# The Last Sunset
**The Last Sunset** is a 1961 American Western directed by [Robert Aldrich](https://www.edgepedia.org/robert-aldrich), starring [Rock Hudson](https://www.edgepedia.org/rock-hudson), Kirk Douglas, and [Dorothy Malone](https://www.edgepedia.org/dorothy-malone), in which a Texas lawman pursues a fugitive across the Mexican border and the two join the same cattle drive while awaiting a showdown.[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/23262-THE-LASTSUNSET) It was produced by Kirk Douglas's Bryna Productions and distributed by Universal–International, with a screenplay by the formerly blacklisted writer Dalton Trumbo based on Howard Rigsby's 1957 novel *Sundown at Crazy Horse*.[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/23262-THE-LASTSUNSET)
| Key fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Director / writer | Robert Aldrich; screenplay by Dalton Trumbo from Howard Rigsby's novel *Sundown at Crazy Horse* (New York, 1957)[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/23262-THE-LASTSUNSET) |
| Cast | Rock Hudson (Dana Stribling), Kirk Douglas (Brendan O'Malley), Dorothy Malone (Belle Breckenridge), Joseph Cotten (John Breckenridge), Carol Lynley (Missy Breckenridge)[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/23262-THE-LASTSUNSET) |
| Production | Bryna Productions, Inc.; distributed by Universal–International; shot at Estudios Churubusco, Mexico City, and in Aguascalientes, Mexico[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/23262-THE-LASTSUNSET) |
| Working title | *Day of the Gun*[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/23262-THE-LASTSUNSET) |
| Release | Chicago opening 7 June 1961; copyright claimed by Bryna Productions 10 May 1961 (LP25014)[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/23262-THE-LASTSUNSET) |
| Format | 112 minutes, Eastman Color, sound, English[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/23262-THE-LASTSUNSET) |
| Music | Ernest Gold, with the song "Pretty Little Girl in the Yellow Dress" by Dimitri Tiomkin and Ned Washington[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/23262-THE-LASTSUNSET) |
## Spoilers
### Plot
The Texas lawman Dana Stribling (Rock Hudson) rides into Mexico in search of Brendan O'Malley ([Kirk Douglas](https://www.edgepedia.org/kirk-douglas)), who is wanted for the murder of Stribling's brother-in-law. O'Malley is working for John Breckenridge ([Joseph Cotten](https://www.edgepedia.org/joseph-cotten)), an alcoholic cattleman preparing to drive his herd across the border to the Texas town of [Crazy Horse](https://www.edgepedia.org/crazy-horse), and has been trying to resume an affair he had 16 years earlier with Breckenridge's wife, Belle (Dorothy Malone). Unable to serve his warrant in Mexico, Stribling signs on as trail boss, warning O'Malley that their showdown will come the moment they cross the border.[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/23262-THE-LASTSUNSET)
Shortly after the trek begins, Breckenridge is killed in a barroom brawl, and Stribling and O'Malley take over the drive, developing a grudging admiration for each other. Belle and Stribling fall in love, while O'Malley is pursued by Belle's teenaged daughter, Missy ([Carol Lynley](https://www.edgepedia.org/carol-lynley)). At the [Rio Grande](https://www.edgepedia.org/rio-grande), before crossing, the company celebrates; Missy dresses in one of her mother's gowns, and O'Malley, startled by her resemblance to the Belle of 16 years before, makes love to her. Belle then confronts him with the knowledge that Missy is his daughter. Shattered, O'Malley empties his pistol and permits Stribling to kill him in their showdown.[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/23262-THE-LASTSUNSET)
## Production
The film was made during a period when Aldrich was working outside Hollywood: the Harvard Film Archive describes it as the lone project he undertook in Mexico during his four-year exile from the United States, following his 1959 exit from a [Columbia Pictures](https://www.edgepedia.org/columbia-pictures) contract that had collapsed over *The Garment Jungle*.[2](https://harvardfilmarchive.org/calendar/the-last-sunset-2016-06/1) • [3](https://trailersfromhell.com/the-last-sunset/) According to the film historian Glenn Erickson, Aldrich was approached because his work was admired by Douglas's producer Edward Lewis, and Aldrich campaigned for the job with an enthusiastic letter to Douglas's Bryna company.[3](https://trailersfromhell.com/the-last-sunset/)
Portions of the film were shot in [Aguascalientes](https://www.edgepedia.org/aguascalientes), Mexico, with production at Estudios Churubusco in Mexico City, according to May and June 1960 *Hollywood Reporter* news items.[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/23262-THE-LASTSUNSET) Trumbo and Douglas had made headlines for breaking the [Hollywood blacklist](https://www.edgepedia.org/hollywood-blacklist) with *Spartacus* (1960); *The Last Sunset* fell in the middle of a run of four consecutive Douglas films from Trumbo scripts, between *Spartacus* and *Lonely Are the Brave*.[3](https://trailersfromhell.com/the-last-sunset/)
