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Last Action Hero

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Last Action Hero
A large muscular man jumping out of the cinema screen, hanging off a helicopter and carrying a boy under his arm
Theatrical release poster
Directed byJohn McTiernan
Screenplay by
Story by
Produced by
  • John McTiernan
  • Steve Roth
Starring
CinematographyDean Semler
Edited by
Music byMichael Kamen
Production
companies
Distributed byColumbia Pictures[1][2]
Release dates
  • June 13, 1993 (1993-06-13) (Westwood)
  • June 18, 1993 (1993-06-18) (United States)
Running time
131 minutes[3]
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
Budget$85 million[4]
Box office$137.3 million[4]

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.[5] 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.[6] 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,[7] with some noting it as underrated in Schwarzenegger's catalogue.[8][9][10][11]

Plot

[edit]

Ten-year-old Danny Madigan lives in a crime-ridden area of New York City with his widowed mother, Irene. Following his father's death, Danny takes comfort in watching action movies, especially a series featuring Los Angeles cop Jack Slater at a condemned movie theatre owned by Nick. Nick gives Danny a golden ticket once owned by Harry Houdini and invites him to watch Jack Slater IV.

During the film, the ticket stub (counterfoil) transports Danny into the fictional world, interrupting Slater during a car chase. Slater takes Danny to the LAPD headquarters, where Danny points out evidence of the fictional nature of Slater's 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" (since he is played by the same actor as Antonio Salieri in Amadeus). 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, recognising 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 the only way to save him is to return him to the fictional world, where his injury will become a flesh wound.

The ticket stub falls in front of a theatre 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 then embraces the true nature of his reality, appreciating the differences between the two worlds. Danny and Nick bond while reminiscing their past, while Slater drives away on the screen, waving goodbye.

Cast

[edit]
  • Arnold Schwarzenegger as Detective Jack Slater, a fictional LAPD officer who serves as the film's protagonist. Schwarzenegger also portrays Hamlet and 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.[12]
  • 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. He 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 (credited as the Tough Asian Man) 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 (credited as Bobbi Brown Lane) as Video Babe

Cameo appearances

[edit]

Production

[edit]

Development and writing

[edit]

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.[13] 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.[14]

Several script doctors did uncredited work on the script, including Carrie Fisher, Larry Ferguson, and William Goldman.[15][16] 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.[17]

John McTiernan originally turned down the offer to direct the film, Robert Zemeckis was under consideration to direct, but McTiernan later changed his mind.[1]

Schwarzenegger received a salary of $15 million for his role in the film.[18]

Some scenes were filmed in a dome adjacent to the RMS Queen Mary in Long Beach, California.[19][20] 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.

Years after its release, the film was the subject of a scathing chapter called "How They Built The Bomb", in the Nancy Griffin book Hit and Run which detailed misadventures at Sony Pictures in the early to mid-1990s. Among the details presented in this chapter were:

  • Universal moved Jurassic Park to June 11, 1993, well after Sony had decided on a June 18 release date for Last Action Hero. [14]
  • The movie was reportedly the first to have an advertisement placed on a space-going rocket.[21]
  • The film was capsized by a wave of negative publicity after a rough cut of it was shown to a preview audience in May. Sony then destroyed the test cards and the word-of-mouth proved to be catastrophic for the film.[14]
  • The shooting and editing schedule were so demanding and so close to the June 18 release date that after the movie's release, a source close to the film said that they "shouldn't have had Siskel and Ebert telling us the movie is 10 minutes too long".
  • Sony was even more humiliated the weekend after the film opened, when the movie lost 47% of its opening-weekend audience and had TriStar's Sleepless in Seattle open as the number-two movie at the box office.
  • The final declared financial loss for the film was $26 million.
  • Last Action Hero was the first film to be released using Sony Dynamic Digital Sound, but only a few theaters were set up for the new format, and many of those experienced technical problems with the new system. Insiders at Paramount reportedly referred to it as "Still Doesn't Do Shit".[22]

Music

[edit]

Last Action Hero: Music from the Original Motion Picture
Soundtrack album by
various artists
ReleasedJune 8, 1993 (1993-06-08)[23]
Genre
Length54:19
LabelColumbia Records
ProducerVarious Artists
Singles from Last Action Hero: Music from the Original Motion Picture
  1. "Big Gun"
    Released: May 24, 1993[23]
  2. "Real World"
    Released: May 31, 1993[23]
  3. "What the Hell Have I"
    Released: June 7, 1993[23]
  4. "Angry Again"
    Released: June 14, 1993[23]
  5. "Two Steps Behind"
    Released: August 24, 1993[24]
  6. "Dream On (Live)"
    Released: June 8, 1993
Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic link
Philadelphia Inquirer[25]

