The last of the Mohicans: the movie.

[alexandral]

I am watching "The last of the Mohicans". (I had to check it up as I have heard so many good things about it). So far very good in a "movie that will make your rainy day better" way and quite different form the book which I remember to revolve more around war and Uncas and his father than around romance. It is STILL all about white people but I really like Hawkeye. And it is sweeping-epic gorgeous! I am looking forward to making some icons from this!



It has been a while since I have read the book – it was actually in our school program reading for the "Literature" class. I remember discussing at a very great length how evil white invaders wiped off the whole population of Indians by making them fight against each other. And that Uncas died and the future of the whole nation died with him. BUT!!! I don't remember anything serious between Cora and Hawkeye. I must have forgotten this completely – was their kissing scene in the book?????????????????

Anyways, this is such a pretty and wonderfully romantic scene:




PS I have to go to the dentist this afternoon - I am not overly happy about this. :D

Comments

[baleanoptera.livejournal.com]

The film alters quite a few things, and doesn't follow the book very closely.

Still - this is one of my favourite films. The music, the cast, the cinematography is all so gorgeous. The last 15 minutes of the film are, to me at least, of epic proportions. Lastly Magua is a very good villain - by which I mean he is actually intelligent, scary and you can sort of understand him. This makes him truly fascinating.

I take it you haven't seen the whole movie yet? Because this is one movie I do not want to spoil you for. ;)

And if you make icons from this film I will love you forever. :D

[winterspel.livejournal.com]

I have to second everything in this comment. It's one of my favorite films, I adore it beyond words. (I can't stand the book! This 1992 film is more based on the 1936 version rather than on the novel itself.)

Since I'm assuming you're watching the UK DVD, which was never butchered (http://www.mohicanpress.com/mo06036.html) the way the North American version was, I can rest easy that you're actually watching the original theatrical film. :)

And if you make icons from this film I will love you forever. :D

Me, too! In my scouring of LJ, I've only come up with one icon-maker who makes LotM icons that I like, so more icons would be a very, very good thing. :)

[alexandral.livejournal.com]

EEEEEEE! I finished it yesterday!!!!!

The film alters quite a few things, and doesn't follow the book very closely.

I could just picture Hawkeye and Cora living in a cabin in the woods together. :D

Still - this is one of my favourite films. The music, the cast, the cinematography is all so gorgeous. The last 15 minutes of the film are, to me at least, of epic proportions.

I loved the film and agree with everything you say. I also understand why everyone recommends it as a pick-up movie. It has far less tragic and even rather hopeful ending. This is why I think the creators changed Cora's love-interest to be Hawkeye.

Lastly Magua is a very good villain - by which I mean he is actually intelligent, scary and you can sort of understand him. This makes him truly fascinating.

Hmm, I did think Magua came across rather like a usual breed of Indian scalp-snatcher (very deceitful betrayer), but again, I have a big BIG bee in my bonnet concerning the way the history of the fall of Native Americans is normally portrayed, beginning with Inca's conquest by Spanish and ending with the Thanksgiving day. I really would like to see a film one day which will explain the fall of Native American's tribes and the role of the white people in it.

I take it you haven't seen the whole movie yet? Because this is one movie I do not want to spoil you for. ;)

Hee! I check the ending usually BEFORE I start watching any film on DVD. ;D

And if you make icons from this film I will love you forever. :D

Oh, gosh, now that I promised I am worried if they will turn out to be good..

[the-reverand.livejournal.com]

I've always wanted to see this but simply never have. I caught a few seconds of it on TV the other day... Madeline Stowe looking lost in the woods and then slipping a gun into the folds of her dress... and I was thinking: those dresses had pockets!? Anyway, I didn't want to watch it from the middle.

Hey! I have 3-Iron at home waiting for me!

[alexandral.livejournal.com]

I've always wanted to see this but simply never have. I caught a few seconds of it on TV the other day... Madeline Stowe looking lost in the woods and then slipping a gun into the folds of her dress... and I was thinking: those dresses had pockets!? Anyway, I didn't want to watch it from the middle.

It is lovely! It also had some horses, but not too many. :D I try not to spoil anything but it is a wonderful feel-good film (and so different to the book which is may be one of the saddest books in the history). I did consider a question of pockets – hmm, interesting! They used to store their hunkies on their bosoms, right?

Hey! I have 3-Iron at home waiting for me!

I hope you like it!!!!!!!!

[dangermousie.livejournal.com]

I happen to like the book, and not the movie. Cooper is, of course, white-centric, but he is quite sympathetic to the Indians, for someone of his time. And in any event, the bookis set during the French and Indian War, the goal of which was not for evil whites to get Indians to wipe each other out, but for the French and English to settle their differences on yet another theater of operations (French and Indian War is the name for the North American subset for the Seven Years War which was conducted in Europe, some historians argue this was the first true world war).

