FOREMOST OF THE MOHICANS

          A quarter-century later, and still definitive.

          Michael Mann had an unlikely skill-set to direct the premiere version of the frontier romance etched on the national character. He had directed an episode of "Police Woman" and Manhunter (1986), the first film to feature that other great American literary hero, Hannibal Lecter. 

          To play Hawk-eye (a character inspired by real-life frontier hero Daniel Boone), Mann enlisted Daniel Day-Lewis, famous at that time for the artistic commitment he demonstrated in My Left Foot (1989). In that film, Day-Lewis convincingly portrayed Christy Brown, a spastic quadriplegic who became a painter, poet, and author. Mann's film required the same level of dedication with an essentially antithetical character.

          Prior to the making of Mann's vision, several other versions of James Fenimore Cooper's most famous tale dotted the cinematic landscape: A version in 1920 with Wallace Beery, one in 1936 with Randolph Scott, a BBC TV series in 1971, a 1977 incarnation with Steve Forrest. 

          For Mann's 1992 masterpiece, painstaking detail girds the film to a degree unique in movie history. The clothing, the weapons, the tools--according to a featurette which preceded the film in original videocassette release, even the canoes used in The Last of the Mohicans were constructed using traditional methods. 

          A Special Forces colonel at a survival training camp in Alabama was tasked with taking Day-Lewis, an English actor and son of a poet who had never fired weapons, and turn him into a person who could convincingly do the things required of his character. Such as load a black powder rifle on the run. 

          For those unfamiliar with the story, Chingachgook (Means), his son Uncas (Schweig), and his adopted son Hawk-eye help rescue the kidnapped daughters of a British colonel during the French and Indian War.

          As the treacherous scout, Magua, Wes Studi is perfectly cast. From the first moments that we see him wrapped quietly in the shadows, we know this guy has his own agenda.

          And he's not the only one. Steven Waddington plays a memorable suitor to the generally uninterested Cora Munro (Stowe), who also captures the attention of Hawk-eye. 

          Featuring unforgettable music and jaw-dropping cinematography, The Last of the Mohicans is a rousing action-packed adventure like no other. 

THE LAST OF THE MOHICANS

Starring Daniel Day-Lewis,

Madeleine Stowe, 

Russell Means,

Eric Schweig,

Jodhi May,

Steven Waddington,

Wes Studi

Directed by Michael Mann

Written by Michael Mann, Christopher Crowe

Based on the novel by James Fenimore Cooper

Runtime 112 minutes

Rated R

Stewart Kirby writes for