Last Action Hero


Last Action Hero is a 1993 American fantasy action comedy film directed and produced by John McTiernan and co-written by Shane Black and David Arnott. It is a satire of the action genre and associated clichés, containing several parodies of action films in the form of films within the film. The film stars Arnold Schwarzenegger as Jack Slater, a Los Angeles police detective within the Jack Slater action film franchise, while Austin O'Brien co-stars as Danny Madigan, a boy magically transported into the Slater universe, and Charles Dance as Mr. Benedict, a ruthless assassin from the Slater universe who escapes to the real world. Schwarzenegger also served as the film's executive producer and plays himself as the actor portraying Jack Slater. The film also marked Art Carney and Tina Turner's last feature film before their deaths in 2003 and 2023, respectively.
Last Action Hero failed to meet the studio's expectations at the box office, and was both a critical and commercial disappointment. Since its release Last Action Hero gained a cult following, with some noting it as underrated in Schwarzenegger's catalogue.

Plot

10-year-old Danny Madigan lives in a crime-ridden area of NYC with his widowed mother, Irene. Following his father's death, Danny takes comfort in watching action movies, especially a series featuring L.A. cop Jack Slater, at a condemned movie theater. Nick, the theater's owner and projectionist, gives Danny a golden ticket once owned by Harry Houdini and invites him to watch Jack Slater IV.
During the film, the ticket stub transports Danny into the fictional world, interrupting Slater during a car chase. Slater takes Danny to LAPD headquarters, where Danny points out evidence of Slater's fictional world, such as the presence of numerous attractive women and a cartoon cat detective named Whiskers. Danny says that Slater's friend John Practice should not be trusted as he "killed Mozart". Though Slater dismisses this as Danny's imagination, Slater's supervisor, Lieutenant Dekker, assigns Danny as his partner and instructs them to investigate criminal activities related to mafia boss Tony Vivaldi.
Danny guides Slater to Vivaldi's mansion, recognizing its location from the start of the movie. There, they meet Vivaldi's henchman, Mr. Benedict. Vivaldi and Benedict killed Slater's second cousin, but Slater has no evidence and is forced to leave with Danny; however, Benedict is curious as to how Danny knew, and he and several hired guns follow Slater and Danny back to Slater's home. There, Slater, his daughter Whitney, and Danny thwart the attack, though Benedict gets the ticket stub and discovers that it can transport him into the real world.
Slater deduces Vivaldi's plan to murder the rival mob by releasing a lethal gas. He and Danny go to stop it, but are waylaid by Practice, who reveals that Danny was right: he is working for Vivaldi. Whiskers kills Practice, saving Slater and Danny, who prevent any deaths from the gas release. After Vivaldi's plan fails, Benedict kills him and uses the stub to escape into the real world, pursued by Slater and Danny.
Slater becomes despondent upon learning the truth, but cheers up after spending time with Irene. Meanwhile, Benedict devises a plan to kill the actor portraying Slater in the movie, Arnold Schwarzenegger, bring other movie villains into the real world, and take over. To help, Benedict brings the Ripper, the villain of Jack Slater III, to Jack Slater IV's premiere to assassinate Schwarzenegger. Slater saves Schwarzenegger and kills the Ripper. Benedict shoots Slater, critically injuring him. Danny disarms Benedict, allowing Slater to shoot Benedict in his explosive glass eye, killing him; however, the blast causes the stub to be lost. With Slater losing blood, Danny knows he can save him by returning him to the fictional world, where his injury will become a flesh wound.
The ticket stub falls in front of a theater playing The Seventh Seal, where the Figure of Death emerges from the screen. Death is curious: Jack Slater is missing from his lists of when people will die, and Danny is slated to die as a grandfather. Death then suggests searching for the other half of the ticket. Danny finds it and takes Slater back into his movie, where his wounds instantly heal. Danny returns to the real world before the portal closes. A recovered Slater embraces the true nature of his reality, appreciating the differences between the two worlds. Danny and Nick bond while reminiscing on their past, while Slater drives away on the screen, waving goodbye.

