I love this movie. I love most of Michael Mann’s work (some of his latest stuff maybe not so much, Miami Vice and Blackhat were bland) but this one in particular I love. I liked the original novel(s), too, and of course a Hollywood-type movie can’t quite capture what goes on in a kid’s head when reading the adventure of Hawkeye, but The Last of the Mohicans is gritty, epic, dramatic and beautiful.
I grew up watching the theatrical cut on VHS, which has always been my preferred version. However, there’s a few things that work better in the Blu-ray version, such as the removal of Hawkeye’s response to Duncan on the river. I do wish Mann would have included this scene:
It’s the only scene from the expanded cut I thought worked better than in the theatrical version. If this scene was present, the Blu-ray would contain an almost perfect version. Such a missed opportunity since the DDC should have combined the best of both from the previous cuts. Hopefully the theatrical version will get a remastered release with the original stereo soundtrack someday
Absolutely agree with you on this scene… I doubt however that he’ll revisit the movie again… in Germany there isn’t even a BluRay release of the latest one, which is a bummer, too. Happy with the UK Bluray though, for now…
Trivia, by the way this is the original that Trevor Jones adapted to form the core motif of the score
He re-cut “Blackhat” according to how he would have originally preferred it. I posted the following short comment about the re-cut version over on the SLWB a while ago:
The director’s cut plays significantly better than the theatrical version - this is not just minor tweaking by Mann.
If you can turn a blind eye to the problems with the Hathaway character, then this is now a really great film oozing with Mann style. The problem with the Hathaway character is why is a computer hacker able to handle himself like a Navy SEAL? Happily the scene of him doing push-ups in prison has been removed.
“The last of the mohicans” (1992): My favourite all-time movie. When it came out, I watched it 6 times within 4 weeks in cinema. Having grown up with actors like Lex Barker or german Hellmut Lange as Hawkeye, this was in every aspect a far ahead of it’s time-movie. What a shame, it did not come up to the american success in germany (alltough our deep sympathie for indian characters since the Winnetou-novels). There were films like Bodyguard (!), which achieved bigger box-office here in early 1993. Later on there were rumors about a further J.F. Cooper-adaption for silver screen. I remember Emma Thompson beeing considered for a part in the press. Along came the series with Lee Horsley. They also speculatet in those days, a new version of Jules Verne’s “Courier of the czar” with Kevin Costner could be released. Still hoping a german bluray of “The last of the mohincans” will be published. Madeleine Stowe is once more so terrific. In 1978, she also starred in the “Deerslayer”-TV-Version next to Steve Forrest. Would be great to see this version on DVD, too.
