Last Man Standing (1996)

Featured Audience Ratings

• Melvin W

  
  Joe Monday: You know, for a guy with no principles, sometimes you act kinda peculiar.  "There are two sides to every war. And John Smith is on both of them." Last Man Standing is not a horrible remake of Yojimbo. But I've got two films to compare it to; those being… More
  Joe Monday: You know, for a guy with no principles, sometimes you act kinda peculiar.  "There are two sides to every war. And John Smith is on both of them." Last Man Standing is not a horrible remake of Yojimbo. But I've got two films to compare it to; those being Yojimbo and A Fistful of Dollars. When you look at it beside them, it obviously isn't going to compare. Really, Last Man Standing isn't that bad, but it suffers from trying to be as cool as Yojimbo and A Fistful of Dollars, when it never could be. Bruce Willis has a cool presence in the movie, but his eyes half shut, whispering routine gets old quicker than normal.  There's some things I did like about the film though. I liked the dusty look to the movie. I liked the new setting for the same story. This time it's in Jericho, Texas during the prohibition days. The town looks like your standard western setup. I also liked Christopher Walken in a gruff voice, scarred face, bad guy role. The stuff I like just doesn't balance up great with the stuff I don't. If you've seen Yojimbo or A Fistful of Dollars, you know this story. It's a cool one. A drifter comes into a war torn town and plays both sides against each other. He plans on making as much money as he can by switching sides at different times, when the money is better on the opposing side. Bruce Willis plays John Smith, the drifter. He's a master gunman and must also be a master dodger because hundreds of people shoot at him, yet none hit him. It's one of those invincible character movies, and I guess I'm fine with that.  This is a story that is so cool that whenever it is remade again, I'll watch it. This one just didn't have everything going for it like the other two, but it's still worth a watch. I probably would have liked it much more if I hadn't seen the other two before it. Knowing how great those two are really does rake away from this. If you haven't seen any of the three, I would suggest watching this one first. You'll get more enjoyment out of this one than I did.

• Phil H

  
  Haven't seen this since 96 on cinematic release but I know it did poorly which is really a bit of a mystery to me as I quite enjoyed this. Well known of course as a remake of 'Yojimbo' and remake of that 'A Fistful of Dollars' so you know what to expect but… More
  Haven't seen this since 96 on cinematic release but I know it did poorly which is really a bit of a mystery to me as I quite enjoyed this. Well known of course as a remake of 'Yojimbo' and remake of that 'A Fistful of Dollars' so you know what to expect but admittedly when completely copying certain scenes exactly from the Clint remake you start to wonder why bother. Apart from that it looks great in Prohibition-era Texas with all the natty suits, hats, a dusty ghostly western town and tommy guns blazing. Action is vicious when it kicks in with some pretty intense over the top gun battles, although the way some bad guys fly back through the air when hit is a tad silly. All the bad guys are well cast and eat up the screen perfectly, Kelly and Walken easily the best, but the casting of Willis was possibly a mistake as he isn't the greatest of actors and doesn't have the presence to pull off a 'Clint' type character. Love the idea of the era for this remake though, perfect choice, good fun to watch in my opinion if slightly slow inbetween the gun fighting and unfortunately the ending is a bit of an anti climax, could of been more epic than that surely?. Solid stuff.

• Reid V

  
  Unfortunately, this is a pretty bad Yojimbo remake. I am a fan of Walter Hill, I just don't know what he was thinking. Also, nobody yelled Warriors in the movie at all. Lame...

• Tim S

  
  Ok, so Last Man Standing is the third acknowledged remake of Akira Kurosawa's Yojimbo (the second being A Fistful of Dollars by Sergio Leone), and it turns out to be the least of the three. Not that it doesn't have some style and over-the-top shootouts in it (and of course,… More
  Ok, so Last Man Standing is the third acknowledged remake of Akira Kurosawa's Yojimbo (the second being A Fistful of Dollars by Sergio Leone), and it turns out to be the least of the three. Not that it doesn't have some style and over-the-top shootouts in it (and of course, Bruce Willis and Christopher Walken), but it suffers from being on the uninteresting side. In this version, there is an unnecessary voice-over, which always spells doom for the story no matter what. The truth is is that it isn't required. The same story can be told without it. Some might argue that Walter Hill was just trying to do something different with it, and I understand that, but did it really need to be done? I'm not sure. All I know is that it's lackluster compared to the classic films that came before it.

• xGary X

  
  A drifter stumbles onto a border town that's being controller by two rival bootlegging gangs during the prohibition era. Last Man Standing is quite a frustrating film because it so very nearly works. Yet another remake of Yojimbo (just how many of them are there out there?) it… More
  A drifter stumbles onto a border town that's being controller by two rival bootlegging gangs during the prohibition era. Last Man Standing is quite a frustrating film because it so very nearly works. Yet another remake of Yojimbo (just how many of them are there out there?) it sets the classic story in the context of Tommy gun toting gangsters in a marriage of the styles of the western and film noir, which is actually a great idea. Willis has his usual presence as the stone-faced and amoral protagonist and the supporting cast has great turns by Bruce Dern and Christopher Walken who puts in a typically memorable and eccentric performance. Add some well choreographed shoot outs from Peckinpah padawan Walter Hill and you have a recipe for success, but somehow it doesn't quite fit together. The script takes the bare bones of the story but doesn't really explore the characters and their motives, and the comic strip treatment is not helped by its episodic nature. A sense of humour would've helped, but more than likely it just suffers greatly in comparison to the far superior original and Sergio Leone's version.

