Last of the Dogmen

Last Of The Dogmen - PG (Carolco Pictures)

Last of the Dogmen...unknown to many to say the least. So to start off, maybe a little synopsis: This man, Lewis Gates, is a bounty hunter and he goes into the woods one night looking for some guys and he finds an arrow and blood everywhere. He goes to an anthropologist, Lillian Sloan, and she tells him it's a Cheyenne arrow and then they go into the woods and find a lost tribe of Cheyenne Indians. Sounds kind of stupid, but seeing as I'm going through a Western phase, I figured I had to see this modern day (or almost modern - 1995) Cowboys and Indians movie.

Let's start at the beginning because I really don't know how else to start, seeing as my opinions changed throughout the course of watching this movie. To start, I'd like to say that the script which these poor, poor actors had to read is horrendous. From the very beginning, I knew that this was going to be a bumpy ride. The dialogue between characters, in the beginning, is just stiff and uncomfortable. There is a particular scene in which the dialogue is so dreadful that watching it was like hearing nails on a chalkboard. The characters are awkward and one-dimensional and incredibly, utterly trite. Kurtwood Smith (the sheriff) is extremely melodramatic to the point where I thought I was watching a Hispanic soap opera. On top of all this stuff (for lack of a better word) is an awful narration done by Tom Berenger (Lewis Gates) that I absolutely hated.

Now, if you can make it past the beginning, you've made it over the hill. The overall story line is decent enough to keep you watching. When Barbara Hershey (Lillian Sloan) is introduced, we finally see an actor that we can watch without flinching. This is when the movie begins to turn around. Don't get me wrong, it's still riddled with over-used one-liners, but the acting picks up a bit and the dialogues between Berenger and Hershey are not so forced and seem more natural. After the meeting of our two main characters, I began to notice that although the antiquated comments kept flying, it seemed like the traditional male and female roles were switched. Berenger is the one who believes that there are Indians in the woods and Hershey is the typical male character trying to convince him that he's crazy and making snide comments all along the way, which proved to be a somewhat humorous situation. About an hour into the movie, you finally meet the Indians and this was my favorite scene from the whole thing; it was incredibly well done. After this reveal, the whole movie picks up: the acting becomes watchable, the characters develop, and the scenes change to a beautiful mountainous landscape. 

Towards the end, I was genuinely surprised to find myself standing in front of the television watching a good film. Although one is aware that the Indians are purposely charming to contrast the brutality of "the white man," I didn't mind because the movie was actually developing and becoming something more than an okay story. One of my favorite aspects of the whole feature is that towards the end, there are quite a few action sequences and they are believable. There is no single hero who wipes out thirty guys with guns...you can believe the whole thing; an aspect that I love in action movies. Then, during the final moments of the picture, I found myself laughing at jokes and cheering for the characters. I also began to find that the characters were slowly (very slowly) becoming incredibly endearing to me. As I said, I began to watch a good film.

To finish, I tremendously wish that the movie would have picked up quicker. If I had been reviewing the final thirty minutes, it would have gotten five stars. However, that didn't happen and unfortunately there are too many undesirable traits to be remembered from this picture. I also believe that if you were going to watch this, you need to be in the mood for this kind of film; if not, it would be extremely difficult to get through, as few people are attracted to Westerns today. An unfortunate beginning pulls down the story, but at least it ends well and the audience is left with what eventually becomes a genuinely good film.

Rating:

*** out of 5

Trailer for Last of the Dogmen