As America has evolved from an untamed wilderness into a settled country what it has meant to be a man in America has also changed. The movies Last of the Mohicans, Jeremiah Johnson, and Glory each portray men in different areas and time periods in America. Mohican hunters and trappers in Last of the Mohicans, a mountain man in Jeremiah Johnson, and African-American civil war soldiers in Glory. The behavior of the protagonists in these movies illustrates what was expected from them and how they dealt with those expectations. Although the movies were very different they all espoused the need for bravery and honor in a man.

The film Last of the Mohicans, based on a book by James Fennimore Cooper, is the story of a white man named Hawkeye and two Mohican Indians. The film takes place during the French and Indian War. During the war many settlers volunteered or were coerced into fighting for the English. Hawkeye and the Indians are brought into the war when they save two daughters of an English general and agree to take them to an English fort. On the way there they find the family of a friend of theirs murdered by Indians. When they get to the fort Hawkeye tells others settlers about it and they want to leave the battle to protect their families. He helps them do that against the orders of the English; but stays because he has feelings for one of the women he saved although though he knows he will be punished. This illustrates his bravery and willingness to take responsibility for his actions. The fort is captured by the French and as the English are leaving they are attacked and massacred by Indians. Hawkeye saves the girls once again and attempts to escape with them even as they are chased by Indians. They make it to a waterfall where there is no way for them to escape with the women. Hawkeye dives off the waterfall vowing to find and save the girls. An English