Last Man Standing (1996)
Dir: Walter Hill
Cast: Bruce Willis, Christopher Walken, Bruce Dern
Summary
During the Prohibition era, a lone gunslinger finds himself caught in the middle of a gang war between the Italian and Irish mafias in a deserted West Texas town. Seizing the opportunity, he begins playing both sides against each other for his own gain.
Synopsis
When drifter John Smith arrives in a dusty, near-abandoned West Texas town, trouble follows immediately. A casual glance at the girlfriend of local mafia boss Doyle leads to tension. After reporting the encounter to the cowardly sheriff, Smith visits the local saloon, where he learns more about the town’s grim situation. When he confronts Doyle’s men over damage to his car, a gunfight erupts, leaving one gangster dead.
Smith begins working for Strozzi, leader of a rival gang, helping to hijack one of Doyle’s liquor shipments. He also starts an affair with Strozzi’s girlfriend, Lucy, and meets a high-ranking mobster from Chicago.
Soon after, Smith switches sides again, informing Doyle of Strozzi’s plans. This betrayal sparks a violent retaliation: Doyle’s gang slaughters several of Strozzi’s men and kidnaps the visiting Chicago mobster. In response, Strozzi’s gang abducts Doyle’s girlfriend, Felina. A tense prisoner exchange is arranged.
Smith is then summoned by the sheriff to meet Captain Picket of the Texas Rangers. Picket informs Smith that he will tolerate only one gang in the town and will launch a raid in ten days. Smith reveals his plan to manipulate the two gangs into wiping each other out. Picket warns that Smith will be killed as well if he’s still around during the assault.
Lucy later visits Smith, revealing that Strozzi has assaulted her. Smith gives her money to escape the town. He then spreads a rumor that Strozzi plans to kidnap Felina again. Doyle sends Smith to the hideout where Felina is kept. Smith kills her guards and learns that Doyle had won her in a card game from her husband. Smith helps her escape to reunite with her husband in Mexico.
Eventually, Doyle’s men grow suspicious, and Smith’s double-cross is exposed. He’s captured and tortured for Felina’s whereabouts but refuses to talk. With help from the tavern owner and the sheriff, Smith escapes and watches as Doyle’s gang massacres what remains of Strozzi’s men.
While recovering in a church, Smith learns that the saloon owner has been captured for aiding him. He returns to the town for one final showdown. Doyle and his right-hand man are absent, searching for Felina. In the climactic confrontation, they offer Smith a chance to rejoin them. Instead, the saloon owner shoots Doyle, and Smith kills the rest.
Smith leaves town, broke, having given all his money to Lucy and Felina. Yet he walks away satisfied, knowing the town is finally free of the gangs.
Review
Though this film is a near-carbon copy of Yojimbo, I found it a difficult watch. At just 101 minutes, it felt much longer due to its sluggish pacing and lack of energy. That said, the cinematography stood out—muted, dusty tones effectively evoked the bleak atmosphere of a Prohibition-era Texas ghost town.
Unfortunately, Bruce Willis’s performance as Smith falls flat. He mumbles through most of his lines and fails to convey the charisma or menace of a professional gunslinger. Christopher Walken, by contrast, delivers a strong turn as Hickey—likely more due to his natural talent than the material itself.
The film also suffers from glaring technical inaccuracies—like over 40 shots being fired from two guns that should only hold 16 to 18 rounds combined.
While I disagree with him about the visuals, I think Roger Ebert captured the film’s essence perfectly in his opening paragraph:
“Last Man Standing” is such a desperately cheerless film, so dry and laconic and wrung out, that you wonder if the filmmakers ever thought that in any way it could be … fun. It contains elements that are often found in entertainments—things like guns, gangs and spectacular displays of death—but here they crouch on the screen and growl at the audience. Even the movie’s hero is bad company.”
Bibliography
Ebert, Roger (1996, September 20). Last Man Standing Review. RogerEbert.com. Retrieved July 13, 2016.
