Last Man Standing (1996/I)

User Rating:

6.0/10   

Director:

Walter Hill

Writers (WGA):

Ryûzô Kikushima (story) and
Akira Kurosawa (story) ...

Release Date:

20 September 1996 (USA)

Genre:

Action | Crime | Drama | Thriller

Tagline:

There are two sides to every war. And John Smith is on both of them.

Plot:

A drifting gunslinger-for-hire finds himself in the middle of an ongoing war between the Irish and Italian mafia in a Prohibition era ghost town.

Plot Keywords:

Prohibition | Mafia | Gunslinger | Jericho Texas | Honor

Cast

Bruce Willis	...	John Smith
Bruce Dern	...	Sheriff Ed Galt
William Sanderson	...	Joe Monday
Christopher Walken	...	Hickey
David Patrick Kelly	...	Doyle
Karina Lombard	...	Felina
Ned Eisenberg	...	Fredo Strozzi
Alexandra Powers	...	Lucy Kolinski
Michael Imperioli	...	Giorgio Carmonte
Ken Jenkins	...	Capt. Tom Pickett
R.D. Call	...	Jack McCool
Ted Markland	...	Deputy Bob
Leslie Mann	...	Wanda
Patrick Kilpatrick	...	Finn
Luis Contreras	...	Comandante Ramirez

Also Known As:

Gundown (USA) (working title)
Welcome to Jericho (USA) (working title)

MPAA:

Rated R for pervasive strong violence and some sexuality.

Runtime:

101 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English | Spanish

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital | SDDS

Certification:

Argentina:16 | Iceland:16 | Germany:16 (w) (re-rating) | Germany:18 (cinema rating) | USA:R (certificate #34190) | Singapore:M18 | Philippines:PG-13 | UK:15 (re-rating) (2008) | Netherlands:16 | USA:TV-MA (cable rating) | Australia:M | Finland:K-16 | Malaysia:(Banned) | Norway:18 | Portugal:M/16 | South Korea:15 | Spain:18 | Sweden:15 | UK:18

Filming Locations:

Cook Ranch, Galisteo, New Mexico, USA

Company:

Eclipse Catering

Trivia:

This movie, like Per un pugno di dollari (1964), is a retelling of the story in Yojimbo (1961), which is itself based on Dashiell Hammett's 1927 novel "Red Harvest".

Goofs:

Audio/visual unsynchronized: When John Smith is talking to Strozzi's girlfriend in the car in front of Slim's he asks her a question. His lips are obviously not moving when he asks the question.

Quotes:

Jack McCool: You sitting out in the open, might not be such a good idea for a fella that has as many enemies as you got.
John Smith: I thought everybody liked me. I am such a nice guy.

Movie Connections:

References Wild Bill (1995)

Soundtrack:

Denver Blues

I loved this movie from the first time I saw it.

I've become a big fan of Walter Hill's movies and this one is as good as ever. It's not a particularly cheery film, but it's still enjoyable. Bruce Willis and Christopher Walken are both terrific in their roles. Walken plays as good a bad guy as ever, and Willis is good as the ambiguous lead character.

The gun battles are staged excellently and the music by Ry Cooder works very well with the picture. It's very much a guy film, though. There are only two women who play big parts in the film, but they don't appear very often.

I give LMS 7/10. It's a moody piece but enjoyable.