MovieChat Forums > The Last Wagon (1956) Discussion > I'm confused

I'm confused

posted 19 years ago by janniklindquist
12 replies | jump to latest

I'm confused about the Harper brothers. At the trial at the end of the movie we learn that Todd is accused of having murdered four people - the Harper brothers. It would seem natural to conclude that the four people he kills in the first part of the movie are, then, the Harper brothers. The sherif that catches him introduces himself to the leader of the wagon train as "Sherif Harper" and later tells the "christers" of the wagon train that Todd has killed three of his brothers. Obviously, then, Sherif Harper is one of the brothers. Timothey Carey - who is one of the men pursuing Todd - is billed as "Cole Harper" on IMDb and Allmovie. He is not credited in the movie, though, and the name Cole isn't mentioned. I assume the information is from the original short story, then.
However, if the three other deputies are his brothers, they obviously can't be chasing him because he is wanted for the murder of them! Sherif Harper later tells the obnoxious Ridge that he doesn't want to hang Todd because there's a thousand dollar reward on him. For what? Why didn't the sherif just kill Harper when he had the chance?
The most simple answer seems to be that the sherif and Cole are the only Harpers left as the movie begins and the two other men are just anonymous deputies. In that case it is rather odd that the deputies are not mentioned in the charge against Todd at the end of the movie!

[–] 19 years ago

[deleted]

[–] Mitch-228 16 years ago

I came onto IMDb, having just watched the film for the first time in many years, to seek an answer to the question which you have raised.

Strange that the storyline did not make this clear ...

A well-made, thoroughly entertaining film, nonetheless, even if the ending is a little corny!

[–] Gloede_The_Saint 15 years ago

It's an incredibly thin story already (surviving fall, no evidence in court, etc.) I suppose he could have tried to kill them or that the first horserider was shot some time before the rest and it only seems like it's within the ame hour or so because of bad plottong/editing.

Somebody here has been drinking and I'm sad to say it ain't me - Allan Francis Doyle

[–] mail-2775 14 years ago

I think your confusion is justified and you are entirely correct. I didn't pick up on that myself, I just kind of accepted him as a wanted man, but now that you pointed it out, it is wrong and I am surprised the writers didn't notice and wrote it that way.

[–] toshguy 14 years ago

Maybe I wasn't paying close enough attention, but this is what I got: The Harper brothers had raped and killed Todd's wife and then his two sons. One of the brothers just happened to be a sheriff. Todd killed three of them and the fourth (the sheriff) caught up with him. Then Todd axed him. It does seem out of character for the brother not kill him right off, but given the backround that he's a ruthless sadist who kills children, it's believable that he'd prefer to torture Todd and want to collect the money on his head, even though it's because of his dead brothers.

I'm here, Mr. Man, I can not tell no lie and I'll be right here 'till the day I die

[–] tesab-1 12 years ago

The wagon train people would not have known about the deputy he killed unless the sheriff told them, which is not done in the movie. Who else would know of this murder with which to charge him at the trial, then?

[–] Jason_Radley 11 years ago

My solution is that he does indeed kill all four Harpers, but the shooting right at the start happens sometime before the other Harpers began tracking him down to avenge their brother and/or collect the reward now on his head. If I'm correct, the confusion arises because these two separate happenings appear to be a continuous sequence of events, divided as they are only by the opening titles.

[–] chaosdogglet 11 years ago

I had the same confusion and came to the same conclusion; not least because the soldiers (who never met the Sheriff) are also hunting Todd. So there must have been a 'wanted' notice out for at least the first brother, the one shot at the river. I have a lot of quibbles with the script, not least that Todd goes out without a horse, hat or spare ammo, and most unusually, the guy he shoots doesn't have a shell belt either that he can raid for spare bullets. It's a bit of a kid's film, but I still like it.

[–] baran_erik 9 years ago

I don't see this as a kids movie at all. A lot of killing, knifing and shooting, and showing the dead little girl? Not stuff you'd be taking your kids to see in 1956. Now, that's not to say it was kind of typical of period pieces made in the 50s. Three days on the run in the desert and his clothes are clean and he looks as if he just got out of the barber's chair, not a hint of stubble, his hair combed and sprayed throughout the film. Even with all that killing, there's little to no blood. A little on his shoulder from the Sheriff's slug, but nothing on him after knifing the two Apaches. Not a mark on his wrists after wearing the manacles for at least a week straight. Billy "loving" Todd, an admitted killer, almost right after meeting him. Typical for old movies. Not a bad movie and it's pretty violent for it's day, but still rather sanitized and hokey.

[–] wirenwit 8 years ago

I suspect the answers are on the cutting room floor. Perhaps the editors wanted a simpler story so they cut out most of the Harper part of the tale.

[–] MAGolding (1240) 7 years ago

Probably the two (?) deputies are not mentioned in the charges against Comanche Todd because the kids never heard about them and neither they nor Todd would want to add to the charges against Todd.

I guess the four guilty Harper brothers (there may have been other, innocent Harper brothers involved in the story) went somewhere hundreds of miles from white law, like the Staked Plains in dangerous Comanche territory before the Comanche were put on the reservation after the Red River War of 1874-1875. Why is not explained. Maybe the Harpers were comancheros which would be a point in Todd's favor. Sheriff Harper either took a long leave of absence from his sheriff job or else didn't get the job until he reached Arizona.

Anyway, the Harper's found Todd's place and raped and murdered his wife and his little sons, and shot Comanche Todd and left him for dead. Comanche Todd recovered and tracked them for hundreds of miles through Texas, New mexico, and Arizona to the town Harper was the sheriff of. At or near the town Todd may have murdered zero, one, two or three Harper brothers. Sheriff Harper may have captured Todd who may have been tried and convicted and sentenced to hang, I'm not sure.

If jailed, Todd escaped and went east. Sheriff Harper convinced the territorial government, then in Tuscon, to put a thousand dollar reward for capturing Todd and then set out for revenge and profit. Maybe Sheriff Harper arranged Todd's escape and the reward so that Todd would not have much of a head start.

Sheriff Harper started chasing Todd with a posse of at least three other men that included zero, or one, or two, or three Harper brothers beside him - the men that Todd killed at the beginning.