Last Boy Scout - Das Ziel ist Überleben

The Last Boy Scout is without a doubt one of the greatest action movies ever made. There is nothing a good action film needs that isn't woven into Tony Scott's vision of Shane Black's screenplay. We have shootouts.... lots and lots of shootouts. We have Bruce Willis. We have football. We have some beautiful women at our disposal. There are some fast cars. There are drugs. And the profanity-laden dialog is so well-written that virtually the entire script can be read in the memorable quotes section of this site.

Our story, though completely preposterous, has some real depth. We have multi-dimensional characters and we are taken on quite a ride with them as the action unfolds. Bruce Willis plays a burned out private investigator who helps a disgraced former pro football player solve the murder of his girlfriend. Before our story ends, we have a dirty US senator, a greedy football team owner, and about a hundred seedy henchmen thrown into the mix. Things move so quickly that only towards the end does one of our characters actually speak a line that sums up how ridiculous it all is. Damon Wayans, who plays the former football star gives Willis some sobering insight. He points out that Willis must be one of the dumbest people alive. He is not only trying to save the life of the man who ruined his career, but also trying to avenge the death of the man who was f*#king his wife! But somehow, we the audience care about the outcome, and getting there couldn't be more fun.

The film has dated fairly well up to this point. Being as though it came out in 1991, you can still see a high top fade on a black character or two. The football uniforms have changed a little, too, but these are minor things that take nothing away from the enjoyment of the story. Water is still wet, the sky is still blue, and this is still one hell of a movie...and then some!!! This film scores a perfect 10 of 10 stars. It couldn't have been made any better.

So sayeth the Hound.

The Last Boy Scout is loud, vulgar, trashy – and great entertainment. Bruce Willis plays Joe Hallenbeck, a disgruntled former Secret Service agent struggling with personal demons, a dysfunctional home life and an unsuccessful attempt at living as a private detective. When his newest client, Cory (Halle Berry), is murdered, her boyfriend (Damon Wayans) joins Hallenback to find out why she was killed. What follows is typically Tony Scott – accentuated action, male bonding and loads of violent, gruesome deaths followed by outbursts of comic one-liners.

Written by Shane Black (Lethal Weapon) and directed by Scott (Top Gun), Last Boy Scout works thanks to Bruce Willis and Damon Wayans. The script is stupid, borderline ludicrous – quickly stretching beyond believability, ending in an explosive (somewhat literally) climax that resorts to all the clichés of the genre. However, there is some self-satire to be found within the material. Villains are referred to consistently as "the bad guys." Loads of genre clichés are fooled with, spun into jokes – the car chases and action sequences become satirical in nature, whilst the personal life of Hallenbeck – something that might normally be sugar-coated in another genre film – is totally f***ed up, leaving us with a pre-teen daughter who uses profanity like it's going out of style, a cheating wife, and a weary father who stopped giving a crap about it all a long time ago.

It's the stuff like this that makes Last Boy Scout succeed past its own sources. Shane Black is excellent at writing this type of stuff, and it really shows. Willis is given the best one-liners of his entire career, making Die Hard's crackling dialog look like child's play. Willis in particular is so good, and so at ease with his character, that his cynical and edgy performance makes the film worth seeing – and heck, even worth owning. It's the ultimate Stupid Male Action Film with Great One-Liners and Loads of Action, a genre I'd like to hereby declare official.

In the early 90's, there was a definite, consistent presence in action movies: slow motion cinematography, wild gun-play, and funny one-liners. Granted, there are still some of those today (2004), but it just wasn't the same as back in the day. Now there are so many special effects in the current action films that it drowns out what used to be the great style of a "popcorn flick".

Die Hard paved the way for these type of movies, and some of the offspring of this did well and did not. The Last Boyscout was one that did well. This was a very intelligent and fun action/thriller/buddy-comedy that can still be enjoyed to this day. Tony Scott is the master of under-appreciated action movies in the 90's, such as this and True Romance.

My suggestion is to get a 6-pack, go rent this movie, sit back and enjoy the ride.

It's been 14 years since Tony Scott's The Last Boyscout was released and it was not a major hit at the box office.

Too bad.

Still, this guilty pleasure is one of funniest action movies ever made. The movie starts with the rocky (and cheesy) theme "Friday Night is A Great Night For Football" sung by Bill Medley. You can't top that way to begin a movie.

But then Scott surprises us again. the opening sequence, where a football player is going to use any way possible to score a touchdown, is breath taking too. Enter Joe Hallenback (Willis) and Jimmy Dix (Wayans) two fallen heroes. One, a detective, the other an ex pro of the Stallion's league. The mob is there too, gamble, money, bets, a murdered young girl and big explosions. All of this wrapped up in a great story, which I won't spoil. This film is one of Tarantino's favorites. It's full of one liners and classic scenes. Violent and graphic. "Touch me again and I kill you..." says Willis' character to one of the gangsters. You should see the result. Written by Shane Black (Lethal Weapon) you've got a guarantee you're going to have a great time. Taylor Negron is great as Milo, the villain, a young and beautiful Halle Berry is Kory a girl that knows too much, the sexy Chelsea Field is Hallenback's wife and Danielle Harris is her daughter a great characters that nearly steals the show.

This is not an "art" movie. It's pure entertainment, an excellent flick. Is anything better than that?

We watched this on an encore channel and given it's mediocre 2 star rating and age of 14 years we didn't really expect much. First, we aren't connoisseurs of the action flick and maybe it's too uneven to please people who really dote on the genre. There are a couple of places where the plot is advanced without much pretext other than the need to cut to an exciting bit of action. And there are a couple of action scenes that a good editor would simply have cut.

But Willis and Wayans give energetic and nicely tuned performances. Chelsea Field is just perfect in a limited role as the detective's wife. The villains are far better drawn than the usual bunch of lazy thugs. And Danielle Harris steals the show as Darian Hallenbeck, the feisty and foul-mouthed 13 year old daughter. She grows during the film with barely an effort – by either writer or actor. A part written with great comic creativity. Really the best thing about a film that has a lot of imaginative lines and action moments.

And there are lots of places in this film where the writers give us lines that are head and shoulders above typical film dialog – and way, way beyond the norm for most action movies. A quick guess would be that there were a dozen places where a good line turned up instead of the usual clichés.