LGM Film Club, Part 244: The Last Command

As far as I know, there are no good movies about the Texas Revolution or Mexican War. It’s not surprising–you have to really squint to have anything interesting to say about the Texans who committed treason in defense of slavery and for most of film history, no one tried, just relying on tales of bravery and “fighting for our rights.” Same when you get to the Mexican War. An example of this is the 1955 film The Last Command, starring Sterling Hayden as Jim Bowie. He’s the big star here; it’s a huge paean to the hero Bowie, who in truth was a very huge scumbag and illegal slave trader. Richard Carlson plays William Travis as a big hot-head and Arthur Hunnicutt is typically frontier ridiculous as Davy Crockett. Ernest Borgnine shows up too and he improves whatever this is. This is the last film directed by Frank Lloyd. It’s not good. Mildly entertaining if you want something to roll your eyes at. Whole thing is streaming here, even if the title is wrong: