Uriah43
After a bus carrying several convicts in Oregon overturns and several prisoners to escape into an especially harsh and dangerous part of the country, the local sheriff decides to dispatch a highly regarded bounty hunter by the name of "Lewis Gates" (Tom Berenger) to locate and bring them back in. However, to his horror, when he finally catches up to them he discovers a massive amount of blood and some clothes belonging to the convicts—but no bodies. And it's then that he finds an arrow of some sort on the scene as well. So to help him understand what is going on he drives several hours out of his way to locate a professor of Native American studies named "Lillian Diane Sloan" (Barbara Hershey) in the hope that she can give him some answers. Unfortunately, what she tells him is so fantastic that nobody else will believe him. That being the case, he gets Professor Sloan to accompany him out into this part of the wilderness so that they can somehow piece together a puzzle that has eluded everybody in America for decades. Now rather than reveal any more I will just say that this was a very entertaining film which benefited from the beautiful scenery, decent acting and an engaging plot. Admittedly, there were a couple of scenes which were a bit unrealistic but that's Hollywood for you. Be that as it may, I enjoyed this film and I have rated it accordingly. Above average.
weezeralfalfa
An interesting, if implausible, fantasy, seemingly as believable as finding a Bigfoot in these mountains. According to anthropologist Lillian(Barbara Hershey), all the members of the Cheyenne warrior society: The Dogmen, were thought to have been killed in a massacre by white cavalry, back in 1864. Thus when bounty hunter Lewis(Tom Berenger) comes up with an arrow he found in the nearby wilderness of Northwest Montana, anthropologist Lillian(Barbara Hershey) identifies it as a Dogmen replica, which can be bought in souvenir shops. But, given all the strange happening of his trip into these mountains, Lewis suspects it was made by real Dogmen. Lewis checks out the newspaper archives, and finds 17 people over the years mentioned as disappearing into this remote area. Also, he talked to a retired rail worker, who recalled catching an Indian boy long ago, who spoke no English, who escaped. I checked up on the history of the Dogmen society. Seems it was one of 6 Cheyenne military societies, all of which are still in existence. Thus, Lillian's statement that all were exterminated long ago, doesn't hold up. There just might be an undetected small group of Dogmen , who retreated to this forest, hoping that no white man would find it desirable.The screenplay begins with a motive for Lewis to enter this difficult country. He's a bounty hunter, and 3 men escaped from the local penitentiary. Since he is an excellent horseman, and has a cattle-herding dog(Zip) to sniff out clues, he feels confident he can find them and bring them back, dead or alive. After several days, he does spot them from a distance. They are armed, thus he decides to wait for more daylight before continuing. Next day, he finds bits of their clothing here and there, but not them. He also finds the arrow I previously described.Lewis finally talks Lillian into spending a few days with him looking for the escapees and any Dogmen. Lillian knows much about Cheyenne culture and their language, thus will be a great asset if they find any Dogmen. On the way, Zip and Lewis's horse save the pair from a drop from a cliff. Also, Lewis saves Lillian from being swept down a stream. They are shot at with a few arrows, but when Lillian speaks their language, their hostility is reduced. They are taken to a tunnel behind a large waterfall, and on to a small Cheyenne village beyond. The chief's son is sick and asks Lewis to go get some white man's medicine. Lewis holds up a pharmacy, asking for penicillin, but the police are on his tail, and chase him all over the town, with various incidents, until he makes it into the forest, with a posse following him(just for a vial of penicillin!) This is the action highlight of the film. The medicine saves the chief's son. Meanwhile ,the posse is still looking for Lewis. The police chief has a grudge against him. He blames him for his daughter's death by drowning, when she fell off her horse and was swept away by the stream. Lewis decides he will ride out and give himself up. He is handcuffed; however, he bolts for freedom, into the cave behind the waterfall. The sheriff chases him into the tunnel, where Lewis had previously placed some old dynamite the Cheyenne had recovered from some intruders. He hoped to set off the dynamite with his rifle, but the sheriff got there too soon. So, a Cheyenne behind him sets off the dynamite with an arrow shot(Could that work?). The explosion blasts Lewis and the sheriff out of the tunnel and through