Last Action Hero (1993)

With the help of a magic ticket, a young movie fan is transported into the fictional world of his favorite action movie character.

Director:

John McTiernan

Writers:

Zak Penn (story), Adam Leff (story)

Stars:

Arnold Schwarzenegger, F. Murray Abraham, Art Carney

1 win & 16 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Arnold Schwarzenegger	...	Jack Slater
F. Murray Abraham	...	John Practice
Art Carney	...	Frank
Charles Dance	...	Benedict
Frank McRae	...	Dekker
Tom Noonan	...	Ripper
Robert Prosky	...	Nick
Anthony Quinn	...	Vivaldi
Mercedes Ruehl	...	Mom
Austin O'Brien	...	Danny
Ian McKellen	...	Death (as Sir Ian McKellan)
Professor Toru Tanaka	...	Tough Asian Man
Joan Plowright	...	Teacher
Keith Barish	...	Keith Barish
Jim Belushi	...	James Belushi

Storyline

Young Danny Madigan is a huge 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 newest Jack Slater movie, Danny is transported into Slater's world, his number one hero where the good guys always win. It's a dream come true for Danny, but things take a turn for the worse when one of Slater's enemies, Benedict the hit man, gets ahold of the ticket and ends up in Danny's world. Slater and Danny must join forces and travel back and stop him at all costs before it'll be the end of Jack Slater.

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Plot Keywords:

car | betrayal | parallel universe | hero | villain | 

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Taglines:

A great classic comes to the screen.

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Genres:

Action | Adventure | Comedy | Fantasy

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated PG-13 for strong action sequences

Did You Know?

Trivia

One major reason for this movie's box-office failure was the unforgiving process needed to have it ready for the studio-mandated June 18, 1993 release date, which left almost no time for follow-up editing, or fine-tuning after a disastrous May 1 sneak preview. There were discussions about moving the release into July or August 1993, especially when Universal deliberately chose to open Jurassic Park (1993) on June 11, but it was decided that doing so would turn off potential moviegoers. When this movie was released and received widespread criticism, an anonymous movie worker said "We shouldn't have had Siskel and Ebert telling us the movie is ten minutes too long."

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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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Alternate Versions

The ITV premiere was heavily cut (presumably to fit a two hour schedule); from entire scenes including the burglar at Danny's house and subsequent police station scene to minor cuts to violence such as Arnold kicking a SWAT member in the testicles.

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Connections

References Partners in Crime (1983)

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Soundtracks

Big Gun
Written by Angus Young and Malcolm Young
Produced by Rick Rubin
Performed by AC/DC
Courtesy of ATCO/EastWest Records

User Reviews

quick reviews!

Another underrated movie, and one which few people understand, or try to. This is a spoof of action movies, primarily those starring Arnie and Stallone, ones which director McTiernen has made a living from. That said, the action, stunts, effects are good, the cast, especially Arnie, ham it up as much as possible, and the plot is pretty clever. Tons of in-jokes make this an entertaining film, and I'll admit that's all it is. But that's all it is trying to be. Don't whine to me about artistic merit, character development, internal meditations on life and all that crap-I have those movies on my list too. It's an action movie, where the bad guys are supposed to die, cars are meant to explode when scratched, the good guy is untouchable, and it knows it. 8 out of 10

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

18 June 1993 (USA)

Also Known As:

Extremely Violent

Filming Locations:

Empire State Building - 350 Fifth Avenue, Manhattan, New York City, New York, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$85,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend USA:

$15,338,241, 20 June 1993

Gross USA:

$50,016,394

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$137,298,489

Company Credits

Production Co:

Columbia Pictures, Oak Productions

Technical Specs

Runtime:

130 min

Sound Mix:

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

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.39 : 1