LAST MAN STANDING

"LAST MAN STANDING"
(1996) (Bruce Willis, Christopher Walken) (R)

Alcohol/ Drugs	Blood/Gore	Disrespectful/ Bad Attitude	Frightening/ Tense Scenes	Guns/ Weapons
Heavy	Heavy	Heavy	Mild	Extreme

Imitative Behavior	Jump Scenes	Music (Scary/Tense)	Music (Inappropriate)	Profanity
Mild	Minor	Moderate	None	Moderate

Sex/ Nudity	Smoking	Tense Family Scenes	Topics To Talk About	Violence
Moderate	Mild	None	Mild	Extreme

QUICK TAKE:: Action: A stranger wanders through a small 1930's Texas town and into a feud between rival bootlegging gangs.

PLOT:: A lone man (BRUCE WILLIS), who goes by the alias "John Smith," drives into the small dusty town of Jericho and into the middle of a bootlegging feud. It's 1931 and two Chicago-based gangs, one led by Doyle (DAVID PATRICK KELLY) and the other by Strozzi (NED EISENBERG), are competing for bootlegging dominance during this prohibition era. Smith interrupts their temporary truce when he kills several of their men in self defense and when he gets involved with both Doyle's girlfriend, Felina (KARINA LOMBARD ) and Strozzi's girlfriend, Lucy (ALEXANDRA POWERS ). Both gangs notice Smith's gunslinger abilities and want to hire him to create trouble for the other gang. But two members, Giorgio (MICHAEL IMPERIOLI ) who works for Strozzi and Hickey (CHRISTOPHER WALKEN), Doyle's right-hand man, don't like Smith and his hit man for hire attitude. Soon the truce is broken, Smith begins to take all of this personally, and people start dying until there's just one last man standing.

WILL KIDS WANT TO SEE IT?: If they like shoot ‘em up "westerns" or Bruce Willis movies they will.

WHY THE MPAA RATED IT: R: For pervasive strong violence and some sexuality.

CAST AS ROLE MODELS:: Neither BRUCE WILLIS , CHRISTOPHER WALKEN or anyone else is a good role model.

CAST, CREW, & TECHNICAL INFO

HOW OTHERS RATED THIS MOVIE

OUR TAKE: 6 out of 10: Take any Clint Eastwood western and substitute Bruce Willis and the year 1931 and you've got this movie. Following that (successful) formula, this film varies only in the amount of violence seen and this one tops any of the Eastwood movies. Willis, as usual, emits quite the screen presence and is always fun to watch even while getting more bloodied and bruised (his trend starting in the original "Die Hard"). By the end of the movie he looks like he's been run through the ringer, but what this film lacks (compared to his other films) is any fun to break up all of the violent action. After a while this just becomes a big shoot out and there's no doubt who the last man standing will be. Still, for those who love Willis' films or like "westerns" (since this one is set in a small western town with dirt roads and Fords replacing mustangs), this will be an enjoyable flick. We give it a 6 out of 10.

OUR WORD TO PARENTS:: This is a very violent and bloody film. Many, many people are shot and killed and Willis is beaten to -- literally -- a bloody pulp in one scene. There's heavy drinking and one sex scene. Bad attitudes abound and you should definitely read through the category listings before allowing any children to see this one.

ALCOHOL OR DRUG USE: Everyone drinks (whiskey, a few beers and some wine) throughout the movie.
John claims at one moment that he's given up drinking for two days and that's a good amount of time for him.
Lucy tells John that Strozzi and his men were very drunk when they beat her and cut off her ear.

BLOOD/ GORE: A dead, fly covered horse is seen on the dirt street.
Several dead men are seen propped up in a standing position in coffins in the undertaker's shop.
Many of the men who end up getting shot have bloody wounds and/or blood spraying from their bodies as they're shot.
Lucy is bruised after having been beaten by Strozzi and then removes a bandage displaying a meaty hole where her ear once was. It's very gross looking.
Doyle's men beat John to a bloody pulp until his face is swollen and blood covers and flows from his face. It's a very bloody scene.
John reveals where he was shot and a bloody bullet hole is seen in his shirt.

DISRESPECTFUL/BAD ATTITUDE: Nearly everyone has both as most have no respect for life.
A man refers to Felina as Doyle's "property."
The local sheriff (BRUCE DERN) doesn't try to stop the illegal and lethal gang activities.
Smith is a hired gun who kills for money.

