Review of Last Man Standing (1996) by Lorenz R — 06 Feb 2015

Written, produced and directed by Walter Hill (The Long Riders (1980), Southern Comfort (1981) and 48 Hrs. (1982)), this is a straight-up remake of Akira Kurosawa's Yojimbo (1960), and while it does have a very good cast, something is a bit off-kilter about this.

It doesn't help that it's a very moody film, and it is quite flat, when a film like this is begging to be a fun romp, but it misses the point big time. Set in Prohibition-era Texas in the early 1930's, it has a man calling himself John Smith (Bruce Willis) drawing up in a small town called Jericho, near the Mexican border with a meagre population of just 57.

Smith finds himself up against 2 rival bootleg families. The Italians, led by Fredo Strozzi (Ned Eisenberg) and the Irish led by Doyle (David Patrick Kelly). The town's sheriff Ed Galt (Bruce Dern), is powerless to stop the crimewave, but when Smith kills one of Doyle's men, he join's Strozzi's gang, and Doyle retaliates by getting his right hand man Hickey (Christopher Walken) to intervene when their smuggling from Mexico, but Smith uses this to bring down both gangs.

It should have been a good action film, but it's too serious, when something like this is shouting out to be cheesy fun. Seeing as Yojimbo was remade as A Fistful of Dollars (1964), that makes this version somewhat redundant.

But it needs some wisecracks from Willis, and more insane action, then it would have worked.