The Last of the Mohicans

James Fenimore Cooper's 1826 novel—a frontier adventure set in the Adirondacks, circa 1757—was one of the most popular books of its day. Michael Mann's 1992 adaptation, starring Daniel Day-Lewis as central character Hawkeye, a white man raised as a Mohican, is arguably the best screen version. This Hawkeye is rugged and wild, a proto-countercultural figure living off the land with his adoptive father, Chingachgook (Russell Means), and brother, Uncas (Eric Schweig). Only after the sons fall in love with Cora and Alice Munro (Madeleine Stowe and Jodhi May), daughters of a British commander, do they decide to join the fight against the French, whose Huron allies include the terrifying Magua (Wes Studi). Like the 1936 iteration starring Randolph Scott, Mann's film focuses on the white couple's romance, but it's also a portrait of a short-lived time of peaceful coexistence between the early American settlers and the Native Americans, as well as a celebration of the nascent pioneer spirit. In 1999, Mann issued an “Expanded Director's Cut” on DVD that many fans disavowed; for this 2010 Blu-ray debut, he's reworked the film again for a “Director's Definitive Cut,” which is closer to the theatrical version (among other things, he's removed the added 1999 closing monologue and restored the Clannad song “I Will Find You” to the soundtrack, albeit with a Gaelic vocal). Blu-ray extras include a newly recorded audio commentary by Mann, and a retrospective “making-of” documentary. Recommended. (S. Axmaker)