The Last Boy Scout
Encyclopedia
The Last Boy Scout is a 1991
1991 in film
The year 1991 in film involved some significant events.-Events:*April 28 - Bonnie Raitt marries actor Michael O'Keefe in New York* Terminator 2: Judgment Day, became one of the landmarks for science fiction action films with its groundbreaking visual effects from Industrial Light & Magic.*November...

 action film
Action film
Action film is a film genre where one or more heroes is thrust into a series of challenges that require physical feats, extended fights and frenetic chases...

 starring Bruce Willis
Bruce Willis
Walter Bruce Willis , better known as Bruce Willis, is an American actor, producer, and musician. His career began in television in the 1980s and has continued both in television and film since, including comedic, dramatic, and action roles...

 as a former Secret Service
United States Secret Service
The United States Secret Service is a United States federal law enforcement agency that is part of the United States Department of Homeland Security. The sworn members are divided among the Special Agents and the Uniformed Division. Until March 1, 2003, the Service was part of the United States...

 agent, now working as a private detective, and Damon Wayans
Damon Wayans
Damon Kyle Wayans is an American stand-up comedian, writer and actor, one of the Wayans brothers.-Early life:Wayans was born in New York City, New York, the son of Elvira, a homemaker and social worker, and Howell Wayans, a supermarket manager...

 as a retired professional football player. The two join forces to solve the murder of Wayans' character’s girlfriend (played by the then-little known Halle Berry
Halle Berry
Halle Berry is an American actress and a former fashion model. Berry received an Emmy, Golden Globe, SAG, and an NAACP Image Award for Introducing Dorothy Dandridge and won an Academy Award for Best Actress and was nominated for a BAFTA Award in 2001 for her performance in Monster's Ball, becoming...

). The movie was produced by Warner Bros. Pictures
Warner Bros.
Warner Bros. Entertainment, Inc., also known as Warner Bros. Pictures or simply Warner Bros. , is an American producer of film and television entertainment.One of the major film studios, it is a subsidiary of Time Warner, with its headquarters in Burbank,...

 and Geffen Pictures
The Geffen Film Company
The Geffen Film Company was a film distributor and production company founded by David Geffen, the founder of Geffen Records, and future co-founder of DreamWorks. Geffen founded the company in 1980, having recruited Eric Eisner as president, and distributed its films through Warner Bros...

 and directed by Tony Scott
Tony Scott
Anthony D. L. "Tony" Scott is an English film director. His films include Top Gun, Beverly Hills Cop II, The Last Boy Scout, True Romance, Crimson Tide, Enemy of the State, Spy Game, Man on Fire, Déjà Vu, The Taking of Pelham 123, and Unstoppable...

.

Synopsis

During a rainy football
American football
American football is a sport played between two teams of eleven with the objective of scoring points by advancing the ball into the opposing team's end zone. Known in the United States simply as football, it may also be referred to informally as gridiron football. The ball can be advanced by...

 game between fictional teams from Los Angeles and Cleveland, star running back Billy Cole (Billy Blanks
Billy Blanks
Billy Wayne Blanks is an American fitness guru, martial artist, actor, and the inventor of the Tae Bo exercise program.-Career:Blanks began his study of the martial arts at the age of eleven and practices Karate and Taekwondo...

) receives a threatening phone call during half time from someone named Milo (Taylor Negron
Taylor Negron
Brad Taylor Negron is an American writer, actor, and stand-up comedian.-Personal life:Negron was born in Glendale, California to Conrad Negron, Sr., former mayor of Indian Wells, California. He grew up in Pasadena, California. His cousin is singer Chuck Negron...

), warning him to win the game or lose his life. Cole ingests PCP
Phencyclidine
Phencyclidine , commonly initialized as PCP and known colloquially as angel dust, is a recreational dissociative drug...

 and, in a drug-induced rage, brings a firearm onto the field. Cole shoots three opposing players to make it to the end zone. As the police move in, Cole kneels down and announces "Ain't life a bitch?" before shooting himself in the head.