The film was scored by composer Michael Kamen and peaked at No. 7 on The Billboard 200 chart.[26] The album, which was positively received by active rock radio outlets, was certified platinum on August 24, 1993.[27]

No.TitlePerformed byLength
1."Big Gun"AC/DC4:24
2."What the Hell Have I"Alice in Chains3:58
3."Angry Again"Megadeth3:47
4."Real World"Queensrÿche4:21
5."Two Steps Behind"Def Leppard4:19
6."Poison My Eyes"Anthrax7:04
7."Dream On (Live)"Aerosmith5:42
8."A Little Bitter"Alice in Chains3:53
9."Cock the Hammer"Cypress Hill4:11
10."Swim"Fishbone4:13
11."Last Action Hero"Tesla5:44
12."Jack and the Ripper"Michael Kamen and the Los Angeles Rock And Roll Ensemble featuring Buckethead3:43
Total length:54:19

Certifications

[edit]
Region Certification Certified units/sales
Canada (Music Canada)[28] Platinum 100,000^
United States (RIAA)[29] Platinum 1,000,000^

^ Shipments figures based on certification alone.

Release

[edit]

Theatrical

[edit]

At the time of its release, the film was billed as "the next great summer action movie" and many movie insiders predicted it would be a huge blockbuster, especially following the success of Schwarzenegger's previous film, Terminator 2: Judgment Day.[30] The film premiered in Westwood, Los Angeles on June 13, 1993, and entered general release in the United States five days later.[1] It introduced the 1993 Columbia Pictures logo.

Home media

[edit]

Last Action Hero was released on VHS and LaserDisc on January 26, 1994,[31] and on DVD on October 7, 1997. On February 3, 2009, Last Action Hero was reissued on DVD by Sony Pictures Home Entertainment in a double-feature set with the 1986 film Iron Eagle.[32] It was released on the high-definition Blu-ray Disc format on January 12, 2010. The film double-featured with Hudson Hawk on Blu-ray and released by Umbrella Entertainment on September 4, 2019, in Australia only. An Ultra HD Blu-ray restored version was released on May 18, 2021, and featured a director's commentary track, deleted scenes, an alternative ending, and the original theatrical trailer, all in 4K.[33] The film was re-released with Cliffhanger in a 2-Movie Collection Blu-ray pack on November 2, 2021.[34]

Reception

[edit]

Box office

[edit]

The film grossed approximately $1.1 million in previews on the evening of Thursday, June 17, 1993, and opened at number two at the US box office, behind Jurassic Park's second weekend, grossing $14.2 million on its opening weekend from 2,306 theaters.[35] It ended its run with $50,016,394 in the United States and Canada. The film was released in the United Kingdom on July 30, 1993, on 266 screens and again opened at number two behind Jurassic Park (on 435 screens) with a gross of $1.34 million for the weekend.[36][37] In France it opened at number one with a gross of 21 million French franc ($3.6 million) in its opening week.[38] It grossed $87,202,095 overseas, for a worldwide total of $137,298,489.[39] In an A&E biography of Schwarzenegger, the actor (who was also the film's executive producer) says that the film could have done better if not for bad timing, since it came out a week after Jurassic Park which went on to break box-office records as one of the top-grossing films of all time.

Schwarzenegger states that he tried to persuade his coproducers to postpone the film's June 18 release in the United States by four weeks, but they turned a deaf ear on the grounds that the film would have lost millions of dollars in revenue for every weekend of the summer it ended up missing, also fearing that delaying the release would create negative publicity. He told the authors of Hit And Run that while everyone involved with the production had given their best effort, their attempt to appeal to both action and comedy fans resulted in a film that appealed to neither audience and ultimately succumbed to heavy competition.[40][41][42][43]

Critical response

[edit]

Last Action Hero received mixed reviews from critics. On Rotten Tomatoes, the film has an approval rating of 40% based on 53 reviews and an average rating of 5.1/10. The site's critical consensus reads, "Last Action Hero has most of the right ingredients for a big-budget action spoof, but its scattershot tone and uneven structure only add up to a confused, chaotic mess."[44] On Metacritic, the film has a weighted average score of 44 out of 100 based on 19 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews".[45] Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "C+" on an A+ to F scale.[46]

