{"id":10854,"date":"2025-01-28T15:24:08","date_gmt":"2025-01-28T20:24:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/?p=10854"},"modified":"2025-01-28T15:24:34","modified_gmt":"2025-01-28T20:24:34","slug":"last-man-standing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/2025\/01\/28\/last-man-standing\/","title":{"rendered":"Last Man Standing"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"Last Man Standing <\/strong>(1996)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 New Line\/Action\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 RT: 101 minutes\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Rated R (lots of strong brutal violence, language, brief sexual content)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Director: Walter Hill\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Screenplay: Walter Hill\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Music: Ry Cooder\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Cinematography: Lloyd Ahern\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Release date: September 20, 1996 (US)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Cast: Bruce Willis, Christopher Walken, Bruce Dern, William Sanderson, David Patrick Kelly, Karina Lombard, Ned Eisenberg, Alexandra Powers, Michael Imperioli, Ken Jenkins, R.D. Call, Ted Markland, Leslie Mann, Patrick Kilpatrick, Luis Contreras.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Box Office: $18.1M (US)\/$33.2M (World)<\/p>\n

Rating:<\/strong> ***<\/p>\n

\u00a0POP QUIZ, HOT SHOT! Where have\u00a0we heard this plot before? A mysterious loner drifts into a town and exacerbates a war by playing two gangs against each other? Is it A) Akira Kurosawa’s Yojimbo, B) Sergio Leone\u2019s A Fistful of Dollars starring Clint Eastwood, C) the sword-and-sorcery cheapie The Warrior and the Sorceress starring David Carradine or D) all of the above? Of course, the answer is D.<\/p>\n

\u00a0It’s also the basic premise of Last Man Standing<\/strong>, a Prohibition-era gangster piece from Walter Hill, the auteur behind such classics as The Warriors (1979), 48 Hrs. (1982), Streets of Fire (1984) and Extreme Prejudice (1987). Bruce Willis (the Die Hard movies) stars as “John Smith” (aka The Gangster with No Name), a mysterious drifter on his way to the Mexican border when he makes an unscheduled stop in the small Texas town of Jericho, a dusty place with a population of only 57. We know that number is about to decrease drastically with the arrival of John Smith. It\u2019s a good thing the undertaker is still in town.<\/p>\n

\u00a0The town has been taken over by two rival bootleg gangs- the Italians led by Strozzi (Eisenberg, Moving Violations) and the Irish led by Doyle (Kelly, The Warriors). Upon arriving in Jericho, Smith has a run-in with some of Doyle’s men who damage his car for looking at his captive mistress Felina (Lombard, Legends of the Fall). It looks like he\u2019ll be stuck there for a few days; he might as well make some money while he\u2019s there.<\/p>\n

\u00a0Smith, seeing a golden opportunity to profit from the rivalry between the two gangs, starts off by going over to Doyle\u2019s hideout and gunning down one of his best men. When Strozzi hears about it, he asks Smith to come work for him. If you’ve ever seen any of the aforementioned movies, you know exactly what he\u2019s up to. Therefore, there\u2019s really no need for me to describe the plot any further.<\/p>\n

\u00a0I didn’t like\u00a0Last Man Standing<\/strong>\u00a0<\/strong>the first time I saw it (September 21, 1996). I attended a Saturday night show with my girlfriend at the time and we both agreed that it was slow-moving and dull. It was the third lame movie in a row from the normally gifted Hill, the others being a couple of westerns, Geronimo: An American Legend (1993) and Wild Bill (1995). I\u2019ve since watched Last Man Standing<\/strong> and have come to like it. I’m not saying it’s great, but it’s better than I originally gave it credit for. It gives credibility to the notion that second impressions make all the difference in the world.<\/p>\n

\u00a0It took more than one viewing, but I realized what Hill was going for with Last Man Standing<\/strong>. <\/strong>It\u2019s illustrated by a grotesque image in its opening minutes. As Smith drives into town, he passes a dead horse lying in the middle of the dirt road. He’s obviously saying goodbye to the western genre with that shot. Of course, one could argue that Last Man Standing<\/strong> is a western featuring gangsters and vintage cars instead of cowboys and horses. I\u2019m inclined to agree with that assessment with an addendum. It has a noirish vibe. There are no heroes in this tale, not even the local sheriff (Dern, Coming Home), a guy who sticks his neck out for nobody. It\u2019s a matter of self-preservation.<\/p>\n

\u00a0It’s interesting to see Willis take on the Clint Eastwood role and make it his own as opposed to copying the older actor’s performance. The character of John Smith is more apt to make a sarcastic remark than remain taciturn. It’s sort of a variation of John McClane. In other words, it’s a typical Bruce Willis performance. It works in the context of this unusual period gangster piece.<\/p>\n

\u00a0As usual, Hill delivers when it comes to casting. He never disappoints when it comes to assembling a cool supporting cast. Last Man Standing<\/strong> boasts some great names starting with Christopher Walken (The Dogs of War) as Hickey, a psychotic killer working for Doyle. He\u2019s quietly menacing as he sizes up Smith and decides he doesn\u2019t trust him. Michael Imperioli (The Sopranos) is good as the crazy, not too bright son of a Chicago mob boss. William Sanderson (Blade Runner) does fine work as Joe, the town barkeep and ally to Smith. Kelly (playing yet another unstable character) and Eisenberg turn in good performances as the feuding mob bosses. Lombard is totally HOT! The only casting hiccup is Leslie Mann (The Cable Guy) as a prostitute. She\u2019s not the least bit convincing.<\/p>\n

\u00a0Hill knows how to put together a solid action scene and there are a few good ones in\u00a0Last Man Standing<\/strong>. On top of that, they’re quite violent and brutal, a welcome return to form after his lackluster previous two movies- Geronimo was rated PG-13 and Wild Bill had nothing particularly memorable. Hill more than makes up for it here. He stacks up enough bodies to keep the undertaker in business long after the last person leaves Jericho.<\/p>\n

\u00a0In short, Last Man Standing<\/strong> makes for interesting viewing, especially if you want to see another\u00a0reworking of Kurosawa’s classic film. It’s no Fistful of Dollars, but it’s an improvement over The Warrior and the Sorceress. It has a great score by regular Hill collaborator Ry Cooder and period-perfect production design by Gary Wissner (8MM) not to mention top-notch cinematography by Lloyd Ahern (Geronimo, Wild Bill). He imbues the film with faded colors, dust and shadows giving it a noirish look. It\u2019s a stylish film that speaks to Hill\u2019s great talent as a filmmaker. Last Man Standing<\/strong> may not be his best film, but it\u2019s nothing to be ashamed of either. It\u2019s good and deserves to be rediscovered.\"\"<\/p>\n

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Last Man Standing (1996)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 New Line\/Action\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 RT: 101 minutes\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Rated R (lots of strong brutal violence, language, brief sexual content)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Director: Walter Hill\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Screenplay: Walter Hill\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Music: Ry Cooder\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Cinematography: Lloyd Ahern\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Release date: September 20, 1996 (US)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Cast: Bruce Willis, Christopher Walken, Bruce Dern, William Sanderson, David Patrick Kelly, Karina Lombard, Ned Eisenberg, Alexandra […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":10907,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[17,10],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-10854","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-action-adventure","category-hidden-treasures"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/Last-Man-Standing-PIC.jpg?fit=620%2C348&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10854","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10854"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10854\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10909,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10854\/revisions\/10909"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/10907"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10854"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10854"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10854"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}