At this point, all the powers were concerned about was the other European powers in NA, and Indians interested them only insofar as they could help them kick the British or French (depending on who you were) out. It was very much before the huge expansion that followed Lewis and Clark etc and portions of NA inhabited by whites were very small.

OK, this said, the main reason I do not care for the movie is because it completely changes the plot of the book. Don't like the story, write your own, don't keep nothing from te book and call it LotM.

In the book, Hawkeye is an old man (the age of Uncas' father). The main 'lovebirds' of the book are Duncan (the British officer) and Alice (the younger, blonde daughter). Cora also likes Duncan but he always loved Alice, so no go, there. Uncas ends up falling for Cora. Hawkeye, clearly, doesn't have any sexy scenes, as that would be more senior citizen sex and not hunky DDL disrobing. Cooper did write a book about young Hawkeye, in fact LotM is somewhat in the middle of the Leatherstocking Tales, and in that book Hawkeye had an OTP, but I think the book was called Pathfinder (I read it a long time ago) and has nothing in common with this.

This book was actually unusual for a time, because it had bad Indians (Magua is a very Victorian villain) but also noble and good ones (Uncas, Chingachgook) and its ideas that 'miscegenation' can produce noble people was also rather novel. Cora's father is very explicit about his love and pride in her, and Cora is clearly the stronger of the sisters. And Duncan makes very clear that it's not because of the race thing that he is not in love with Cora, but because he just prefers Alice. The trope of two sisters, the older one very strong and intelligent and the younger fragile, and the hero falling for the latter, is a very common Victorian trope (see Woman in White by Wilkie Collins) and says a lot about what people of the time found desirable in women, but I don't find it a huge flaw, just a thing of its time.

Anyway, this is getting novel length itself.

[runriggers.livejournal.com]

I have the book, but haven't read it - its on my too-read list like so many others. Best scene in the movie was when Hawkeye was leaving Cora at the waterfall - that is such a powerful scene.

As for Hawkeye being an older man in the book - this is Hollywood - they need a young hunk to bring in the crowds, so of course they had to make him younger.

An interesting aside - the actor who played Uncas - is actually Inuit.

[alexandral.livejournal.com]

Thank you so much for your information!!! YOU ARE SO AWESOME! I love my friends list!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I happen to like the book, and not the movie. Cooper is, of course, white-centric, but he is quite sympathetic to the Indians, for someone of his time.

To be fair, this is true. It is a bit like "North and South"-the-book. We can't really look at these books out of the historical context they are written in.

OK, this said, the main reason I do not care for the movie is because it completely changes the plot of the book. Don't like the story, write your own, don't keep nothing from te book and call it LotM.

I am inclined to agree with you on this. I really liked the movie so this makes me a little biased but in general the changes of this size are not something I feel comfortable with. (At least the creators of such massive changes could have kept Uncas alive and made him fall in love with Alice!!!!!!!! :D). But at the same time I loved the film so I am letting this go. :D

Hawkeye, clearly, doesn't have any sexy scenes, as that would be more senior citizen sex and not hunky DDL disrobing.

This line is really funny.

Cooper did write a book about young Hawkeye, in fact LotM is somewhat in the middle of the Leatherstocking Tales, and in that book Hawkeye had an OTP, but I think the book was called Pathfinder (I read it a long time ago) and has nothing in common with this.

Actually I think I have read it too (it sounds familiar), and another Cooper's book of which I don't remember the name (but it had a British guy living in a house in a middle of the lake) . But I really found his writing boring..

This book was actually unusual for a time, because it had bad Indians (Magua is a very Victorian villain) but also noble and good ones (Uncas, Chingachgook) and its ideas that 'miscegenation' can produce noble people was also rather novel.

** nods ** I think sadly the story of Cora's heritage is not shown really much in the film version..

The trope of two sisters, the older one very strong and intelligent and the younger fragile, and the hero falling for the latter, is a very common Victorian trope (see Woman in White by Wilkie Collins) and says a lot about what people of the time found desirable in women, but I don't find it a huge flaw, just a thing of its time.

To some extent this happens in our day too – I find it quite interesting that men still like this in women..

[ancarett]

It's one of those movies which you have to watch on the understanding that it has nothing to do with the book. But it's pretty, it does a pretty good job of showing some of the issues at stake in the 18th century Americas and it has wonderful, wonderful music. (I can actually stomach something being untrue to the literature more readily than untrue to history and so I'm not as annoyed by this movie as I am, say, by "Braveheart".)

And Daniel Day-Lewis is so very pretty as Hawkeye, here, it beggars the imagination, doesn't it?

[bzoppa.livejournal.com]

and it has wonderful, wonderful music

One of my favorite soundtracks! I believe I'm now inspired to work to the music today. Yup! Think I'll put in the CD.