Roger Ebert gave the film 2.5 stars out of 4, writing that despite some entertaining moments, Last Action Hero "plays more like a bright idea than like a movie that was thought through. It doesn't evoke the mystery of the barrier between audience and screen the way Woody Allen did in The Purple Rose of Cairo, and a lot of the time it simply seems to be standing around commenting on itself."[47] Vincent Canby likened the film to "a two-hour Saturday Night Live sketch" and called it "something of a mess, but a frequently enjoyable one".[48] Owen Gleiberman of Entertainment Weekly wrote: "Last Action Hero makes such a strenuous show of winking at the audience (and itself) that it seems to be celebrating nothing so much as its own awfulness. In a sense, the movie's incipient commercial failure completes it aesthetically."[49] Variety called it "a joyless, soulless machine of a movie, an $80 million-plus mishmash of fantasy, industry in-jokes, self-referential parody, film-buff gags and too-big action set-pieces."[50] Halliwell's Film Guide described it as "a film that tries to have it both ways, simultaneously mocking and celebrating the conventions of action movies, which leaves audiences, as well as the actors and director, in a state of bewildered confusion".[51] John Ferguson of Radio Times was more positive, awarding it four stars out of five and stating, "An Arnold Schwarzenegger backlash had been on the cards for some time and when this extravaganza was released the knives were well and truly out. It was actually all a little unfair, because this is a smart, funny blockbuster [...] Schwarzenegger has rarely been better and he is backed up by a never-ending stream of star names in cameo roles [...] And, although McTiernan has fun spoofing the conventions of the action genre, he still manages to slip in some spectacular set pieces."[52]

Legacy

[edit]

About the film's failure and critical response, John McTiernan said:

Initially, it was a wonderful Cinderella story with a nine-year-old boy. We had a pretty good script by Bill Goldman, charming. And this ludicrous hype machine got hold of it, and it got buried under bullshit. It was so overwhelmed with baggage. And then it was whipped out unedited, practically assembled right out of the camera. It was in the theater five or six weeks after I finished shooting. It was kamikaze, stupid, no good reason for it. And then to open the week after Jurassic Park—God! To get to the depth of bad judgment involved in that, you'd need a snorkel.[53]

Later Schwarzenegger blamed the film's poor performance on bad press and the election of Democratic president Bill Clinton, which he said influenced audiences to see 1980s action film stars as lowbrow. In 2017, he said streaming services gave the film its chance to reach new audiences unencumbered by the bad press. In Netflix's three-part docuseries Arnold (released in 2023), the actor recalled how the failure of the movie affected him. "When Last Action Hero came out I had reached my peak after Terminator 2, having the most successful movie of the year worldwide, I cannot tell you how upset that I was [about the negative Last Action Hero reviews]. It hurts you. It hurts your feelings. It's embarrassing. I didn't want to see anyone for a week but you keep plodding along." Director James Cameron said that he had called Schwarzenegger the weekend after Last Action Hero opened and recalled that it was the only time he's "ever heard him down." Cameron continued, "He took it as a deep blow to his brand. I think it really shook him."[54]

Shane Black was very critical of the movie: "It was a mess. There was a movie in there, struggling to emerge, which would have pleased me. But what they'd made was a jarring, random collection of scenes."[15]

In the years since the release of Last Action Hero, the film has developed a strong cult following. Schwarzenegger singled out that movie as his most underrated: "Last Action Hero was great – it wasn't fantastic, but it was underrated. Now, more and more people are seeing it and saying, "I love this movie." I'm getting the residual checks, so I know it's true. It made money – that's always an important thing for me. Because it's show business, right?"[55] Later, Charles Dance said: "I think they just didn't time the release very well. It came out more or less at the same time as something very big", referring to Jurassic Park. "But it was fun to do." He also praised Schwarzenegger: "Arnold is a very smart man, oh yes. Very definitely. And very funny, and very aware."[56]

Accolades

[edit]

The film was nominated for six Golden Raspberry Awards: Worst Picture, Worst Actor (Arnold Schwarzenegger), Worst Director, Worst Screenplay, Worst New Star (Austin O'Brien), and Worst Original Song ("Big Gun"), but it did not win any. At the 1993 Stinkers Bad Movie Awards, the film received two nominations without wins: Worst Picture and Worst Actor (Schwarzenegger).[57] The film was also nominated for seven Saturn Awards for Best Fantasy Film, Best Actor, Best Director, Best Writing, Best Performance by a Young Actor, Best Costume, and Best Special Effects, again winning nothing.[58]

Video games

[edit]

A video game based on the film was released in 1994 on video game consoles, the themed-pinball machine by Data East was included and released on The Pinball Arcade and its spin-off Stern Pinball Arcade in 2016.

