:15 | UK:12 (original rating) | USA:PG-13 (edited version)

Filming Locations:

Asheville, North Carolina, USA

Company:

Morgan Creek Productions

Trivia:

The film was originally scheduled for a Summer 1992 release, as the teaser posters said, but when Michael Mann's first version clocked in at three hours, he was told by Fox to cut the film down and the release was postponed to September. Mann was never happy with the resulting two hour version, feeling he had not had enough time to properly trim it, and so Fox allowed him to re-edit it entirely for the 1999 DVD release. Although only a few minutes longer, the new version features minor changes throughout the film. It is Mann's preferred version and the only one available on DVD in the US.

Goofs:

Continuity: When the party going to Fort William Henry is attacked, Alice's hair is pinned up in a complex pattern. However, a few minutes later her hair is completely down and there is no evidence that it was ever done up at all.

Quotes:

Hawkeye: My father warned me about you...
Cora Munro: [interupting] Your Father?
Hawkeye: Chingachgook, he warned me about people like you.
Cora Munro: Oh, did he?
Hawkeye: He said "Do not try to understand them".
Cora Munro: What?
Hawkeye: Yes, and, "do not try to make them understand you. That is because they are a breed apart and make no sense".

Movie Connections:

Referenced in "Animaniacs: Video Review/When Mice Ruled the Earth (#1.47)" (????)

Soundtrack:

I WILL FIND YOU

Great movie

I loved the period piece of this movie as I'm a big fan of our history. The facts were accurate for the most part except for one glaring scene. When Montcalm approaches Magua, after Fort Henry falls, he is obviously playing to his sympathies about the British not keeping to their terms of the surrender. Montcalm, knowing of Magua's lust for revenge, knows that he will then attack the defeated inhabitants as they leave the fort.

That scene is sheer poetic license, as the facts bear out that Montcalm had assurances from the Indian chiefs after that battle that they would refrain from attacking the departing party in exchange for all the forts plunder. In fact, it was Montcalm who finally put a stop to the actual massacre once he was informed of it. No, I'm not French, but all books and letters, show Montcalm as a man of highest honor and a champion against greed and corruption.