# Last Man Standing (1996 film)
**Last Man Standing** is a 1996 American action film written and directed by [Walter Hill](https://www.edgepedia.org/walter-hill), in which a mercenary gunman pits two rival Prohibition-era bootlegging gangs against each other in the Texas border town of Jericho. It is a remake of [Akira Kurosawa](https://www.edgepedia.org/akira-kurosawa)'s samurai film *Yojimbo* (1961), credited to the story by Ryuzo Kikushima and Kurosawa, and stars [Bruce Willis](https://www.edgepedia.org/bruce-willis) as the gunman John Smith.[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Catalog/moviedetails/60471)
| Key fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Director and writer | Walter Hill, who also produced with Arthur Sarkissian[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Catalog/moviedetails/60471) |
| Source | Based on the story *Yojimbo* by Ryuzo Kikushima and Akira Kurosawa (Kurosawa Productions, Toho Co., Ltd, 1961)[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Catalog/moviedetails/60471) |
| Setting | Jericho, Texas, near the Mexican border, in 1931 during Prohibition[2](https://www.the-independent.com/arts-entertainment/a-facial-hair-problem-1365060.html) |
| Lead cast | Bruce Willis (John Smith), Christopher Walken (Hickey), Bruce Dern (Sheriff Ed Galt), David Patrick Kelly (Doyle), Karina Lombard (Felina)[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Catalog/moviedetails/60471) |
| Technical credits | Cinematography Lloyd Ahern; music Ry Cooder; editing Freeman Davies[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Catalog/moviedetails/60471) |
| Release and rating | United States, 1996; 101 minutes; MPAA R; distributed by New Line Cinema[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Catalog/moviedetails/60471) |
| Box office | $18,115,927 domestic and $47,267,001 worldwide against a $67,000,000 budget[3](https://www.boxofficemojo.com/title/tt0116830/) |
| Critical scores | 41% on the Rotten Tomatoes Tomatometer (34 reviews); 51% audience Popcornmeter[4](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/last_man_standing) |
## Spoilers
### Plot and setting
The film moves Kurosawa's story to 1931, in a small Texas town about 50 miles from the Mexican border.[2](https://www.the-independent.com/arts-entertainment/a-facial-hair-problem-1365060.html) • [5](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0116830/plotsummary/) A drifter who gives his name as John Smith (Bruce Willis) arrives in Jericho, a near-ghost town whose decent residents have been driven off by two warring gangs.[5](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0116830/plotsummary/) The Irish mob led by Doyle ([David Patrick Kelly](https://www.edgepedia.org/david-patrick-kelly)) and the Italian mob led by Fredo Strozzi (Ned Eisenberg) compete for control of the border smuggling pipeline, running illegal liquor through the town during [Prohibition](https://www.edgepedia.org/prohibition).[5](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0116830/plotsummary/) • [6](https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/lifestyle/1996/09/20/last-man-dressed-to-kill/00de2628-c9e2-4190-9d24-f632f90d5780/)
Smith, an amoral gunslinger for hire, sees the standoff as a chance to make money by playing the two sides against each other.[5](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0116830/plotsummary/) He sells his services first to Strozzi, then trades information to Doyle, and uses Felina ([Karina Lombard](https://www.edgepedia.org/karina-lombard)), a woman with whom Doyle is infatuated, to push both bosses into full-scale bloodshed.[4](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/last_man_standing) The only one who suspects his game is Hickey ([Christopher Walken](https://www.edgepedia.org/christopher-walken)), Doyle's scarred, psychotic lieutenant, whose arrival from Chicago raises the stakes.[4](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/last_man_standing) • [6](https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/lifestyle/1996/09/20/last-man-dressed-to-kill/00de2628-c9e2-4190-9d24-f632f90d5780/) Despite his strictly avowed mercenary intentions, Smith ends up risking his life for his own skewed sense of honor.[5](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0116830/plotsummary/)
The supporting cast includes [Bruce Dern](https://www.edgepedia.org/bruce-dern) as Sheriff Ed Galt, William Sanderson as the innkeeper Joe Monday, Alexandra Powers as Lucy Kolinski, and [Michael Imperioli](https://www.edgepedia.org/michael-imperioli) as Giorgio Carmonte.[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Catalog/moviedetails/60471) • [7](https://www.justwatch.com/us/movie/last-man-standing-1996)
## Lineage from Yojimbo
The film is the third major screen version of the same plot. Kurosawa's *Yojimbo* (1961), about a lone samurai who plays two warring parties against each other for personal gain, was itself inspired by [Dashiell Hammett](https://www.edgepedia.org/dashiell-hammett)'s novel *Red Harvest*; [Sergio Leone](https://www.edgepedia.org/sergio-leone)'s spaghetti Western *A Fistful of Dollars* (1964), which made [Clint Eastwood](https://www.edgepedia.org/clint-eastwood) a star, was derived from the Kurosawa film.[8](https://jonathanrosenbaum.net/1996/09/last-man-standing/) • [9](https://www.deseret.com/1996/9/24/20087952/film-review-last-man-standing/) Hill bought the rights to the screenplay from Kurosawa, making this an officially sanctioned remake rather than an unofficial one like Leone's.[10](https://wc.arizona.edu/papers/90/26/14_1_m.html)