Potential sequel

[edit]

In October 2019, Schwarzenegger said that he was open to starring in True Lies 2 and Last Action Hero 2, possible legacy sequels to the two films of his 90s action roles if there was sufficient fan interest.[59]

See also

[edit]

References

[edit]
  1. ^ a b c d e "Last Action Hero". AFI Catalog of Feature Films. American Film Institute. Retrieved May 29, 2019.
  2. ^ Weinraub, Bernard (June 22, 1993). "Columbia Ponders The Fate Of 'Hero'". The New York Times. Retrieved October 27, 2010.
  3. ^ "Last Action Hero (15)". British Board of Film Classification. July 13, 1993. Retrieved May 10, 2019.
  4. ^ a b Last Action Hero at Box Office Mojo
  5. ^ "Last Action Hero". Turner Classic Movies. Retrieved March 7, 2016.
  6. ^ "'Last Action Hero' Can't Deliver As Action Flick, Parody In One". Orlando Sentinel. Archived from the original on September 8, 2012. Retrieved October 27, 2010.
  7. ^ "Last Action Hero : Le flop devenu culte de John McTiernan". Premiere (in French). July 24, 2015. Archived from the original on March 27, 2019.
  8. ^ "Arnold Schwarzenegger's Best Movies Ranked". Collider. March 6, 2022.
  9. ^ "These Are the Best Arnold Schwarzenegger Movies, Ranked". MovieWeb. February 18, 2022.
  10. ^ "Every Arnold Schwarzenegger Action Movie Ranked from Worst to Best". Screen Rant. August 7, 2021.
  11. ^ Porter, Edward (June 25, 2023). "10 best Arnold Schwarzenegger movies — ranked". The Times.
  12. ^ Vanderknyff, Rick (June 18, 1993). "Limelight, Cameras, 'Action' for O.C. Boy : Movies: 'Hero' co-star Austin O'Brien is full partner in media blitz". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved October 27, 2010.
  13. ^ Pristin, Terry (May 16, 1993). "SUMMER SNEAKS : Well, They Wanted Action: Brash newcomers Zak Penn and Adam Leff engineered their own industry buzz, landing an agent and a deal for their screenplay. Fame and fortune followed, but with a weird ending". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved October 27, 2010.
  14. ^ a b c Parish 2006, p. 198.
  15. ^ a b De Semlyen, Nick (January 18, 2012). "The Life And Death Of Last Action Hero". Empire. Retrieved May 22, 2020.
  16. ^ "Carrie Fisher helped write 'Last Action Hero' and 6 other things you didn't know about the cult classic". Yahoo!. June 18, 2018. Retrieved May 22, 2020.
  17. ^ "Everything the first writers of 'Last Action Hero' didn't like about 'Last Action Hero'". Yahoo!. June 18, 2018. Retrieved May 22, 2020.
  18. ^ Marin, Rick (May 9, 1993). "Film; Battle of the Action Heroes". The New York Times. Retrieved February 19, 2009.
  19. ^ Pinsky, Mark I. (March 10, 1995). "Long Beach Dome Gets New Life in Film". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved October 30, 2019.
  20. ^ Grobaty, Tim (January 22, 2008). "Spruce Goose dome became landmark on its own". Los Angeles Daily News. Retrieved October 30, 2019.
  21. ^ Fox, David J. (March 3, 1993). "'Action' Promotion Is Out of This World : Movies: Sources said the stunt, in which the movie's logo will be painted on a NASA rocket, will cost Columbia about $500,000". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved August 8, 2020.
  22. ^ Griffin, Nancy; Masters, Kim (June 17, 1997). Hit and Run: How Jon Peters and Peter Guber Took Sony for a Ride in Hollywood. Touchstone. ISBN 9780684832661. Retrieved February 16, 2012.
  23. ^ a b c d e Russell, Deborah (May 22, 1993). "Sony in Overdrive For 'Hero' Tie-Ins". Billboard. pp. 10, 122. Retrieved July 8, 2018.
  24. ^ "23 Years Ago Def Leppard Release Two Steps Behind Single In USA". deflepparduk.com. August 24, 2016. Retrieved July 8, 2018.
  25. ^ Wood, Sam (July 6, 1993). "The Music from Some Summer Movies". Philadelphia Inquirer.
  26. ^ "Album Search for "last action hero original soundtrack"". AllMusic. Retrieved March 20, 2019.
  27. ^ "Gold & Platinum, Last Action Hero". RIAA. Retrieved March 20, 2019.
  28. ^ "Canadian album certifications – Various Artists – Last Action Hero - Original Motion Picture Soundtrack". Music Canada. Retrieved November 25, 2022.