## Genre and critical reading
Critics have placed the film in the line of psychological westerns of the late 1950s and early 1960s. A *Sight and Sound* retrospective lists it alongside *The Left Handed Gun* (1958), *One-Eyed Jacks* (1960), and *The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance* (1962) as part of that era, which overlapped in time with the classic film noir period.[4](https://www.bfi.org.uk/sight-and-sound/features/psychological-western?pubDate=20250224) [The Criterion Collection](https://www.edgepedia.org/the-criterion-collection)'s essay "Noir on the Range" calls it "a torrid cross between a cattle drive western and a Sirk soap opera," in which incestuous passion grows out of a man's stunted romantic obsession with an idealized memory of youth.[5](https://www.criterion.com/current/posts/4278-noir-on-the-range) The Sirk connection is concrete: Malone and Hudson had starred together in [Douglas Sirk](https://www.edgepedia.org/douglas-sirk) melodramas, and reviewers have read the film as an attempt to transpose Sirkian melodrama into the Western genre.[6](https://cinemasojourns.com/2020/10/28/sturm-und-drang-under-western-skies/) • [7](https://videolibrarian.com/reviews/classic-film/the-last-sunset/)
The Harvard Film Archive's notes emphasize the film's visual style: a lyrical use of the arid Mexican landscape and an unusually expressive treatment of color, from violet night skies to Malone's salmon lips, building to what it calls one of the most stirringly edited climaxes of Aldrich's career.[2](https://harvardfilmarchive.org/calendar/the-last-sunset-2016-06/1) Other critics were cooler. Erickson judged that Douglas and Hudson "can't quite bring this all-star western fully to life," finding the direction short of thrills and the cattle drive weak compared with *Red River*.[3](https://trailersfromhell.com/the-last-sunset/) • [8](https://midwestfilmjournal.com/2021/10/12/kino-lorber-the-last-sunset/) On the review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes the film holds a 60% Tomatometer from five critics and a 59% audience score from more than 250 ratings.[9](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/10010147-last_sunset)
Aldrich himself dismissed the film. In a commentary track drawing on Alain Silver and James Ursini's 1995 Aldrich biography, the critic Nick Pinkerton notes that the director praised Hudson but otherwise complained that Douglas's control-freak tendencies, "Kirk was impossible," proved a significant hurdle.[7](https://videolibrarian.com/reviews/classic-film/the-last-sunset/)
## Home video
Kino Lorber released *The Last Sunset* on Blu-ray on 12 October 2021 under the title *El Perdido*, with a new 2K remaster, the theatrical trailer, and an audio commentary by Nick Pinkerton.[8](https://midwestfilmjournal.com/2021/10/12/kino-lorber-the-last-sunset/) • [10](https://www.blu-ray.com/movies/The-Last-Sunset-Blu-ray/109140/) An earlier Universal DVD release appeared in 2006 as part of the Rock Hudson Screen Legend Collection.[11](https://www.dvdtalk.com/dvdsavant/s2513last.html)
## References
1. [The Last Sunset (1961), AFI Catalog](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/23262-THE-LASTSUNSET)
2. [The Last Sunset, Harvard Film Archive](https://harvardfilmarchive.org/calendar/the-last-sunset-2016-06/1)
3. [The Last Sunset, Trailers From Hell (Glenn Erickson, 2021)](https://trailersfromhell.com/the-last-sunset/)
4. [The psychological western, Sight and Sound (BFI)](https://www.bfi.org.uk/sight-and-sound/features/psychological-western?pubDate=20250224)
5. [Noir on the Range, The Criterion Collection](https://www.criterion.com/current/posts/4278-noir-on-the-range)
6. [Sturm und Drang Under Western Skies, Cinema Sojourns](https://cinemasojourns.com/2020/10/28/sturm-und-drang-under-western-skies/)
7. [The Last Sunset, Classic Film Review, Video Librarian](https://videolibrarian.com/reviews/classic-film/the-last-sunset/)
8. [Kino Lorber: The Last Sunset, Midwest Film Journal](https://midwestfilmjournal.com/2021/10/12/kino-lorber-the-last-sunset/)
9. [The Last Sunset, Rotten Tomatoes](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/10010147-last_sunset)
10. [The Last Sunset Blu-ray (El Perdido), Blu-ray.com](https://www.blu-ray.com/movies/The-Last-Sunset-Blu-ray/109140/)
11. [DVD Savant Review: The Last Sunset, DVD Talk](https://www.dvdtalk.com/dvdsavant/s2513last.html)
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*Topic: Encyclopedia › Arts and culture › Screen and stage › Film and television › Films and standalone screen works › Individual films by title and year › Action and adventure films (individual works) › Westerns before 1980 › Released 1961 to 1979*
*Initially written Oct 3, 2026 · Reviewed: Oct 3, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Oct 15, 2026; Oct 25, 2026; Nov 1, 2026 · Last review: Oct 25, 2026*
*Copyright 2026 EdgeChat AI, a subsidiary of Biostate AI.*
License: Edgepedia Community License 1.0, https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license