FRIGHTENING/TENSE SCENES: Some viewers may find several scenes listed under "Violence" as tense.

GUNS/WEAPONS: Handguns/Machine Guns/Knives: Used to threaten, injure or kill many people. For details see "Violence."

IMITATIVE BEHAVIOR: John drinks whiskey while driving his car into town.
A man gives John the international gesture for "F*ck you."
Phrases: "Bastard," "Greaseball," "Punk," "Wop," and "Kiss my ass."

JUMP SCENES: John jumps out and grabs one of Doyle's men and uses his gun to shoot another man who returns fire and hits the first man. Both end up dead.

MUSIC (SCARY/TENSE): There is a moderate amount of tense music accompanying the many violent encounters in this film.

MUSIC (INAPPROPRIATE): None.

PROFANITY: 6 "s" words, 15 hells, 5 "ass" words, 2 damns, 1 SOB and 11 uses of "God damn," 3 of "For Christ's sakes," and 2 uses of "Jesus Christ" as exclamations.

SEX/NUDITY: John has sex with a hooker and is on top of her and there is sexual movement seen (but only his bare back and no nudity is seen). After some men rush in with guns blazing, John's bare butt is momentarily seen as he returns fire.
John and Lucy passionately kiss and he pulls down her dress straps but there's no nudity and the scene ends before anything happens.

SMOKING: A few men (and Lucy) occasionally smoke throughout the film.

TENSE FAMILY SCENES: None.

TOPICS TO TALK ABOUT: All of the violence and the sheriff's inability to stop any of it.

VIOLENCE: Doyle's men threaten John when he drives into Jericho. One smashes his windshield, another takes a knife and flattens one of his tires, and a third kicks out one of his headlights.
John confronts Doyle's men and shoots one of them dead and shoots at the others but spares their lives.
Men barge into John's room while he's having sex with a hooker. They begin shooting and he grabs his guns and shoots them dead. John grabs the hooker, who's screaming, and slams her into the wall, knocking her out to keep her quiet.
John holds his gun to the hooker's head to make her tell him who set them up to be killed.
Strozzi smacks Lucy on the face.
Some Mexican soldiers shoot a carload of Doyle's men with machine guns.
It's said that at the age of ten, Hickey slit his father's throat and then at the age of 15 burned down the orphanage he lived in.
Several of Strozzi's men try to stop John from leaving and he beats them up, kicking one of them several times. John and Strozzi then draw their guns on each other and hold them there for a moment until Strozzi backs down.
Hickey shoots several people dead (some with a machine gun, the last, a police officer, with a gun) and then kidnaps Giorgio.
In the trade of Giorgio for money, Hickey shoots a man dead and everyone scrambles for cover. Strozzi's men then have Felina and exchange her for Giorgio.
Lucy tells John that Strozzi had been drinking the night before and had beaten her. She then reveals that he cut off her ear and we see the gross looking, torn up meaty hole where her ear once was.
Hickey fires a machine gun in a room of people (but doesn't hit any of them) when he finds out Doyle has hired John as a new employee.
John goes to "protect" Felina but instead shoots Doyle's men who were assigned to be her bodyguards. He kills all of them and kills the last man who was holding a gun to her head. He then sends her on her way with money and the message for her to get out of and away from Jericho.
Doyle's men figure out that it was John who killed the bodyguards. They proceed to unmercifully beat him (and punch and kick him) until blood covers and freely flows from his face.
John jumps out and grabs one of Doyle's men and uses his gun to shoot another man who returns fire and hits the first man. Both end up dead.
Doyle's men beat up Joe the bartender (WILLIAM SANDERSON) as they try to find John, but no matter how many times they hit him, Joe won't talk (even when they threaten to cut off his toes).
Doyle's men set fire to the building Strozzi and his men are in. Those who flee to the outside are gunned down while those who stay inside burn to death. Many people are shot and others leap out of the building on fire and fall to their deaths. Strozzi and Giorgio then surrender and come out with their hands up, but both are gunned down in a hail of bullets.
The bruised, but not defeated, John then sets out on his revenge and guns down all of the men who were interrogating Joe the bartender. Others come after John with machine guns and shotguns but he shoots them all dead. He then reveals his own bullet wound where one of the men evidently shot him.
Joe the bartender shoots Doyle dead and John shoots Hickey and another man.

Reviewed September 17, 1996

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