[queenofthorns.livejournal.com]

being untrue to the literature

Especially when the "literature" in question is James Fenimore Cooper - a very minor talent (AT BEST!) and probably more historically important than stylistically important, I think. (IOW, he ain't no Melville. Or Poe. Or Hawthorne.)

[alexandral.livejournal.com]

It's one of those movies which you have to watch on the understanding that it has nothing to do with the book. But it's pretty, it does a pretty good job of showing some of the issues at stake in the 18th century Americas and it has wonderful, wonderful music. (I can actually stomach something being untrue to the literature more readily than untrue to history and so I'm not as annoyed by this movie as I am, say, by "Braveheart".)

I usually don't like any major changes to the literature but I am inclined to let it go in this case because I enjoyed the film a great deal. :D But normally it grates me – my thoughts are that if the script-writer feels so creative he can as well write an original script and NOT change the book. Plus it can cause some confusion for the future book readers..

And Daniel Day-Lewis is so very pretty as Hawkeye, here, it beggars the imagination, doesn't it?

Surely this makes all the difference. :D

And the soundtrack is AMAZING!!!!!!

[bzoppa.livejournal.com]

I have nothing to add that anyone's already said. However, I will pipe up because this is one of my favorite movies of all time. When I was moving in and unpacking, I must have played it about three times.

I bought a copy of the book but since it's like the 2nd or 3rd in the Natty Bumpo series I never read it. (I hate reading things out of order, even if it's "allowed.") I'm getting conflicting chronology from fantasticfiction.co.uk and wikipedia—and there's so much else I have to read that I haven't worked my way through it.

One movie marathon day, I made a friend of mine watch The Power of One, The Last of the Mohicans, and A Room with a View. When I pointed out that Cecil Vyse was Daniel Day-Lewis (and we watched it right after Mohicans) she was quite stunned. One of my favorite transformations.

Daniel Day-Lewis is so f'ing hot in that movie. I also think Mohicans is what made me love long hair on girls, Stowe's hair is awesome in this. I was quite obsessed with her for a while.

[alexandral.livejournal.com]

I have nothing to add that anyone's already said. However, I will pipe up because this is one of my favorite movies of all time. When I was moving in and unpacking, I must have played it about three times.

Such a gorgeous, fabulous movie!! I am glad that you and the others kept talking about it! I am so glad that I have watched it!!!!!

One movie marathon day, I made a friend of mine watch The Power of One, The Last of the Mohicans, and A Room with a View. When I pointed out that Cecil Vyse was Daniel Day-Lewis (and we watched it right after Mohicans) she was quite stunned. One of my favorite transformations.

OMPH! If haven't told me – I would have never realized this!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Daniel Day-Lewis is so f'ing hot in that movie. I also think Mohicans is what made me love long hair on girls, Stowe's hair is awesome in this. I was quite obsessed with her for a while.

Hee! This film made me change my opinion on long hair in men, for one thing! I never used to like them! It also looks like DDL has his OWN hair but I guess it is an optical illusion!

[queenofthorns.livejournal.com]

I find James Fenimore Cooper - the author of the book - virtually unreadable (although I did, this summer, read a lengthy biography of his father :P) I think his prose style is kind of awful and I would NOT recommend that you read this one again if you've forgotten it (but yes, in the book, it's Uncas and Cora (thanks dangermousie) and of course, it cannot end well because white girl/Native American man, no, no, no!)

I think I remember finding DDL very hot in this movie but not loving the movie so much - but I can't remember why :P

[alexandral.livejournal.com]

HEEE! One of the things I DO rememeber is that I didn't like Cooper's prose AT ALL. I have read two or three of his books, I think - "Pathfinder". I think my father was a fan of his books and we had some around the house (These were the times when I read everything around the house) .

[lage-nom-ai.livejournal.com]

As I was just saying over on lesbiassparrow's LJ, I've taught this book a few times and undergrads LOVE it!

I do disagree with dangermousie a bit, though, in that I see it as very anti-miscegenistic--Natty, our hero, is repeatedly described as, and boasts of, how he's a "man without a cross" (religious as well as blood!) Also, there are hints of miscegentation in how Cora is described... and it goes less well for her in the novel.

I CANNOT wait for icons!!! :D

[bzoppa.livejournal.com]

How necessary is reading the book in order with the rest of the series?

Also: I'm getting conflicting reports about the chronology. I know he wrote some as prequels, but I figure I can't go wrong with reading them in the order they were published. Unfortunately, <http://www.fantasticfiction.co.uk/c/james-fenimore-cooper/">fantasticfiction.co.uk gives me Pioneers/Prairie/Mohicans/Deerslayer/Pathfinder, while wikipedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leatherstocking) orders the publication as Pioneers/Mohicans/Prairie/Pathfinder/Deerslayer. I haven't really looked farther beyond that, but if you can clue me, that would be wonderful.