Joe Hallenbeck (Bruce Willis
Bruce Willis
Walter Bruce Willis , better known as Bruce Willis, is an American actor, producer, and musician. His career began in television in the 1980s and has continued both in television and film since, including comedic, dramatic, and action roles...

), a former U.S. Secret Service agent-turned private investigator
Private investigator
A private investigator , private detective or inquiry agent, is a person who can be hired by individuals or groups to undertake investigatory law services. Private detectives/investigators often work for attorneys in civil cases. Many work for insurance companies to investigate suspicious claims...

, discovers that his wife
Wife
A wife is a female partner in a marriage. The rights and obligations of the wife regarding her spouse and others, and her status in the community and in law, varies between cultures and has varied over time.-Origin and etymology:...

 (Chelsea Field) is having an affair
Adultery
Adultery is sexual infidelity to one's spouse, and is a form of extramarital sex. It originally referred only to sex between a woman who was married and a person other than her spouse. Even in cases of separation from one's spouse, an extramarital affair is still considered adultery.Adultery is...

 with his best friend and sometime business partner, Mike Matthews (Bruce McGill
Bruce McGill
Bruce Travis McGill is an American actor who has an extensive list of credits in film and television. He is perhaps best known for his role as Jack Dalton on the television series MacGyver and as Daniel Simpson "D-Day" Day in National Lampoon's Animal House.-Early life:McGill was born in San...

). Hallenbeck's indifference and lack of anger towards either of them frustrates his wife, as she wants his attention. Outside Joe's house, Mike is killed in a car explosion
Car bomb
A car bomb, or truck bomb also known as a Vehicle Borne Improvised Explosive Device , is an improvised explosive device placed in a car or other vehicle and then detonated. It is commonly used as a weapon of assassination, terrorism, or guerrilla warfare, to kill the occupants of the vehicle,...

, after giving Joe an assignment to act as bodyguard
Bodyguard
A bodyguard is a type of security operative or government agent who protects a person—usually a famous, wealthy, or politically important figure—from assault, kidnapping, assassination, stalking, loss of confidential information, terrorist attack or other threats.Most important public figures such...

 for a stripper
Stripper
A stripper is a professional erotic dancer who performs a contemporary form of striptease at strip club establishments, public exhibitions, and private engagements. Unlike in burlesque, the performer in the modern Americanized form of stripping minimizes the interaction of customer and dancer,...

 named Cory (Halle Berry
Halle Berry
Halle Berry is an American actress and a former fashion model. Berry received an Emmy, Golden Globe, SAG, and an NAACP Image Award for Introducing Dorothy Dandridge and won an Academy Award for Best Actress and was nominated for a BAFTA Award in 2001 for her performance in Monster's Ball, becoming...

).

Beginning his assignment that night at the bar where Cory works, Joe immediately crosses paths with her boyfriend, former football
American football
American football is a sport played between two teams of eleven with the objective of scoring points by advancing the ball into the opposing team's end zone. Known in the United States simply as football, it may also be referred to informally as gridiron football. The ball can be advanced by...

 star James "Jimmy" Alexander Dix (Damon Wayans
Damon Wayans
Damon Kyle Wayans is an American stand-up comedian, writer and actor, one of the Wayans brothers.-Early life:Wayans was born in New York City, New York, the son of Elvira, a homemaker and social worker, and Howell Wayans, a supermarket manager...

), who had been banned from professional football for gambling
Gambling
Gambling is the wagering of money or something of material value on an event with an uncertain outcome with the primary intent of winning additional money and/or material goods...

. After an annoyed Jimmy takes Cory away, Joe decides to wait outside, where he is attacked and taken away to be executed. As Joe turns the tables on his would-be assassin, Jimmy and Cory leave the bar in separate cars. Cory is hit from behind and, stopping to confront the other driver, is shot dead by the hitmen in the car.

At the police station, and later at Joe's house, Jimmy and Joe bond over their past and present failings. They decide to work together to solve Cory's murder.