  29. ^ "American album certifications – Soundtrack – Last Action Hero". Recording Industry Association of America. Retrieved November 25, 2022.
  30. ^ Pristin, Terry (June 30, 1993). "'Last Action': Too Many Heroes? : Big-Name Star, Director and Writers--So What Happened?". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved August 8, 2020.
  31. ^ McGowan, Chris (December 18, 1993). "LaserScans" (PDF). Billboard. p. 50. Retrieved February 4, 2024.
  32. ^ "Last Action Hero/Iron Eagle DVD". CDUniverse.com.
  33. ^ Evangelista, Chris (March 5, 2021). "Last Action Hero 4K Arriving in May". /Film. Retrieved September 29, 2021.
  34. ^ "Last Action Hero & Cliffhanger". Blu-ray.com. Retrieved October 13, 2021.
  35. ^ "Weekly box office report U.S. - Canada". Variety. July 12, 1993. p. 8.
  36. ^ Groves, Don (August 3, 1993). "'Park' ever greener; 'Action' tepid in U.K.". Daily Variety. p. 18.
  37. ^ "International box office". Variety. August 16, 1993. p. 11.
  38. ^ Groves, Don (August 30, 1993). "'Park' nears $200 mil in o'seas". Variety. p. 9.
  39. ^ "'Hero' Fails To Conquer Box Office". Orlando Sentinel. June 22, 1993. Archived from the original on July 7, 2012. Retrieved October 27, 2010.
  40. ^ Fox, David J. (June 30, 1993). "Theaters Report 'Hero' Is Running on Short Legs". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved April 1, 2022.
  41. ^ Fox, David J. (May 16, 1993). "SUMMER SNEAKS : The Seasonal Sweats : 'Jurassic Park' and 'Last Action Hero' are going to take the summer, no problem. But there are a few other movies that are pretty good bets". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved October 27, 2010.
  42. ^ Fox, David J. (June 28, 1993). "'Sleepless' Surprises Hollywood : Movies: Romantic comedy opens with a strong $17 million; 'Last Action Hero' falls 50% at box office. 'Jurassic Park' collects another $28 million". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved October 27, 2010.
  43. ^ Fox, David J. (June 16, 1993). "Schwarzenegger No Dinosaur in Advance Sales". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved October 27, 2010.
  44. ^ "Last Action Hero (1993)". Rotten Tomatoes. Fandango. Retrieved June 4, 2023.
  45. ^ "Last Action Hero Reviews". Metacritic. CBS Interactive. Retrieved May 6, 2018.
  46. ^ "CinemaScore". Archived from the original on February 6, 2018.
  47. ^ Ebert, Roger (June 18, 1993). "Last Action Hero movie review (1993)". Chicago Sun-Times.
  48. ^ Canby, Vincent (June 18, 1993). "Review/Film: Last Action Hero; A Hero Within and Without". The New York Times. Retrieved October 27, 2010.
  49. ^ Gleiberman, Owen (July 9, 1993). "Last Action Hero". Entertainment Weekly. Retrieved August 8, 2020.
  50. ^ "Last Action Hero". Variety. December 31, 1992. Retrieved August 8, 2020.
  51. ^ Halliwell, Leslie (1997). Halliwell's Film and Video Guide (paperback) (13 ed.). HarperCollins. p. 439. ISBN 978-0-00-638868-5.
  52. ^ Ferguson, John. "Last Action Hero". Radio Times. Retrieved November 24, 2021.
  53. ^ Movieline Staff (August 2, 2001). "The Extreme Sport of Being John McTiernan". Movieline. Retrieved March 20, 2019.
  54. ^ "Last Action Hero: Arnold Schwarzenegger recalls how hurt he was when the movie flopped". JoBlo.com. June 8, 2023.
  55. ^ "Arnold Schwarzenegger Gets Candid on Career, Failures, Aging: "My Plan is to Live Forever"". The Hollywood Reporter. May 16, 2023.
  56. ^ O'Hara, Helen (March 20, 2023). "Charles Dance: Role by Role, from Game of Thrones to for Your Eyes Only". Empire.
  57. ^ "1993 RAZZIEZ Nominees & "Winners"". The Official RAZZIEZ Forum. Archived from the original on February 17, 2010.
  58. ^ "Past Winners Database". Los Angeles Times. October 17, 2006. Archived from the original on October 17, 2006.
  59. ^ Hough, Q.V. (October 30, 2019). "Arnold Schwarzenegger Open to True Lies 2 & Last Action Hero 2". Screen Rant. Retrieved November 15, 2021.

Works cited

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