The Last of the Mohicans

I was 5 years old when television first entered my home, and the big weekly event for me was Johnny Hart and Lon Chaney Jr. in the series The Last of the Mohicans. I loved the dynamic between Hawkeye and Chingachgook. They were blood brothers.  I spent several years of my childhood hoping that I too could have a blood brother. Instead, I had a baby brother. He wasn’t very good at playing with me. But a BLOOD brother seemed like a perfect idea.

In these later years, I rediscovered the series, first on VHS, then DVD and then on Youtube. I noticed several things almost immediately.  

1. Johnny Hart was a really handsome guy (at least in my opinion).

2. This 1950s CBC supported production filmed in Ontario more realistically portrayed frontier life of the mid-1700s than almost any Hollywood frontier series I have seen portrays the period in which it purports to be set.

3. Hart and Chaney play Hawkeye and Chingachgook as having a bond way beyond what I noticed as a child. Well, maybe I DID notice it at some level, but as an adult, it seems more apparent. Those guys LOVE each other in a deep and mature way that has no hint of sexuality, but obvious caring, respect and soul bonding. They seek to know everything about each other and to take full responsibility for each other. Each fully accepts the other at the point at which he is on his path, but each aims to help the other make the correct turn at the next intersection on that path.