At Cory's house, Jimmy and Joe discover she had proof that Sen. Baynard, currently the chairman of the Senate commission to investigate gambling in professional sports, is being bribed by Los Angeles football team owner Sheldon "Shelly" Marcone (Noble Willingham
Noble Willingham
Noble Henry Willingham, Jr. was an American television and film actor.-Career:Willingham had appeared in more than thirty feature films, including Harry's War , Up Close and Personal , City Slickers , The Last Boy Scout , City Slickers II , Ace Ventura: Pet Detective , Chinatown...

). Cory had learned of the men's agreement and tried using her knowledge as leverage to allow Jimmy to return to football, in turn prompting her murder by Marcone's men. Approached by more hitmen, Joe blows up his car to kill the assassins, destroying Cory's evidence in the process.

After another police interrogation, Joe takes Jimmy home and meets his daughter Darian (Danielle Harris
Danielle Harris
Danielle Andrea Harris is an American film and television actress, best known as a scream queen for her roles in several horror films, four of them in the Halloween series: in Halloween 4: The Return of Michael Myers and Halloween 5: The Revenge of Michael Myers as Jamie Lloyd and in Halloween and...

), later finding Jimmy in his bathroom attempting to use drugs; enraged, Joe destroys the drugs and throws Jimmy out. As Jimmy leaves, Darian asks him to sign a football trading card featuring Jimmy Dix. As he signs, she reveals that Joe had been a fan; when Jimmy was busted, Joe stopped watching football. He leaves her with the card, with his signature and the words, "To the daughter of the last Boy Scout."

The next morning, the police, having learned of Mike's affair with Joe's wife, decide Joe must have killed Mike for revenge and move to arrest him, but Marcone's top henchman, Milo, captures Joe first. Marcone reveals himself and explains Sen. Baynard has proven too expensive to bribe, so Marcone plots to murder him by switching a briefcase of money intended for Baynard's men with one containing a bomb. He orders Milo to frame Joe for the murder before executing him, but Joe is rescued by Jimmy and Darian before escaping in Jimmy's car. They manage to acquire both briefcases after running the bodyguards and Milo off the road; however, Milo survives and kidnaps Darian after Joe leaves her to wait for the police.

Ordered to bring the cases to Marcone's stadium office to save Darian, they appear trapped, but Jimmy creates a diversion, allowing them to fight their way free. Knowing Milo will attempt to shoot Baynard, Joe goes after him while sending Jimmy to warn Baynard. Jimmy attempts to shout a warning to Baynard in his nearby corporate box, but is unsuccessful. Grabbing the game ball, he throws it at Baynard, knocking him down just as Milo shoots. Before Milo can shoot again, Joe engages him, knocking Milo to the edge of the platform, where police shoot him several times, causing him to fall off, into the blades of a circling helicopter.

Joe and his wife decide to reconcile. The suitcase of money is recovered and the fleeing Marcone escaped with the wrong briefcase, and is killed when he attempts to open it. At the end of the film Joe and Jimmy talk of a partnership as they walk off down a sidewalk.

Cast

  • Bruce Willis
    Bruce Willis
    Walter Bruce Willis , better known as Bruce Willis, is an American actor, producer, and musician. His career began in television in the 1980s and has continued both in television and film since, including comedic, dramatic, and action roles...

     as Joe Cornelius Hallenbeck, a private eye and former Secret Service agent and one of the main protagonists.
  • Damon Wayans
    Damon Wayans
    Damon Kyle Wayans is an American stand-up comedian, writer and actor, one of the Wayans brothers.-Early life:Wayans was born in New York City, New York, the son of Elvira, a homemaker and social worker, and Howell Wayans, a supermarket manager...

     as James "Jimmy" Alexander Dix, a former professional football player and one of the main protagonists.
  • Chelsea Field as Sarah Hallenbeck, Joe's wife.
  • Noble Willingham
    Noble Willingham
    Noble Henry Willingham, Jr. was an American television and film actor.-Career:Willingham had appeared in more than thirty feature films, including Harry's War , Up Close and Personal , City Slickers , The Last Boy Scout , City Slickers II , Ace Ventura: Pet Detective , Chinatown...

