Last Action Hero (1993)

A young movie fan gets thrown into the movie world of his favourite action film character.

Director:

John McTiernan

Writers:

Zak Penn (story), Adam Leff (story),

Stars:

Arnold Schwarzenegger, F. Murray Abraham, Art Carney

1 win & 14 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Arnold Schwarzenegger	...	Jack Slater / Himself
F. Murray Abraham	...	John Practice
Art Carney	...	Frank
Charles Dance	...	Benedict
Frank McRae	...	Lieutenant Dekker
Tom Noonan	...	Ripper / Himself
Robert Prosky	...	Nick
Anthony Quinn	...	Tony Vivaldi
Mercedes Ruehl	...	Irene Madigan
Austin O'Brien	...	Danny Madigan
Ian McKellen	...	Death
Professor Toru Tanaka	...	Tough Asian Man
Joan Plowright	...	Teacher
Keith Barish	...	Himself
Karen Duffy	...	Herself

Storyline

Young Danny Madigan is a big fan of Jack Slater, a larger-than-life action hero played by Arnold Schwarzenegger. When his best friend, Nick the projectionist, gives him a magic ticket to the new Jack Slater film, Danny is transported into Slater's world, where the good guys always win. One of Slater's enemies, Benedict the hitman, gets hold of the ticket and ends up in Danny's world, where he realises that if he can kill Schwarzenegger, Slater will be no more. Slater and Danny must travel back and stop him.

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Plot Keywords:

ticket | hero | magic | action hero | projectionist | 

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Taglines:

The big ticket of '93.

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Genres:

Action | Adventure | Comedy | Family | Fantasy

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated PG-13 for strong action sequences

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

18 June 1993 (USA)

Also Known As:

Extremely Violent

Filming Locations:

1100 block of Angelina Street, Downtown, Los Angeles, California, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$70,000,000 (estimated)

Gross:

£3,634,344 (UK) (17 September 1993)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Columbia Pictures Corporation, Oak Productions

Technical Specs

Runtime:

130 min

Sound Mix:

70 mm 6-Track (70 mm prints) SDDS (8 channels) (35 mm prints)

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

In the film the characters are able to enter and leave the movie world via a magic ticket which is credited to famous stage illusionist and escapologist Harry Houdini. However in real life Houdini was firmly opposed to the idea of supernatural powers and spent his time debunking fake spiritualists and phony mediums.

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Goofs

Danny Madigan states that after the prefix 555, there are only 9999 possible phone numbers, since only four digits are available. This is incorrect: there are 10000 possible phone numbers. He forgets that the combination 0000 is also available.

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Quotes

[first lines]
Dekker: This is one hell of a way to spend Christmas...

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Crazy Credits

The only opening credits in this film are the ones for "Jack Slater IV"

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Connections

References The Terminator (1984)

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Soundtracks

"Overture, The Marriage of Figaro"
Written by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Performed by The Academy of St. Martin-in-the-Fields
Conducted by Neville Marriner

User Reviews

Too intellegent for it's target audience

After a string of predictable cookie cutter script action flicks that made money from Arnie's muscles and persona, one studio decided to take a chance and try a Hollywood self-mocking film starring the big guy. It had a story line that actually made one think and pay attention in order to appreciate the paradoxes arising from its premise.( A fun side effect is that its movie within a movie allowed for some more over-the-top stunts and tough guy scenes than even the simplest knuckle dragging mouth breathing 'action' film fans would normally sit for) Scenes with recognized characters drawn from recent popular films were played tongue in cheek and while the story proceeded on a couple of levels there were enough innuendos and amusing elements in the background to keep the viewer's appreciative attention. The result of this comparatively well polished gamble was the sort of reception reflected by the vote results in this IMDB poll. A surprizing number of viewers don't like it.

Maybe the studios waited too long to try a movie like this with Arnold. It is possible that the market segment that would appreciate a film like this had already dismissed Arnie as the Commando/Raw Deal lout and dismissed the film unseen, while the usual shoot'em punch'em fans found their brains hurting too much from trying to follow a real story.

One thing is sure, the studios are watching and you can bet they won't make that mistake again. Get ready for more movies that play to the lowest common denominator and are written so the dullest gonk in the movie house can still comprehend the plot. Red Sonja, Judge Dredd, The Running Man, here they come.