The transposition is unusual in kind, not just in setting. In Chris Hicks's view at the Deseret News, adapting a samurai film into a Western is only a jump between cultures, whereas relocating that tale to a west Texas town that is almost empty, where bootleggers fight each other amid the [Depression](https://www.edgepedia.org/depression), results in a cross between a gangster movie and a Western.[9](https://www.deseret.com/1996/9/24/20087952/film-review-last-man-standing/) In Kurosawa's film the town was divided between clans selling sake and silk rather than booze, and the hero was a mercenary samurai rather than a Depression-era gunman in tweeds.[11](https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/last-man-standing-1996) • [2](https://www.the-independent.com/arts-entertainment/a-facial-hair-problem-1365060.html)
## Style
The film's visual and sound design drew consistent critical attention. Cinematographer Lloyd Ahern's desaturated images drain color from the dusty western street set, leaving reds, browns, and shadows, while [Ry Cooder](https://www.edgepedia.org/ry-cooder)'s mournful, portentous score competes with thunderous gunplay.[12](https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1996-09-20-ca-45576-story.html) • [11](https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/last-man-standing-1996) Hill uses extensive voice-over narration from Smith and renders the gangster-cowboy gun battles, fought with tommy guns instead of six-shooters, in spectacular slow motion.[2](https://www.the-independent.com/arts-entertainment/a-facial-hair-problem-1365060.html) • [6](https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/lifestyle/1996/09/20/last-man-dressed-to-kill/00de2628-c9e2-4190-9d24-f632f90d5780/) The gunfight choreography, with two-fisted .45 automatics, was noted by reviewers as a modernizing update of the sword-and-pistol confrontations of the earlier films.[13](https://www.timeout.com/movies/last-man-standing)
## Reception
The film opened in Los Angeles and New York the week of September 20, 1996.[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Catalog/moviedetails/60471) It earned $7,010,333 on its domestic opening weekend and finished with $18,115,927 in the United States and $47,267,001 worldwide, well below its $67,000,000 budget.[3](https://www.boxofficemojo.com/title/tt0116830/)
Critics were largely negative. Roger Ebert, the [Chicago Sun-Times](https://www.edgepedia.org/chicago-sun-times) critic who won the Pulitzer Prize for criticism in 1975, called it a desperately cheerless film and a mannered, juiceless, excruciatingly repetitive exercise in style, giving it one star.[11](https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/last-man-standing-1996) The Washington Post's Desson Howe found it watchable and often enjoyable but dismayingly empty, while praising the casting of Willis, whom he called the Steve McQueen of the 1990s.[6](https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/lifestyle/1996/09/20/last-man-dressed-to-kill/00de2628-c9e2-4190-9d24-f632f90d5780/) Kevin Thomas of the Los Angeles Times judged the film handsome and carefully wrought but felt its carnage had been seen too many times before for too little reason.[12](https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1996-09-20-ca-45576-story.html) Janet Maslin of The New York Times wrote that the film comes to life only in its rapturous, ear-splitting gunfights, which would have larger impact if anyone cared which gangsters lived or died.[14](https://www.metacritic.com/movie/last-man-standing/critic-reviews/) On Rotten Tomatoes the film holds 41% on the Tomatometer, with a critics consensus that its brooding atmosphere and artfully arranged action are intriguing yet ultimately insufficient substitutes for a consistently compelling story; the audience Popcornmeter score is 51%.[4](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/last_man_standing)
## References
1. [Last Man Standing (1996), AFI Catalog](https://catalog.afi.com/Catalog/moviedetails/60471)
2. [A facial hair problem, The Independent (Adam Mars-Jones, 25 September 1996)](https://www.the-independent.com/arts-entertainment/a-facial-hair-problem-1365060.html)
3. [Last Man Standing (1996), Box Office Mojo](https://www.boxofficemojo.com/title/tt0116830/)
4. [Last Man Standing, Rotten Tomatoes](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/last_man_standing)
5. [Last Man Standing (1996) - Plot, IMDb](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0116830/plotsummary/)
6. [LAST MAN: DRESSED TO KILL, The Washington Post (Desson Howe, 20 September 1996)](https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/lifestyle/1996/09/20/last-man-dressed-to-kill/00de2628-c9e2-4190-9d24-f632f90d5780/)
7. [Last Man Standing streaming, JustWatch](https://www.justwatch.com/us/movie/last-man-standing-1996)
8. [Last Man Standing, Jonathan Rosenbaum (1996)](https://jonathanrosenbaum.net/1996/09/last-man-standing/)
9. [Film review: Last Man Standing, Deseret News (Chris Hicks, 24 September 1996)](https://www.deseret.com/1996/9/24/20087952/film-review-last-man-standing/)
10. [Last Man Standing falls flat, Arizona Daily Wildcat (1996)](https://wc.arizona.edu/papers/90/26/14_1_m.html)
11. [Last Man Standing movie review, Roger Ebert (20 September 1996)](https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/last-man-standing-1996)
12. [Last Man Stands in Center of a Violent Showdown, Los Angeles Times (Kevin Thomas, 20 September 1996)](https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1996-09-20-ca-45576-story.html)
13. [Last Man Standing, Time Out](https://www.timeout.com/movies/last-man-standing)
14. [Last Man Standing critic reviews, Metacritic](https://www.metacritic.com/movie/last-man-standing/critic-reviews/)
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*Topic: Encyclopedia › Arts and culture › Screen and stage › Film and television › Films and standalone screen works › Individual films by title and year › Action and adventure films (individual works) › Westerns, 1980 onward*
*Initially written Sep 17, 2026 · Reviewed: Oct 3, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Oct 3, 2026; Oct 25, 2026; Nov 1, 2026 · Last review: Oct 25, 2026*
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