Last Man Standing (1996 film)

This article is about the 1996 film starring Bruce Willis. For other uses, see Last Man Standing.

Last Man Standing is a 1996 action film written and directed by Walter Hill. It is a credited remake of the Akira Kurosawa film Yojimbo, which itself is believed to be based on Dashiell Hammett's novel Red Harvest, and also remade by Sergio Leone with Clint Eastwood in A Fistful of Dollars. The film stars Bruce Willis, Christopher Walken and Bruce Dern. The film's intense gunfights usually featuring Bruce Willis wielding two M1911 .45-caliber pistols was influenced by Chinese action films, specifically the theme of violence and gunplay commonly associated with Heroic bloodshed.

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Bruce Willis in the title role

The film is set during the era of Prohibition in the United States, in which Willis plays a wandering gunman who decides to play off both sides of a gang war that takes place in the violence-riddled town of Jericho, Texas.

The film did poorly at the box-office and received poor critical reviews. Common reoccurring complaints found in many of the negative reviews were the oppressive and depressing atmosphere of the film, the flat, almost monotone personality of Willis’ character between gunfights, and film's Pyrrhic victory finale. Film critic Roger Ebert was quoted as saying, "...The victory at the end is downbeat, and there is an indifference to it. This is such a sad, lonely movie." Ironically, almost all the well received Spaghetti westerns contained the same plot elements.

Trivia

• This film was banned in Malaysia.

External links

• Last Man Standing at IMDb