Last Man Standing (1996)

★ 6.4 1h 41m 970 votes IMDb
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John Smith is a mysterious stranger who is drawn into a vicious war between two Prohibition-era gangs. In a dangerous game, he switches allegiances from one to another, offering his services to the highest bidder. As the death toll mounts, Smith takes the law into his own hands in a deadly race to stay alive.

Last Man Standing

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Cast

Bruce Willis
Bruce Willis as John Smith Age 71 · Idar-Oberstein, West Germany [now Germany] Walter Bruce Willis (born March 19, 1955) is a retired American actor. His career began on the off-Broadway stage in the 1970s, and he then achieved fame with a leading role on the comedy-drama series...
Bruce Dern
Bruce Dern as Sheriff Ed Galt Age 89 · Chicago, Illinois, USA Bruce MacLeish Dern (born June 4, 1936) is an American actor. He was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for Coming Home (1978) and the Academy Award for Best Actor for Nebraska...
William Sanderson
William Sanderson as Joe Monday Age 82 · Memphis, Tennessee, USA William Sanderson (born January 10, 1944) is an American character actor..
Christopher Walken
Christopher Walken as Hickey Age 83 · Queens, New York City, New York, USA Christopher Walken (born Ronald Walken; March 31, 1943) is an American actor. He has appeared in more than 100 films and television programs, including Annie Hall (1977), The Deer Hunter (1978), The D...
David Patrick Kelly
David Patrick Kelly as Doyle Age 75 · Detroit, Michigan, USA David Patrick Kelly (born January 23, 1951) is an American actor, musician and lyricist who has appeared in numerous films and television series. He is best known for his role as the main antagonist L...
Karina Lombard
Karina Lombard as Felina Age 57 · Tahiti, French Polynesia Born in Tahiti, Karina moved to Spain at an early age. After attending a number of boarding schools and living throughout Europe where she became fluent in Spanish, English, Italian, French, and Germa...

Audience Reviews

John Chard 7/10 Dec 22, 2018
And like Jericho, Walls come tumbling down.

Last Man Standing is directed by Walter Hill who also adapts the screenplay from a story written by Ryûzô Kikushima and Akira Kurosawa. It stars Bruce Willis, Bruce Dern, William Sanderson, Christopher Walken, David Patrick Kelly, Karina Lombard and Ned Eisenberg. Music is by Ry Cooder and cinematography by Lloyd Ahern.

Walter Hill's variant on Yojimbo, plot basically sees Willis as drifter John Smith, who after arriving in the dusty town of Jericho, promptly sets about making some serious cash by playing the town's two gangs off against each other. Smith is one tough hombre, a deadly pistoleer who has a fear of nothing, which is why the two respective gang leaders want him to work for them. Noses get put out of joint, blood flows, scores settled and a anti-hero is born, complete with permanent scowl and dry narration.

The look and sound is terrific, Cooder's pessimistic twangs are all over the plot, while the visuals dovetail between sun-baked landscapes and the misty lensed ghost town of Jericho. Hill brings his trademark stylish violence into play, with slow-mos and rapid fire shoot-outs impressive, while his skill at creating an antique atmosphere is very much in evidence. Unfortunately the narrative isn't up to much, it lacks scope and characters merely exist, making this very much a style over substance exercise. It also means that much of the cast are given only morsels to feed on. A shame when you got Walken and Kelly on overdrive when on screen.

It's an odd blend of a Western with Prohibition Noir characters, but it's unmistakably a Walter Hill film. For his fans there's enough to like about it whilst accepting it's a bit of a throwaway on the page. For the casual crime/action film fan, however, it's likely to be much ado about nothing. 7/10

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