The Last Hard Men (1976)

After escaping from a prison chain gang with several other prisoners, a convict (James Coburn) sets out for revenge on the lawman (Charlton Heston) who was responsible for capturing him. The retired ranger spreads the news of a gold shipment as bait to re-capture his nemesis but Coburn kidnaps Heston's daughter (Barbara Hershey) instead. A bleak, unpleasant western. Effective and at times exciting, yes but brutal. The violence is in your face and there's a thoroughly repulsive elongated rape sequence. Heston is one of the most imposing of screen actors and it takes a strong actor to make us believe someone can be a genuine threat to him. Coburn, in his most despicable bad guy role, rises to the occasion. This is one guy you don't want to mess with. The Arizona locations are nicely captured in wide screen Panavision by Duke Callaghan (CONAN THE BARBARIAN). The film score is credited to Jerry Goldsmith but, in fact, it's not an original score but a piecemeal score accumulated by taking tracks from other Goldsmith film scores and piecing them together. Directed by westerns veteran Andrew V. McLaglen. With Michael Parks, Jorge Rivero, Larry Wilcox, Thalmus Rasulala and Christopher Mitchum, exhibiting none of his father Robert's charisma or talent.