Do you wish Alice and Uncas' love story was delved into more?

I agree with you. I love Eric Schweig and I loved him as Uncas. I do think that maybe Michael Mann wanted to go further, you know. I think there were many things in the script that he wanted to follow, but there's the time limit, so he had to choose. As Madeleine Stowe and Day-Lewis were like, more of main characters and they were more well-known, for sure, their love story was the main thing. I don't believe that Alice was so in love with Uncas. If you check this board, you'll see that there are many topics about the reason Alice jumped or Alice & Uncas thing. IMO: Alice was young, naive and didn't know how the world worked. So, she got scared and realized the seriousness of the situation and the war. Uncas, I think, thought she was pretty and was interested in her, but not so in loooove. But yes, I think he went to save her alone because he had feelings for her. But I think Alice jumped because she thought Uncas was the only one to save her and he died for her. So, I think she feared Magua and wanted to be free. I don't think she jumped entirely because of Uncas, but yes, it was one of the main reasons. Also, I don't know if you checked out the trivia here, but apparently, there weren't any love scenes between Jhodi and Eric because Jhodi was a minor and her mother was in the set and wouldn't let be any love scenes between them (so, blame her too!). But I get your point, I wanted more love scenes as well. It didn't have to be much, just like three minutes more. Like a scene of them talking, glancing at each other, laughing, hugging, I don't know. A kiss scene wasn't needed, just more interaction. I love interracial relationships. I think it's awesome. So, yes, it would've been great. Just a question, the scene after Cora, Alice and Duncan are attacked, when the mohicans help them in the beginning of the movie, they're climbing the waterfall and like, they shoot Uncas face, like he's supposed to be looking at Alice, is that it? Is he really looking at her? Because they shoot him and then Alice, but it doesn't seem that they're looking at each other, as you don't see Jhodi's face.

I actually kind of liked the way they handled Uncas and Alice for two reasons. First of all, it leaves everything to the imagination. Secondly, that's how the relationship between Cora and Uncas was portrayed in the novel. (For those who haven't read it, in the novel, Uncas has a thing for Cora.) It mentions here and there that he will hold a lingering look on Cora, he saves her life earlier on in the novel, and at the end he gives his all to try and save her from Magua, going off ahead like he does in the film to save Alice. There's no dialogue between them that shows anything is developing, we don't really even know how Cora feels, but we do know how Uncas feels. I don't know. I prefer the ambiguity.



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I agree with the OP, and think Alice did love him back, she just didn't realise till the end. I always got that from her acting when he is being maimed by Magua. The acting from all is just superb, the Academy nominates some garbage these days, and it seems like the lack of awareness of these actors at the time made them not popular enough. I believe Magua, Hawk-Eye, Cora and Alice at least should all have been nominated for major awards.

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I was mildly obsessed with with The Last of the Mohicans for years because of the Uncas/Alice suplot, I'm really of to minds as to the way it was handled. While part of me would have loved to see the romance more devolped, I can't help but love the way it was done, because the other characters where oblivious to what was obvious to the viewer. which made me at least feel a connected to Uncus and Alice in a way that I didn't feel for Hawkeye and Cora or any other character. Their feelings for one another always seemed to me all the more impactful for the silence. I think it's what makes the clffs scene so powerful in the end, with the two of them lying next to each other. and the behind the waterfall scene is to this day my favorite all time movie scene.

Having seen the movie and read the original script online, it's pretty clear that Alice is a total basket case and jumps because she is not strong enough to survive everything that has happened to her. I think Uncas, having taken the role of her protector, was her one line to sanity that, with his death, was gone.

There's even that line in that original script, after they have made love, where Uncas is about to jump through the waterfall and looks to her to say farewell and she doesn't even register him or look back - she's completely off in her own world and not connected to him at all. So in my opinion she's totally lost it, and hasn't necessarily formed any kind of real bond with Uncas.

I also get the impression, from that script, that she was very naive and overly romantic about things - I think in part she jumped because she felt like she was supposed to jump, because that's what you do when the prince dies for you in the storybooks.

Uncas is noble and kind and had taken it upon himself to look after her. I DO believe there was an affection between them, and we are definitely meant to believe that he cared very much for her. I think this got marginalized too much in the movie, if only because it's absolutely necessary to understand why he goes off on this suicide mission, instead of waiting for his father and brother, which really could have changed the whole outcome. He was definitely acting a little irrationally, and we have to believe there was some love there for that to happen. But the director decided to make the movie about Hawkeye and Cora, and not much else.

Honestly, to listen to the directors commentary, or the interviews on the dvd, he barely even says Uncas or Alice's name. He talks almost exclusively about politics and history, Hawkeye and Cora. Uncas and Alice are barely on his radar, even though they're pivotal to the finale. So it's clear where his head was.

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The first time I saw the movie, and I've seen it a lot because it's one of my favs, I remember thinking I wish they'd done more with Uncas and Alice.
I also related to them more than Hawkeye and Cora and felt there was actually more chemistry between them, even in their limited interactions.
Maybe it's because I thought Eric Schweig was hot idk.

I found that the ambiguous and subtle nature of their romance just made it better. We get to see a glimpse here and there, a look, a gesture, a word, just enough to realize that they have feelings for one another. And in the end we get the bittersweet reward of witnessing just how deep those feelings run.

The producers were spot on. This love story played out in 1757, between a traumatized girl and an Indian boy, both inexperienced in matters of the heart. Neither of them even realized the feelings they had towards one another in the midst of all the violence and chaos. So why would we be shown more then they knew?