Last Man Standing (1996)

"Amazing... outrageous!  Michael Janusonis, Providence Journal-Bulletin
"One of the most exciting movies of the year!  Jami Bernard, New York Daily News

Editor's Note In a dusty, Prohibition-era Texas border town, a lone-wolf hit-man richochets between rival mobs, pinning his allegiance to whomever offers more money for his services. But when he sticks his neck out to help a woman, he ends up risking more than money--he risks developing a conscience. Hill patterned his film after Kurosawa's legendary 1961 YOJIMBO.

	Bruce Dern
	Bruce Willis
	Christopher Walken
	David Patrick Kelly
	Karina Lombard
	William Sanderson
	Dan Moore - Costume Designer
	Walter Hill - Director
	Lloyd Ahern II - Director of Photography
	Freeman A. Davies - Editor
	Chris Worland - Editor
	Ron Cabreros - Editor
	Michael De Luca - Executive Producer
	Sara Risher - Executive Producer
	Ry Cooder - Musical Score
	Arthur M. Sarkissian - Producer
	Marta Merrifield - Producer
	Paula Heller - Producer
	Ralph S. Singleton - Producer
	Jeff Wincott - Producer
	Gary Wissner - Production Designer
	Akira Kurosawa - Screenplay
	Walter Hill - Screenplay
	Ryuzo Kikushima - Screenplay

Enroute to Mexico during Prohibition, loner John Smith decides to rest at town of Jericho, Texas. He discovers that two rival bootleg gangs, one Italian, the other Irish, are seriously at odds with each other. So much so, that all of the residents have left, and the Sheriff has given up doing his job. | Sensing an opportunity to make money, Smith decides to hire himself out to BOTH factions -- and play each side against the other. Will Smith's clever scheme work? Or will the ensuing violence he causes take his life instead? Rolling Stone
"Bruce Willis comes out blasting..." 10/17/1996 p.144

Sight and Sound
"...[The film] looks wonderful....Fine music from longtime collaborator Ry Cooder..." 11/01/1996 p.52-3

Variety
"...Ahern provides dynamic widescreen framing..." 09/16/1996

Los Angeles Times
"...[It] sounds wonderful with its mournful, portentous Ry Cooder score and stars a well-cast Bruce Willis exuding calm, reflective authority...[A] handsome, carefully wrought film..." 09/20/1996 p.F10

Box Office Magazine 0 of 10
Although Willis provides a commanding performance, it's Bruce Dern as a corrupt sheriff who has the best lines, providing some well-needed comic relief in this heavy, gritty modern-day western. Lombard gives a haunting turn as Felina, the Native American beauty imprisoned by Doyle. Christopher Walken adds a scary presence in a small role as a hitman. Ry Cooder's edgy soundtrack provides just the right amount of atmosphere to the plethora of action scenes; you can almost smell the gunpowder smoking. - Pat Kramer

VideoHound's Golden Movie Retriever 0 of 10
Engaging, but not terribly original gangster/western features a plot taken from Clint Eastwood's career-making Fistful Of Dollars (in turn, an adaptation of Akira Kurosawa's Yojimbo). The producers and credits claim lineage directly from the Kurosawa film, but this story's been around for a while... Willis nicely injects his smirking brand of wit into a film that may have benefitted from more of the dark Yojimbo action sequences.