The sad truth in a Western, especially ones that came out before the 90's, women had one of three roles. You were either the one time love interest, the prostitute working in the brothel, or the damsel in distress. Westerns were a very male dominated genre, and they still are.
"The Last Hard Men" is certainly no exception. In the film a retired sheriff, played by the legendary Charlton Heston, must come out of retirement when a fugitive that he had imprisoned escapes to take his revenge. Part of his revenge is kidnapping the sheriff's daughter (I'll give you ten bucks to guess who that is) and using her to get to him.
Both the convict and the sheriff are distant memories of a time long past. A time when horses were the means to travel and the way to solve everything was by a massive shoot out. Still, they manage to bring us out of the "modern" life of cars and telegraphs, and drop us straight back into pre industrial times without leaving any of us with a second thought. Which is probably why its title is so fitting to the overall plot, these men are the last of their generation.
Like Boxcar Bertha, Hershey was required to do a lot of physical and emotional stunts. Even though she is such a small part of the story her scenes really resinate with me or anyone. I found myself at the end just thinking that if I were her, I would repack my bags and go back to the big cities where sure something like this has the possibility of happening, but it would be very hard. What I do like though is how strong her character is even through all the hell she is put through. Usually, in a Western the woman role is weak, and usually whiny. That is completely the opposite of Hershey's and I enjoyed it.
It's something I noticed as well while viewing these early roles. She really picks characters that go through hell, but are overly strong at the same time and won't allow the events of their lives to destroy them.
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