Last Man Standing (1996)

Director: Walter Hill

Cast: Bruce Willis, Christopher Walken, Bruce Dern, William Sanderson, David Patrick Kelly

Country: United States

Rating: R

Run Time: 101 minutes

Last Man Standing is a credited remake of Akira Kurosawa's Yojimbo. While many films loosely adapt elements of the Yojimbo story, Walter Hill's Last Man Standing and Sergio Leone's A Fistful of Dollars are the two direct remakes that come to mind. While Last Man Standing contains all of the same plot and character beats of Kurosawa's Yojimbo, the film places gangster characters into a small western town with heroic bloodshed inspired action. Therefore, the film separates itself from the tension heavy Yojimbo and A Fistful of Dollars by choosing to be an action packed gangster western where 15 or so bullets are fired into each and every character. 

Willis is about to go John Woo on these guys.

If you have seen Yojimbo or A Fistful of Dollars, than you pretty much know the story. Just replace all of the characters with gangsters and the violence with heroic bloodshed styled gun physics. But, if you are a poor soul who has never seen two of the most essential action films in all of cinema, than I will give you a concise low down on this interpretation of the Yojimbo story. 

Joe Smith (Bruce Willis) drifts into the town of Jericho in Prohibition Era Texas. He is immediately swept up into trouble when he offends Strozzi's gang by looking at a woman in his possession. After he guns down Strozzi's best man, Smith realizes that the town of Jericho is caught up in a gang war between Strozzi's (Ned Eisenberg) gang and Doyle's (David Patrick Kelly) gang. Therefore, Smith decides that in order to kill some time before he heads off to Mexico and to make some money, he is going to play both sides of the gang war. Along the way, Smith befriends a local bar owner (William Sanderson) and the town's corrupt sheriff (Bruce Dern). The gang war gets far more complicated once Hickey (Christopher Walken), a skilled assassin, joins Doyle's side. Bullets fly, backs are crossed, and Christopher Walken steals the show. 

"Come out and playeeeeay!"

When one normally watches a film for the first time, they tend to have a lot of fun being swept up in the adventure and journey for the first time. You never know exactly what is going to happen next and find a lot of excitement in that. However, I know the Yojimbo story and have seen it done before. Therefore, my Last Man Standing viewing experience suffered because this is not new to me. I had a little fun catching scenes and knowing what would happen next, but found little variation from what had come before.

It is also worth noting that there are two major variations in this story that do not appear in either A Fistful of Dollars or Yojimbo. Unfortunately, both are detractors. The first is a mistress named Lucy. I do not believe that there is a mistress character that is bedded for information in either of the films that preceeded this. Therefore, her character existed simply to add sex appeal and to show Bruce Willis bed a woman. In Yojimbo, Sanjuro (Toshiro Mifune) refuses women because he is there only for money. I don't know about you, but I like that aspect of the nameless wanderer and felt it was missing in this film.

The other major change concerned the climax of the film. I would like to avoid spoiling this section because it is one of the highlights in all three films. Therefore, I will just go into generalities. A Fistful of Dollars and Yojimbo rely upon tension and creativity for their finales. Last Man Standing on the other hand throws out all tension and goes straight for the action. While the final shootout in the film is incredible, it hurts to know that Walter Hill chose to alter such a memorable aspect of the Yojimbo story.

These gangsters apparently saw A Fistful of Dollars.

I enjoy some aspects of this update though. The unique idea to place gangsters into a red and brown dusty town is a cool idea. The Prohibition Era setting is also appropriate in order to explain the existence of the two rival gangs. The film also has some of the most overblown gun physics I have ever seen in any film ever made. 

When Bruce Willis guns down a henchman early on in the film with two pistols, the man flies back across an entire street and even back flips! If you ever thought that a shotgun could be over powered in a film, wait until you see the pistols in this movie! Walter Hill was clearly inspired by the heroic bloodshed styled action found in the Hong Kong films of directors John Woo, Ringo Lam, and Tsui Hark. Hong Kong action films tend to incorporate lots of slow motion, double fisted gun action, and depict henchmen being shot into far more times than necessary. 

Therefore, it is pretty great to see this style carried over into an American action film that is both a gangster and a western. The gun shots are complimented by fantastic sound effects and sound editing that helps elevate the grandiose heroic bloodshed style action. As a big fan of heroic bloodshed, you could say that I have a bit of a biased love for the action scenes of this film.

When the East meets the West.

Bruce Willis is a great choice for the lead of the film. It's funny to see that his hair is just starting to bald here and his age is starting to appear on his face. This film also came out right after Die Hard With a Vengeance. Therefore, Willis' prime time as an action star was just starting to wane while other American stars such as Arnold Schwarzenegger and Sylvester Stallone were starting to see the 80's action star era come to an end. 

All of the supporting players in this film are a real treat: Bruce Dern is a corrupt sheriff, William Sanderson is a kind bar tender, David Patrick Kelly is an over the top gangster, Leslie Mann is a prostitute, and Christopher Walken is a gun man with a scarred up face and a raspy voice. Thank the movie Gods for Christopher Walken. Whenever Walken appears in a film, the film immediately takes on a whole new level of enjoyment and entertainment. Walken hams it up here as Willis' rival and appears to be having a lot of fun.

Last but not least is director Walter Hill. Hill is one of the finest American action directors of all time. With films like Hard Times, The Driver, The Warriors, The Long Riders, Southern Comfort, 48 Hours, Extreme Prejudice, Red Heat, Johnny Handsome, Another 48 Hours, Wild Bill, Undisputed, and Bullet to the Head, Hill has directed the heck out of action cinema. The first half of his career is filled with iconic classics and memorable cult hits. The Warriors is the first film of his I ever saw and it left a lasting impact on both me and the low budget action genre. The second half of his career on the other hand is pretty weak and full of uneven films and mishaps. However, Last Man Standing is probably Hill's last really good action film from that era. While the film is still a little weak, slow, and uninteresting in parts, it at least brings the action and memorable characters that you want from a Walter Hill film.

"I've got a fever. And the only cure is some more shooting."

Last Man Standing is a solid action film from a competent director whose most recent films are often overlooked. The film is also probably overlooked because it is the second remake of Yojimbo and is not considered a cinematic classic like Yojimbo or A Fistful of Dollars. Ultimately, I really enjoyed watching this film, at least for its action scenes. Combining heroic bloodshed styled action with a gangster western was a great idea. However, Hill's slight amendments to the Yojimbo story and pacing cause this film to drag in places where Yojimbo otherwise excels. 

In the end, I still would highly recommend Last Man Standing. While I used to make fun of this film long ago and disowned it as a lazy and hilariously over the top rendition of Yojimbo, it really is a unique remake that we don't often find in today's remake heavy cinema. Give it a watch, you won't regret it.

Rating: 7/10 - Willis and John Woo fans are definitely going to want to seek out this decent but awesome flick.

Note: There is a great double feature Blu Ray of this film and The Last Boy Scout that I highly recommend that you pick up. Both films are underrated 90's Willis actioners that would make for a great double feature.