Release Date: September 20, 1996
Starring: Bruce Willis, Bruce Dern, Christopher Walken, William Sanderson, David Patrick Kelly, Ned Eisenberg, Ken Jenkins, Karina Lombard
Directed by: Walter Hill
Distributed by: New Line Cinema
MPAA Rating: R (pervasive strong violence, some sexuality)
Automatic pistols strapped beneath both armpits and chest puffed up to double size, Bruce Willis walks across a dusty street and says over his shoulder: "I'm going to go see about the man who wrecked my car." Whereupon the audience instantly fears for that man's life and at the same time waits in anticipation for the bullet-riddled method that Willis is sure to use in exacting his revenge. Last Man Standing, a seedy Prohibition-era creation by Wild Bill director Walter Hill, does not disappoint: Willis empties twenty to thirty rounds into the chest of his poor target, blowing him back out the door, into the air, and rolling across the street in trademark fashion.
In fact, the movie is so typically Willis that it's surprising posters and promos do not read: "Bruce Willis IS the Last Man Standing," because from the beginning it's clear that's what director Hill and star Willis are after. Willis plays bad-boy-with-a-semi-good-heart John Smith, a gravelly-voiced individual on his way to Mexico through west Texas. It's when he stops in Jericho, Texas, that things get exciting -- he steps into the middle of a gang war between rival moonshiners, and decides that if he plays his cards right he can send everyone to the great hereafter and make a quick buck by it. Unfortunately the women get in the way, which is why the movie is as long as it is; otherwise, Last Man Standing would be forty-two minutes long and set to air on primetime television at 9/8 Central.
Most of the villains are cardboard cutouts with red and white target circles painted on their chests, but a handful of characters are somewhat crucial to the public-outhouse-toilet-paper-thin plot. These are, in no particular order, chief rivals Strozzi (Ned Eisenberg) and Doyle (David Patrick Kelly), who like to think they're running a big-city outfit, and omnipotent and super-lethal Doyle gunman Hickey (Christopher Walken). Willis' character of Smith also gets help from a laid-back sherriff played by Bruce Dern and a oddball bartender named Joe (William Sanderson). These characters don't really add or detract much from the movie's value, and with the exception of Walken, they aren't really big names to make anything. Walken does his usual over-the-top shtick, adding quirk and idiosyncrasy to his character. Unfortunately, the script has his intentions all mixed up and the character does not profit by it.
What makes Last Man Standing a worthwhile watch, both for Willis fans and other action fans, is the amount of kinetic energy that the gun battles exude. Although striking at first, the relative freedom with which guns are fired in the small town of Jericho lends a certain excitement to the movie's route. Director Hill makes the most of these, placing them liberally around the script which he based on the foreign screenplay Yojinbo. They keep the movie going forward when not much else is left to sustain it, and they are well-choreographed enough to make the movie seem professional. As a period piece, Last Man Standing is passable, although it's clear that Hill's intention was not to recreate the 1920's in authentic detail.
Instead, what he's done is provide a neo-Western with enough pizazz to make the cut. It's not a great film, but it's not a waste of time, either, and it definitely makes for a fine video rental.
all contents © 1996 Craig Roush