The Last Valley |  | Director: James Clavell
Actors: Michael Caine, Omar Sharif, Florinda Bolkan, Nigel Davenport, Per Oscarsson
Studio: MGM (Video & DVD)
Category: DVD
List Price: $14.98
Buy New: $4.97
as of 11/21/2009 17:01 CST details
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Rating:  45 reviews
Format: Color, DVD, Letterboxed, Subtitled, Widescreen, NTSC
Languages: English (Original Language), French (Original Language), English (Subtitled), Spanish (Subtitled), French (Subtitled)
Rating: PG (Parental Guidance Suggested)
Region: 1
Aspect Ratio: 2.35:1
Number Of Discs: 1
Running Time: 128 Minutes
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1
Dimensions (in): 7.4 x 5.4 x 0.6
MPN: 1006382
ISBN: 0792860527
UPC: 027616905826
EAN: 9780792860525
Theatrical Release Date: January 28, 1971
Release Date: May 25, 2004
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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| Features:
| • | From acclaimed writer James Clavell (Shogun) comes this stirring war epic starring Oscar® winner* Michael Caine as a soldier who knows nothing but battle until he rediscovers the possibility of love. Co-starring Omar Sharif, this powerful film is both a magnificent spectacle and an intensely personal story of love, friendship and loss. The Thirty Years War rages through 17th-century Germany, |
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Product Description
From acclaimed writer James Clavell (Shogun) comes this stirring war epic starring Oscar® winner* Michael Caine as a soldier who knows nothing but battle until he rediscovers the possibility of love. Co-starring Omar Sharif this powerful film is both a magnificent spectacle and an intensely personal story of love friendship and loss.The Thirty Years War rages through 17th-century Germany and a fierce captain (Caine) lays waste to any village his army encounters. But when he arrives in an undisturbed valley where he meets a beautiful peasant girl long-dead memories of peace and happiness are reawakened. Inevitably though the war is closing in. Will he heed its call or fight for the new life he has found?System Requirements: Running Time 126 MinFormat: DVD MOVIE Genre: WESTERN/MISC. Rating: PG UPC: 027616905826 Manufacturer No: 1006382
Amazon.com
James Clavell's heartfelt film of paradise found and lost in the midst of the bloody Thirty Years War, a senseless religious conflict long since degenerated into a rabble of looters preying on peasants, is a triumph of passion over style. Michael Caine stars as the Captain, a happily tolerant leader whose army of mercenaries, a mix of Protestants and Catholics, murders, pillages, and rapes side by side for whatever faction is paying more this month. Omar Sharif is Vogel, a lone refugee whose flight from the marauding band leads them all to a beautiful village in the mountains. The Captain and Vogel make an unlikely pair, the shrewd mercenary with the dream of peace, and the philosopher peasant hanging on to his own life in the face of certain death, and their alliance to preserve this Eden and her people stands in contrast to the soldiers who soon become splintered by greed, lust, and religious zealotry. Clavell isn't exactly subtle, but his sense of irony is biting: one Christian soldier is ready to lead an mob in righteous battle after a perceived blasphemer, and in the next scene attacks and rapes an innocent Christian maiden he's sworn to protect. The film falters in clumsy battle scenes and awkward dramatic staging, but Caine's complex characterization of the guarded Captain and Sharif's haunted performance keep the story alive, and the beautiful photography sets the film like a jewel into its setting. --Sean Axmaker
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| Customer Reviews:
Showing reviews 1-5 of 45
 Apart at the Seams November 11, 2009
Ron Braithwaite (El Indio, Texas United States)
'The Last Valley' is an intelligent film dealing with a seldom discussed period...the Thirty Years War...in which Germany became the battleground for virtually every disputed issue in Europe. The proximate cause was the Protestant Reformation with the strenuous and often lethal Catholic reaction. As the war...or wars...went on for years, the religious issues oftentimes became blurred by dynastic and other power issues. French, English, Spanish, Dutch and Swedish armies ravaged Germany. Half the population died of warfare and plague. Horror produced tsunammis of superstition and tens of thousands were hanged, burned, mutilated as witches.
'The Last Valley' is just that...the last valley in Germany not yet utterly devastated by war. All that is about to change when 'The Captain's' [Michael Caine's] gang of mercenary marauders chances on the hapless populace. The war has gone on so long that Caine is not only known as only 'The Captain' but he may have actually forgotten his original name. Like all of his men, he is brutal, but unlike the rest of them, he is intelligent. The Burgomeister [Omar Shariff] of the town/valley knows that his people are doomed so he makes a Faustian bargain with the 'Captain'. "Don't devastate the Valley. Over-Winter, here, and protect it. We, the people of this valley will provide for your men...food, women, shelter.
One of 'The Captain's' men protests that such a deal is against military/religious/political precedent. 'The Captain' answers him by thrusting his picklehaubed, pointed helmet into his guts. 'The Captain' has made his decision. This film, which is a 'small' film and never got nearly the credit it deserved, is a genuine classic. Perhaps the most memorable line of the movie is uttered by the Captain when asked about his belief in witchcraft. His reply is one of harrowing belief and profound cynicism. A wonderful film.
Ron Braithwaite, author of novels on the Spanish Conquest of Mexico...'Skull Rack' and 'Hummingbird God.'
 I've seen more empathetic Godzilla movies July 29, 2009
David Kelly (Petersburg, VA United States)
1 out of 3 found this review helpful
I have vague memories of this movie hitting the theaters and vanishing overnite. Given the credentials of the young and up and coming actors (who would go on to cenimatic Vahalla) the quick kill on this one was a mystery. That is until the DVD came back and everybody got a chance to revisit this Dudley Do Right production.
There's nothing historical or profound about this tripe. It's an incredibly muddled plot set vaguely in Europe, vaguely around the long forgot holocaust of the Thirty Years War.
Michael Caine gets seriously miscast as a German mercenary captain. His accent and pompousity is worthy of Monty Python. His only redeeming character is that he is the most reasonably dressed actor in the whole bloody movie.
Omar Sharif stumbles around looking like he's on a mescaline binge for the whole shoot.
It's so pathetic that it's actually cruelly entertaining. I'm sure it's Caine's favourite movie (roflmao).
atmospheric and well done July 6, 2009
Arnold Cusmariu
If you're used to Michael Caine cracking jokes or doing a 007 imitation in glasses, get ready for something completely different in this excellent but rather loose adaptation of the J.B. Pick novel (which has a different ending, though no less tragic). One wishes Caine had done a better job with the German accent, or just skipped it altogether. Still, he is eminently believable as the leader of a band of soldiers getting a much needed break from war in a valley that must have seemed like paradise indeed when they stumbled on it. Florinda Bolkan is lovely and the rest of the cast is excellent. Check it out.
30 Years War April 20, 2009
James D. Crabtree (Guantanamo Bay, Cuba)
Interesting film. It attempts to convey the chaos of the war (which is almost impossible to do in such a small snapshot) and the film starts out with a scene which is almost a 1600s version of Mad Max. Not quite the same thing but as the story line develops it gives a more complete picture of the dynamics of the war. The offensive at the end of the film really doesn't make it clar as to WHY the Captain feels he has to go back to the war, but mostly the plot makes sense.
Michael Caine and Omar Sharif put in good performances and have an excellent supporting cast. The constumes are great. The music is OK, although you almost expect it to sudden;y lurch into a sixties protest song.
A lovely movie March 27, 2009
Margaret Perrott (Australia)
This is my favourite movie of all time - a love story, action and the best musical score. Excellent actors and ingenious plot and an unexpected ending. I could watch this movie over and over!
Showing reviews 1-5 of 45
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