Last Man Standing

I do not quite see the point of making a new version of Akira Kurosawa's "Yojimbo", for it has already been reinterpreted once before, namely by Sergio Leone in "A Fistful of Dollars". So what does Walter Hill add to the story? First and foremost Bruce Willis in the role of the anonymous John Smith, who cold-bloodedly tries to profit from the gang war being played out in the small prairie town he arrives in while on the run from the law or from gangsters. Walter Hill has also made a film that is an aesthetically handsome experience. Not least the film's use of muted earth tones gives it a special look. Finally, the film is set in the 30s, and the small town's gangsters are fighting over the town's booze supply. There is nevertheless still a lot of the western about the film.

John Smith plays cat and mouse with the hot-headed Irish and the equally fiery Italians. Smith's only Achilles heel is his weakness for women, whom he insists on treating like a gentleman. When he frees the gang boss Doyle's mistress, the Mexican Felina, who is being held against her will, the Irish see through him, but he survives until the final showdown and is, in the end, the last man standing.