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 (Austin O'Brien) is a big fan of Jack Slater, a larger-than-life action hero played by Arnold Schwarzenegger. When his best friend, Nick the projectionist (Robert Prosky), gives him a magic ticket to the new Jack Slater movie, Danny is transported into Slater's world, where the good guys always win. One of Slater's enemies, Benedict the hitman (Charles Dance), gets ahold of the ticket and ends up in Danny's world, where he realizes 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:

year 1993 | video store | death character | polonius character | claudius character | 

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Taglines:

Did Someone Say Action? [Theatrical]

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Genres:

Action | Adventure | Comedy | 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:

1103 Angelina Street, Los Angeles, California, 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 (35 mm prints)

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.39 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

This movie makes several oblique references to the Governor of Los Angeles. These are eerily prescient statements to make with Arnold Schwarzenegger later becoming the Governor of California.

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Goofs

The rear-view mirror has been removed from the Mercury Sable (the vehicle that Jack steals).

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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 Curse of the Demon (1957)

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Soundtracks

Speedy
Written by Carl W. Stalling

User Reviews

Underrated post-modern take on action movies

Highly underrated Arnie movie.

Is it a comedy? An action movie? A spoof of the entire action movie genre? Well, it might be all of them, and more.

This movie could be interpreted in several ways. In it, Arnold is spoofing himself (or his on-screen persona, anyway) and the genre of action movies in general.

What's more, it's a story within a story, making an audience member part of the story, giving the whole thing a post-modern twist. The movie is full of genre in-jokes and self-references, making fun of many of the clichés - while at the same time referring to other films, actors, and even other genres, making this sort of a celebration of the entire film business.

On the other hand - in case you don't care about all of this - as an action movie in itself, it's still very entertaining. If you like Schwarzenegger action movies, you'll like this one as well.

Don't let anyone tell you this is a "bad movie". See it for yourself, and make up your own mind.