Cast

  • Arnold Schwarzenegger in a triple role as
  • * Detective Jack Slater, a fictional LAPD officer, the film's protagonist.
  • * Hamlet.
  • * Arnold Schwarzenegger, a fictionalized version of himself.
  • Austin O'Brien as Danny Madigan, a ten-year-old boy who is a big fan of the Slater franchise and the film's overarching protagonist.
  • Charles Dance as Mr. Benedict, Vivaldi's right-hand man, a supporting antagonist in Jack Slater IV who becomes the film's hidden main antagonist.
  • Robert Prosky as Nick the projectionist.
  • Tom Noonan as the Ripper, the main antagonist of Jack Slater III. Noonan also appears as himself at the Jack Slater IV premiere.
  • Frank McRae as Lieutenant Dekker, Slater's immediate and ill-tempered supervisor, who is always screaming at him.
  • Anthony Quinn as Tony Vivaldi, the main antagonist of Jack Slater IV until Danny's interference changes events. A running gag with him is his frequent butchering of common phrases.
  • Bridgette Wilson as Whitney Slater, Jack's daughter. Wilson also plays Meredith Caprice, the actress who plays Whitney in the Slater films
  • F. Murray Abraham as John Practice, Jack's friend, revealed to be a traitor. Danny says not to trust him, saying he killed Mozart, referring to Abraham's Oscar-winning role as Antonio Salieri in Amadeus.
  • Mercedes Ruehl as Irene Madigan, Danny's mother
  • Art Carney as Frank Slater, Jack's second cousin. This was Carney's final film role.
  • Professor Toru Tanaka as Vivaldi and Benedict's bodyguard
  • Ryan Todd as Andrew Slater, Jack's son, who was killed in Jack Slater III by the Ripper.
  • Jeffrey Braer as Skeezy
  • Bobbie Brown as Video Babe

    Cameo appearances

  • Franco Columbu's name appears during the opening credits as director of Jack Slater IV. Columbu was a fellow bodybuilder and a close friend of Schwarzenegger.
  • Tina Turner as the mayor of Los Angeles at the climax of Jack Slater III. This was Turner's final film role.
  • Sharon Stone and Robert Patrick appear outside the front door of LAPD as Catherine Tramell and the T-1000, respectively. Stone and Patrick had earlier co-starred with Schwarzenegger in Total Recall and Terminator 2, respectively.
  • Mike Muscat as a cop in the LAPD headquarters. Muscat previously appeared with Schwarzenegger as Moshier in Terminator 2: Judgment Day, and was also Edward Furlong's acting coach for the same film.
  • Veteran stuntmen Al Leong, Henry Kingi and Sven-Ole Thorsen as Vivaldi's henchmen in the car chase
  • Sylvester Stallone as the Terminator on a poster promoting Terminator 2: Judgment Day. This references the Schwarzenegger–Stallone rivalry.
  • Angie Everhart as a video store clerk
  • During the premiere of Jack Slater IV in the real world, several celebrities appear as themselves. These include Schwarzenegger's then-wife Maria Shriver, Little Richard, Entertainment Tonight host Leeza Gibbons, Jim Belushi, Timothy Dalton, Damon Wayans, Chevy Chase, Melvin Van Peebles, entertainment reporter Chris Connelly, and Jean-Claude Van Damme.
  • As Jack and Danny enter the movie theater to find Arnold Schwarzenegger, MC Hammer asks Slater about a deal to do the Jack Slater V soundtrack.
  • Michael V. Gazzo as crime boss Torelli
  • Wilson Phillips as themselves
  • Ian McKellen as Death, emerging via the ticket stub's magic from Ingmar Bergman's film The Seventh Seal.
  • Danny DeVito as Whiskers, the cartoon cat police detective. DeVito had earlier co-starred with Schwarzenegger in Twins, and would do so again in Junior.
  • Colleen Camp as Officer Ratcliff, the cop who retaliates when harassed by Whiskers in the police station.
  • Joan Plowright as the English teacher who shows her class the 1948 film adaptation of Hamlet, which starred and was directed by Plowright's husband Laurence Olivier.
  • Black and white digitization of Humphrey Bogart as one of the detectives in the police station.

    Production

Development and writing

Last Action Hero was an original screenplay by Zak Penn and Adam Leff, meant to parody typical action-film screenplays of writers such as Shane Black. Penn himself noted that the studio ironically then had Black rewrite the script. The original screenplay differs heavily from the finished film and is widely available to read online. Although it was still a parody of Hollywood action films, it was set almost entirely in the film world and focused largely on the futile cycle of violence displayed by the hero and the effect it had on people around him. Due to the radical changes, Penn and Leff were eventually credited with the story of the film, but not the screenplay.
Several script doctors did uncredited work on the script, including Carrie Fisher, Larry Ferguson, and William Goldman. Penn and Leff disliked various parts of the final film, including the idea of a magic golden ticket. In their draft, the story would not explain how Danny got transported into the film world.
John McTiernan originally turned down the offer to direct the film, Robert Zemeckis was under consideration to direct, but McTiernan later changed his mind.
Schwarzenegger received a salary of $15 million for his role in the film.
Some scenes were filmed in a dome adjacent to the RMS Queen Mary in Long Beach, California. The exterior of the film's Pandora Theater was the Empire Theater on 42nd Street in New York. The interiors were filmed at the Orpheum Theatre in Los Angeles.