History Film / TheLastOfTheMohicans

-->'''Magua''': Grey Hair, before you die, know that I will put under the knife your children, so that I will wipe your seed from the earth forever.

* BigNo: Silent, as Chingachgook watches [[spoiler: Magua stab Uncas, slit his throat, and throw his body down the cliffside.]]

--> '''Heyward''': There's a ''war'' on! How is it ''you'' are going west?
--> '''Hawkeye''': Well, first we face north, then, ''real'' subtle-like, turn left.

* FromACertainPointOfView: Col. Munro. [-"British promises ''are'' honored... and I will ''not'' release the militia unless I have more than this man's word that the settlements are being attacked."-]
* GeneralFailure: The obese General Webb.
** Who is subject to a HistoricalHeroUpgrade, as he was, if anything, even ''more'' of a failure in real life.

* GhibliHills: '''Colonial America'''. An undeveloped, unbroken forest teeming with wildlife and adventure. Specifically, Upstate New York / The Great Smoky Mountains.

* GreyAndGrayMorality: [[MirroringFactions The British and the French are both just as bad as one another in this film.]] The French are nicer to the natives, (whom they try to coexist peacefully with instead of the wholesale exploitation favored by the British) but even then, [[spoiler:[[KickTheDog Montcalm tacitly allows Magua to massacre the retreating British forces down to the last man after they surrender the fort to him.]]]] Ultimately, the war itself is merely a backdrop to the more personal conflict between Magua and the protagonists.

* ApologeticAttacker: Chingachgook apologizes to the slain deer during the opening: "We're sorry to kill you, brother. We do honor to your courage and speed, your strength."

** Chingachgook goes on one of these after [[spoiler:Uncas is killed.]] Subverted because he does it silently; even his howl of grief is inaudible, with only the music playing.

-->'''Magua:''' Magua ''said,'' [[TactfulTranslation "I understand English... very well."]]

* DrivenToSuicide: [[spoiler:Alice.]]

* FaceDeathWithDignity: Magua, the only one in the entire film. He simply exchanges long glances with Chingachgook. In fact, he's ''learning forward'', ready for the final blow.

* DaylightHorror: The massacre.

* JustAStupidAccent: The film has a very complex TranslationConvention. In the case of General Montcalm, however, since he is a diplomat and speaks [[BilingualDialogue English anyhow]], this boils down to him keeping a [[AcceptableTargets villainous French accent]] throughout.

* CallForward: There are tensions between the British military and colonists, foreshadowing the American Revolution, and Natives worrying about being outnumbered by the whites, doing it for the Westward Expansion.

* BornInTheWrongCentury: Hinted at with Cora, whose more enlightened than most of the people in her circle.

* AdaptationDistillation: The omitted includes redundant parts where the women are captured and quickly freed, a deranged white man at the Huron camp, a shooting contest, and [[BearsAreBadNews Natty Bumpo disguised as a bear]]. The changes generally streamline and improve on some lengthy and confusing segments in the novel.

* DeathOfTheHypotenuse: [[DeathByAdaptation Major Heyward dies]] as Cora and Nathaniel (and Chingachgook) go free, though technically it is at the hands of his rival Nathaniel (actually a MercyKilling as the Delawares are burning him alive after Heyward's HeroicSacrifice).

* BloodlessCarnage: Mostly averted, but played straight in two instances when Cora shoots one of Magua's warriors in the head at close range and when Hawkeye snipes [[spoiler:Heyward]], where there's only a small, bloodless hole in his head.

* ClimbingClimax: Not quite the original [[LiteralCliffhanger clifftop]] [[DisneyVillainDeath ending]], but close.

* MercyKill: Hawkeye shoots [[spoiler:Heyward]] when the latter is [[spoiler:being burned alive and screaming in agony]].

* OvershadowedByAwesome: Major Duncan Heyward is a capable and effective combatant, but is often upstaged by [[ImprobableAimingSkills Hawkeye]], Chingachgook, and [[YoungGun Uncas]]. Their first encounter has Heyward drawing his sword to defend Cora and Alice, before the three Mohicans appear and deliver a CurbStompBattle to Magua's remaining warriors.

* ThemeMusicPowerUp: Almost too many examples to count. Pretty much any time the main characters do something awesome in combat (which happens a lot), there will be some epic badass music accompanying the action. This goes for the villains as well. The battle during the last few minutes of the film provides some of the best examples. Another good example is the nighttime sniper scene. Apparently putting silk in your rifle isn't the only thing that improves range and accuracy. Having a great soundtrack in the background helps as well.
* ThirdPersonPerson: Magua speaks of himself in the third person. Just like that, in fact.
* ThrowingYourSwordAlwaysWorks: Chingachgook kills the last Huron in the first ambush by throwing his gunstock club into the man's back.

* SecondaryCharacterTitle: Although Hawkeye is arguably the main protagonist, Chingachgook is the titular "Last of the Mohicans".

* AnyoneCanDie: [[spoiler:Verges on KillEmAll in the ''Theatre/{{Hamlet}}''-style ending, specifically Col. Munro, Heyward, Uncas, Alice and [[BigBad Magua]].]]

* AnAxeToGrind: Tomahawks. Every Indian warrior carries one, except for Chingachgook, who carries a gunstock club which is used as sort of a rough North American equivalent to a battleaxe, though it has some differences as well. Magua has a distinctive tomahawk with a shaft like a palm tree. Even Heyward uses one during the first ambush to kill an attacking warrior.

* WeaponOfChoice:

* ThisIsGoingToBeHuge: Between [[DownplayedTrope Downplayed]] and [[ZigZaggedTrope Zig-Zagged]]. Cora makes a reference to the French throwing the British out of North America, but only sarcastically and in the sense that it would be better for the colonists seeing how the British treat them. Yet the colonists later suffer far worse at the hands of the French and their Indian allies than any dispute they had with the British. The French also win every battle in the film, but later in history they will lose the war. It also never occurs to her or any other character that the colonists will break with the British and form their own country after the French are gone, though this should be obvious to the audience.

* AdaptationDistillation: Omitted portions include redundant portions where the women are captured and quickly freed, a deranged white man at the Huron camp, a shooting contest, and [[BearsAreBadNews Natty Bumpo disguised as a bear]]. The changes generally streamlined and improved on some lengthy and confusing segments in the novel.