The Kiss – The Last of the Mohicans / Trevor Jones
The Last of the Mohicans
Chingachgook: “The frontier moves with the sun and pushes the Red Man of these wilderness forests in front of it until one day there will be nowhere left. Then our race will be no more, or be not us.”
Not knowing exactly where I want to go right now. No shortage of directions. I believe frizztext was commenting that he liked The Last of the Mohicans page – which always gives me cause to look things over again – and I inevitably see a lot that I want to fix or edit. I initially stopped working to the TLOTM page because it was getting so large (by my estimation). But I’ve gotten over that and will now add quite a bit more!
The Last of the Mohicans is a great movie and a huge favorite of many people. In fact, it almost seems to have it’s own fan club.
Many Visions …
Internet Movie Database (IMDB) says:
“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.”
There is much dissention among the fans about the 5 separate DVD versions of this film. Some applaud newer versions while others are mortified that some features, such as the removal of dialogue, has changed the movie from the original. I would question such changes myself and the Director’s Cut is one version that does precisely that – not that most of us would notice.
http://www.amazon.com/The-Last-Mohicans-Directors-Definitive/product-reviews/B000Y5CHIE
This raises the issue of Director’s Cuts in general – some, of which, improve a movie – while others seem to do the opposite. ‘More’ or ‘Less’ of something is not always a good idea.
DVD Talk has a superlative review of the Director’s Cut – (Thomas Spurlin, Staff Reviewer)
http://www.dvdtalk.com/reviews/45942/last-of-the-mohicans-directors-definitive-cut-the/
Existing Versions
1. The Last of the Mohicans: Director’s Definitive Cut Blu-ray 10/14/10
2. The Last of the Mohicans DVD Video 2/13/07
3. Last Of The Mohicans (DTS) DVD Video 1/11/01
4. The Last Of The Mohicans: Director’s Cut DVD Video 3/20/00
5. Last of the Mohicans DVD Video 1/4/00
Another interesting Mohicans anomaly is the abundance of ‘clips’ available on the net – some fairly lengthy – where you can watch most of the best scenes in the movie. I could easily devote a whole page to the numerous clips alone. I can only guess this has occurred due to the number of versions??
Lewis and Stowe
Duncan: “There is a war on. How is it you are headed west?”
Hawkeye: “Well, we kinda face to the north and real subtle-like turn left.”
Yes – can you imagine this vast frontier – ready to be explored – peopled only by a few natives – who were then sadly either swept aside or stomped on. I suppose some have done OK … but others …
I wonder what a “3 hour” version of Mohicans would be like? That would surely sounded crazy in 1992, but since then movies have gotten longer and longer, with many (most?) being over 2 hours long these days.
Costner’s extended version of ‘Dances with Wolves’ is 4 hour long!!
And you mention the music – extremely powerful and moving – by Trevor Jones. I was listening to the many different interpretations on You Tube – must be at least 20 or 30 versions on there. Great stuff.
Excellent post! I LOVE this film, this book by James Fenimore Cooper and Daniel Day Lewis. Well, shoot, I love the Indian scenes, the music, the scenery, the conflict between Royalist/French/Frontiersman/Native American dimensions. It was a wild, amazing time in 1752.