• David L

  
  Last Man Standing is the story of John Smith, a gun-for-hire with an ambiguous conscience. He is on the run from his latest (unexplained) adventures when he finds himself in the small Texas town of Jericho. The town, not really much of a town, is plagued by two warring gangs. Smith… More
  Last Man Standing is the story of John Smith, a gun-for-hire with an ambiguous conscience. He is on the run from his latest (unexplained) adventures when he finds himself in the small Texas town of Jericho. The town, not really much of a town, is plagued by two warring gangs. Smith sees the situation as an opportunity to make some quick cash by playing both sides against each other. However, as the story unfolds we find Smith to be caught in a conflict of his own warped sense of honor and conscience (which of course is profoundly ironic since Smith claims to be without a conscience). The movie is well acted, Bruce Willis as the lead character John Smith is superb and Christopher Walken is, as always, great as the Irish mobs number one shooter. The two lead female characters in the film play a major part in the development of the story despite not having large roles. Overall Last Man Standing is a fantastic movie, but not in the sense that it's a good movie but the sense that it is quite unrealistic. Regardless it is very entertaining and a great movie to watch if your in a action movie mood. It is what is called a "guy" movie by some of my female friends, meaning it is rather violent (though not graphically so) and contains a fair amount of female nudity and sexual content (again not graphically so). My final recommendation is sit down with a bag of popcorn and enjoy. Its worth a look

• Conner R

  
  Actually a pretty fun movie with Bruce Willis doing the usual mowing down of villains. The story was pretty basic, a little too much. It sold itself short because there was a really great movie at heart. Bruce Willis gave a great performances in this, but he's usually pretty… More
  Actually a pretty fun movie with Bruce Willis doing the usual mowing down of villains. The story was pretty basic, a little too much. It sold itself short because there was a really great movie at heart. Bruce Willis gave a great performances in this, but he's usually pretty consistent so there's a lot better movies to choose from.

• Anthony L

  
  A modern take on the Western and the gangster film. It?s also a remake of Yojimbo but if you?re a fan, try and ignore that fact otherwise you may not enjoy it so much!

• Lady D

  
  Not much to say about this film, as towards the end, I lost the plot a little through boredom. Had it not been for the stars in it, I don't think it would have any appeal at all.

• danny d

  
  this film was always good, but its better if you see yojimbo. that is the 1960 samurai flick that this story came from. this one follows that one well, and putting a mafia twist on it was a fun way to see the story.

• Curtis L

  
  I think I liked it, hard to say.

• Ken S

  
  I love the look of this film and what it should have been. The potential of mixing gangster characters, noir dialog and western action is unbelievable but Hill's somber tone removes all of the fun that balanced the brutality of it's predecessors. The voice over in… More
  I love the look of this film and what it should have been. The potential of mixing gangster characters, noir dialog and western action is unbelievable but Hill's somber tone removes all of the fun that balanced the brutality of it's predecessors. The voice over in particular is painful. This story has been told 2 other times with out it and the story isn't that complicated...so basically its' there for stylish witty dialog which is not witty and barley stylish.

• Jason S

  
  Great action flick. Bruce Willis plays the Smith character to the hilt and the rest of the cast is great. Location wise, this was set perfectly and you really feel as though you are in this town disconnected from the rest of the world.

• Dean M

  
  I believe this explosive gun-for-hire action thriller film is familiar to <i>A Fistful of Dollars</i>.

• Aaron N

  
  Finn: I guess you'll just have to kill me. John Smith: It'll hurt if I do. Yojimbo had the original story, A Fistful of Dollars was a western remake, and now this movie is the second remake of that story. A skilled gunfighter comes into town controlled by two rival gangs,… More
  Finn: I guess you'll just have to kill me. John Smith: It'll hurt if I do. Yojimbo had the original story, A Fistful of Dollars was a western remake, and now this movie is the second remake of that story. A skilled gunfighter comes into town controlled by two rival gangs, and plays them against eachother, mainly for money. Willis does what he can, Walken is given some health problem background, so he can't give any great monologues, just some gravely speeches. Some good action, but not great. See the originals.

• Stuart B

  
  Bit of a let down and some of the gun battles are ridiculus

• Michael G

  
  Go watch Yojimbo or Fistful of Dollars instead.

• James A

  
  There was nothing that was really that bad or great about this movie. It does make me want to see the original, to see if this was just a poor execution of a good concept.

• Burger S

  
  Remake of "Fistfull of Dollars" which was a remake of "Yojimbo". Bruce Willis does an amazing job in this 1920's/30's bootlegging, Irish vs Italian version.

• Fascade F

  
  This one brutally violent winner takes all stakes where John Smith (Bruce Willis) is posted up between two gangs in a remote town named Jericho. The time frame is the roaring twenties where prohibition of liquor is big business for organized crime. Just when John Isstarting to get… More
  This one brutally violent winner takes all stakes where John Smith (Bruce Willis) is posted up between two gangs in a remote town named Jericho. The time frame is the roaring twenties where prohibition of liquor is big business for organized crime. Just when John Isstarting to get his footing financially between the two gangs...a Ranger from out of town gives him an ultimatum. Conduct your business and clear out of town in ten days. With his wits and his gun slinging skills in tact...John Smith takes on the challenge to go all out to be...The Last Man Standing...see this. it is a classic!

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