Thanks.

[alexandral.livejournal.com]

One of the main things I remember about Cooper's books (and here I second queenofthorns ) that I found his way of writing very difficult and uninteresting. I may be found some of his story lines themselves interesting but not his prose. "The Last of the Mohicans" is one of the major books that was taught in school and this didn't help neither.

Actually, now that dangermousie reminded it, I am rather inclined to think that the way they changed Cora's beau from Uncas into Hawkeye is connected to some racially-related issues... But no, the film is still gorgeous!

[savepureness.livejournal.com]

All right. You should know something: I needn't launch myself into commenting on this movie, as it makes the top ten list of my favourite movies ever. I've actually watched it more than 12 times, and I love everything about it: characters, actors, action, images, and mostly, soundtrack. Oh my. The Clannad I Will Find You song can make stoned shed tears, and the entire soundtrack is tearing your soul apart. I remember the first time I watched this movie, years ago. I couldn't stop crying, I needed a huge tissue supply, and I broke my own record for crying at a movie. I'm so glad you've watched it, really!

Oh, and about your question. Many things in the movie are quite different from those happening in the book. Actually, I found the book quite boring when comparated to the movie, but I guess it was focusing more on the traditions and customs of the Natives, than on the drama.

[alexandral.livejournal.com]

All right. You should know something: I needn't launch myself into commenting on this movie, as it makes the top ten list of my favourite movies ever.

EEEEEEEEE! This is another thing we have in common because at the end I LOVED the film to bits. I am contemplating getting my own DVD so that I can watch it on a rainy day. :D I cried when Alice died – her fragility was so beautifully drawn!

Oh my. The Clannad I Will Find You song can make stoned shed tears, and the entire soundtrack is tearing your soul apart.

It is very stirring, I agree. And romantic. And it has something of the beauty of the land in it!!!!!

I guess it was focusing more on the traditions and customs of the Natives, than on the drama.

I could have liked if the story of Uncas was a little bit better explored in the film, though! It could have been nice if he and Alice could fall in love with each other!

[meg-mucklebones.livejournal.com]

I really need to watch this movie. Some useless info: It was filmed near where I'm from, and after filming was over I went over to one of the locations and came upon a bloodied stretcher they had used. Ewww...

[alexandral.livejournal.com]

What a gorgeous place you live in!!!!!!!!! Absolutely fantastic!!! The film is wonderful - I can recommend it to anyone!!!

[chalicushu.livejournal.com]

Oh, I remeber watching this film 7 years ago. I liked it so much!
But best of all I liked the music from the movie: the one playing when Uncas is falling from the mountain. It was the first song I'd downloaded from the web ;))))))))

[alexandral.livejournal.com]

I adored the film, I wonder how did I miss it before! I think you this song is "I Will Find You" by Irish group Clannad and it just perfect. It was written specially for the film!!

[petzipellepingo.livejournal.com]

There are three (that I know of) icon makers for LOTM : naybob, ezzvaldez, and pervy_icons. And the 1992 film is very different than the novel but the BBC television series from 1972 (http://www.amazon.com/Last-Mohicans-TV-Miniseries/dp/B000KJTG0Q/ref=pd_bbs_sr_2/104-0002531-9426373?ie=UTF8&s=dvd&qid=1193076887&sr=1-2) very closely follows the novel by Cooper.

If you are interested in all things related to the film, go here (http://www.mohicanpress.com/) (if you are work, turn down the sound before clicking). It's a treasure house of all sorts of goodies. And you would make my day if you made some icons.

Btw, I have a copy of the original script and there was indeed a "love affair" between Uncas and Alice filmed but it never made it to the final copy.

[alexandral.livejournal.com]

Thank you very much for all the info (and encouragement!!!)

Btw, I have a copy of the original script and there was indeed a "love affair" between Uncas and Alice filmed but it never made it to the final copy.

It isn't a very long film and imagine that it could have been possible to "fit" this love story in. :D But it is great as it is - Alice is almost too fragile to live and I loved this depiction of her character. My only (small) niggling feeling is that I could have liked to see Uncas portrayed as more interesting character.

[ambergold.livejournal.com]

Chiming in depressingly late and with all the same comments, but this is one of my favorite movies of all time and completely blew me away the first time I saw it: such unabashed, unaltered passion, and the glorious blend of music, cinematography, Daniel Day-Lewis and history - did I mention Daniel Day-Lewis? the book is, well, decent but entirely different, they really have no relation at all to each other, and personally I think the movie overall is much better. And no, the kissing scene was most definitely NOT in the book, as everyone else said...:)

[alexandral.livejournal.com]

I fell in love with it too - and the visuals are probably one of the main reasons, it could have never been as gorgeous without the beauty of locations. AND MUSIC! SO WONDERFUL!