"The Last Frontier" is one of Anthony Mann's very best and yet least known westerns, beautifully shot in Cinemascope by William C. Mellor and with a fine cast headed by Victor Mature, Guy Madison, Robert Preston and, in one of her earliest roles, Anne Bancroft. Mature and co-star James Whitmore are trappers coaxed into becoming scouts for the Cavalry by Madison's decent captain. Preston is the martinet colonel who believes the only good Indian is a dead Indian and Bancroft is his young wife.
It was one of the last movies to deal with the Indian Wars but Mann treats the Indians with, if not quite respect, at least with their dignity intact making Preston the film's only real villain. It's a surprisingly intelligent picture although perhaps the film's biggest surprise is Mature delivering one of his best performances here and Mann handles the conflict between him and Preston with the same aplomb as he does between the cavalry and the Indians not to mention a very well developed sub-plot involving a sexual triangle between Mature, Preston and Bancroft. Now largely forgotten it deserves a much higher place in the Mann canon than it's received.
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