LAST MAN STANDING
A film review by Lax Madapati
Copyright 1996 Lax Madapati
US, 1996 Running Time: 1:41
Cast: Bruce Willis, Christopher Walken, Bruce Dern, Alexandra Powers, David Patrick Kelley, William Sanderson, Karina Lombard, Ned Eisenberg, Michael Imperioli, Ken Jenkins Director: Walter Hill Screenplay: Walter Hill, Ryuzo Kikushima, Akira Kurosawa Cinematography: Lloyd Ahern Music: Ry Cooder, Elmer Bernstein (score rejected)
Last Man Standing retells the story of the classic Kurosawa samurai film Yojimbo (1961) (which also 'inspired' another film for the Western genre A Fistful of Dollars (1964)), with a little updating for the '90s. This one is set in the 1920's prohibition era where rival gangsters fight each other to take complete control over liquor smuggling in Chicago. The film itself is set in a small dysfunctional town Jericho, somewhere in Texas, near the Mexican border.
The story involves a mysterious stranger going by the name John Smith (Bruce Willis) who enters Jericho in his rundown car and decides to stay in town to make some fast money soon after the first incident involving him makes him realize that there are rival gangs here fighting for control over the liquor smuggling from across the border and redirection to the 'bosses' in Chicago. Pitted against each other are two gangs, one led by Doyle (David P Kelly) and Hickey (Christopher Walken) and the other led by Strozzi (Ned Eisenberg) and Giorgio (Michael Imperioli). The film is about how John Smith eliminates the two gangs with a little help from some town folks like the crooked Sheriff (Bruce Dern) and a bartender who provides him lodging.
There are a few subplots in the story one of which involves Strozzi's girlfriend Lucy (Alexandra Powers) who switches allegiance to Smith after being ill-treated by Strozzi and plays a role in the downfall of Strozzi's gang and another subplot which involves Doyle's 'property' Felina (Karina Lombard) who Smith emancipates from Doyle's clutches and in the process, gets badly beaten up. Some interesting and atmospheric scenes involve the undertaker of the town who always acknowledges Smith's big hand in the town's body count.
A film so inspired by the classic Yojimbo will suffer from comparisons, fair and unfair. Whereas the original had a wicked sense of humor and plays most scenes with dramatic effect, this one does not. The subplot involving Felina shows the only sign of weakness of our protagonist Smith ('when you go down, it will be over a skirt' says the Sheriff to Smith!) and Smith's weakness for women is the only sign of character we come to know, apart from the obvious things like his unending thirst for whiskey and beer and his taciturn and reticent nature. The only other character that stands out is that of Walken which he plays brilliantly. The reviewer felt that Walken will always make a great Bond film villain but was too young when chosen to play Max Zorin in A View to a Kill (1985), resulting in not too good reviews of that performance.
Hill directs the film with gusto and panache, with a lot of slow-motion sequences of violence and stylish camera as is his wont and forte but falls short in the narrative side which he makes up with a lot of atmosphere and visuals. We even have a slight touch of comedy in the film - a little from Smith's cynicism and a lot from the ever-happy undertaker. Right at the start, Hill shows a nice contrast between a dead fly-infested horse on the streets and a dead gangster all decked up in a nice suit and entrenched in a coffin. Willis is right on target as Smith and the gangsters are adequate. There are a few loose ends like why inspite of killing some of their own men, Hickey's gang still want to 'employ' Smith if Hickey and company could completely gut out Strozzi's hideout and wipe out their gang in one big attack, towards the end. Also, Doyle and Felina's relation is never explained and if Doyle felt so strongly about Smith's emancipation of Felina, why didn't he just kill Smith ? The film would have had a better impact had it actually been set in Chicago and not in some vague Texan town.
Ry Cooder, who is a Walter Hill regular, having previously scores Hill's Streets of Fire (1984), Crossroads (1986) and Johnny Handsome (1989) among others, comes up with yet another remarkable score in his inimitable style of fusing elements of jazz, blues and rock guitars with a few classic Western elements thrown in and makes it all blend well with the film's visuals and mood. The heavy distortion he uses on the guitars in the scenes that lead to the dining table massacre by Smith to rescue Felina is very effective. The record label Varese will be releasing Elmer Bernstein's rejected score to this film. The editing is crisp and snappy. Camera work is very good for the most part except for the excessive use of light filters, giving some of the scenes in the film a very glossy and polished look, which is unsuitable when filming scenes of gritty violence and machismo.
There is a high body count in this film and some of it is quite un necessary. All in all, it is a fair enough film that keeps the viewers engaged first to finish without really doing anything more. But then, it wouldn't be wise to expect more than that from a Walter Hill film.
Rating: On the SuperNova Scale ***/*****
(The Supernova Scale: - dud; * poor; ** fair; *** good; **** excellent;
***** memorable)
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