Last of the Mohicans

Last of the Mohicans is the most nearly perfect movie. It's got American literature based on American history. It's got English colonists fighting with Native Americans. It's got English colonists fighting against Native Americans. It's got different Native American tribes fighting each other. It's got fighting with tomahawks and muskets. It's got people fighting under Glens Falls. It's got Daniel Day Lewis. It's got Madeline Stowe at her most beautiful. It's got the underrated Jodhi May. It's got Wes Studi as Mogwa, the baddest badass Indian in American cinema. It's got the best cinematic depiction of Lake George and Fort William Henry I've ever seen (I spent every summer of my childhood at Lake George). It's got Daniel Day Lewis shouting to Madeline Stowe as they're dragged apart, "STAY ALIVE. I WILL FIND YOU!"

I wonder if James Cameron studied this movie while he was planning Titanic; because the formula is so clearly ripped off: throw in plenty of action for the boys and plenty of doomed romance for the girls, and you've got yourself a hit.