the waterfall, to fall into the plunge pool. Lewis saves the Sheriff from drowning. Thus, the sheriff figures Lewis has made up for his failure to save his daughter. He decides to dismiss the rather trivial charge against Lewis for stealing that vial of penicillin. When Lewis decided to give himself up to the sheriff, to avoid the sheriff finding the Cheyenne village, Lillian decided to stay at the village, saying this is the kind of life she always dreamed of living. Very surprisingly, Rip also decided to stay with the Cheyenne girl who had tended to him after he was shot with an arrow. Lillian and Lewis engage in a passionate kiss or two before he leaves, it not being clear if he would ever return, or spend a while in jail for his theft. See the movie to find out how things worked out. Their romance follows the very common formula of: girl hates boy initially, then warms up to him, and is passionately in love with him at film's end. It takes a fair amount of suspended disbelieve to shallow this story. For instance, when the dynamite goes off in that tunnel, why weren't Lewis, the sheriff, and the Cheyenne blown to bits and buried under rock, instead of being blown out of the tunnel, let alone survive a long plunge into the plunge pool and manage to swim to shore. Nonetheless, this is an interesting story, and Lewis and Rip, especially, demonstrate a 'never give up' attitude throughout.There is one scene that greatly puzzles me, that seems to have nothing to do with the subsequent happenings. There is a helicopter hovering over near the village, at night, with a search light scanning the area. Eventually, we hear a machine gun. In the same scene, there is a group of soldiers or police? cavalry, with rifles in hand, who eventually charge toward what? Is the latter a flash back to the 1864 Sand Creek Massacre?Lots of great scenery of the Canadian Rockies , mostlyPresently available at you tube.
robert-temple-1
As an Indian-lover and a dog-lover, what more could I want than 'Last of the Dogmen'? The best thing about the film is Zip the dog, played by Zip the dog. He is really something. This film was written and directed by Tab Murphy, and it is a tragedy that he has not directed another film since (and this was his first). He did an excellent job. Tom Berenger is superb as the rough cowboy type who rides out into the wilds, with his dog, as a tracker and bounty hunter. Berenger plays this role with particular intensity, as if it meant a lot to him and was not just a job of acting. Barbara Hershey is also excellent as the professor obsessed with Indians. The story is about the survival in a 'lost valley' in the Oxbow region of Montana (actually shot in Alberta, Canada, presumably because Montana is not wild enough anymore) of the descendants of a band of Cheyenne Indians called 'the dogmen'. A lot of real Indians are cast in the film, speaking genuine Cheyenne, as Barbara Hershey astonishingly does herself. These Cheyenne are living a traditional life just as they did in the 1840s, and Berenger and Hershey become hooked on this 'real life' and don't want to leave to go back to the falsities of 'civilisation'. This is a moving fable, dealing with the issues of the 'loss of the wild', the crushing of Native American culture by the unspeakable brutalities of white settlers, the betrayals of trust which deprived the Indians of their habitats, and the continuing psychological perversion of bitter people who want to stop the innocent enjoyment of life by shattering the dreams and the enforcement of degradation upon those too weak to protect themselves. Congratulations to Tab Murphy for this brave testament, and may he find other ways to continue bringing these messages to us, even if he has to rely on smoke signals.
maneyp
It's not that this movie is so gawdawful bad (though it is) that bothers me--it's the seven pages of insipid fawning comments that turned my stomach! Have you no taste people?!?! This movie is so lame that if it were a horse instead of the "dog" that it is, it would be taken out back and administered a mercy shot to the head. The plot is absolutely ludicrous and has more than enough holes to fill the Albert Hall to overflowing. Thankfully, this abomination sank without a trace, however, a bottom-feeding friend of mine found a VHS copy in a bargain bin for 99 cents (WAY overpriced) and sent me a copy without having viewed it himself. I can't hold that against him, but at least I can warn anyone who's reading this to save your time and money and if it's "Dog Soldiers" you want, well there's this nifty little horror film by that name directed by the same gentleman who brought us the uber-eerie "The Descent" last year. This ranks right down there along with "Caddyshack" as perhaps the worst movie I've ever wasted time on in my life, although I do have to admit that "LOTD" contained more laughs.