     as Sheldon Marcone, owner of the fictional L.A. Stallions and the main antagonist.
  • Taylor Negron
    Taylor Negron
    Brad Taylor Negron is an American writer, actor, and stand-up comedian.-Personal life:Negron was born in Glendale, California to Conrad Negron, Sr., former mayor of Indian Wells, California. He grew up in Pasadena, California. His cousin is singer Chuck Negron...

     as Milo, Marcone's chief henchman, a secondary antagonist.
  • Danielle Harris
    Danielle Harris
    Danielle Andrea Harris is an American film and television actress, best known as a scream queen for her roles in several horror films, four of them in the Halloween series: in Halloween 4: The Return of Michael Myers and Halloween 5: The Revenge of Michael Myers as Jamie Lloyd and in Halloween and...

     as Darian Hallenbeck, Joe's daughter.
  • Halle Berry
    Halle Berry
    Halle Berry is an American actress and a former fashion model. Berry received an Emmy, Golden Globe, SAG, and an NAACP Image Award for Introducing Dorothy Dandridge and won an Academy Award for Best Actress and was nominated for a BAFTA Award in 2001 for her performance in Monster's Ball, becoming...

     as Cory, a stripper and Jimmy's girlfriend.
  • Bruce McGill
    Bruce McGill
    Bruce Travis McGill is an American actor who has an extensive list of credits in film and television. He is perhaps best known for his role as Jack Dalton on the television series MacGyver and as Daniel Simpson "D-Day" Day in National Lampoon's Animal House.-Early life:McGill was born in San...

     as Mike Matthews
  • Badja Djola
    Badja Djola
    Badja Medu Djola was an American actor. D’jola appeared in 47 films and TV shows during his career. His best role was as Leon Isaac Kennedy’s cellmate in the movie "Penitentiary." D’jola played the bad guy character "Half Dead." He showed exceptional acting talent in the movie, which lead to more...

     as Alley Thug
  • Kim Coates
    Kim Coates
    Kim Coates is a Canadian-American actor who has worked in both Canadian and American movies and television series. He has worked on Broadway portraying Stanley Kowalski in A Streetcar Named Desire and in the lead role of Macbeth performed at the Stratford Theatre...

     as Chet
  • Chelcie Ross
    Chelcie Ross
    Chelcie Claude Ross is an American character actor. He served in Vietnam as an officer in the United States Air Force, and earned an MFA from the Dallas Theater Center.-Filmography:*Skokie *On the Right Track...

     as Senator Calvin Baynard
  • Joe Santos
    Joe Santos
    Joe Santos is an American film and television actor.-Biography:Santos was born Joseph Minieri in Brooklyn, New York, the son of Rose and Joseph Minieri. He began his film acting career in the mid-1960s, appearing in films directed by his cousin, Joseph W...

     as Benjamin Bessalo
  • Clarence Felder
    Clarence Felder
    Clarence Felder is an American character actor who starred in films and on television and co-starred in ten Broadway productions....

     as McCoskey
  • Tony Longo
    Tony Longo
    Tony Longo is an American actor who has appeared in many well-known television series such as Laverne & Shirley, Simon & Simon, Alice, Perfect Strangers, Sydney and Monk...

     as Big Ray Walston
  • Frank Collison
    Frank Collison
    Frank Collison is an American actor known to television audiences as the hapless telegrapher Horace Bing in the series Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman.-Early life:...

     as Pablo
  • Eddie Griffin
    Eddie Griffin
    Edward James "Eddie" Griffin, Jr. is an American actor and comedian. He is best known for his sitcom, Malcolm & Eddie along with co-star, Malcolm-Jamal Warner, and his role in the 2002 comedy film Undercover Brother as the film’s title character.-Early life:Griffin was born in Kansas City,...

     as Club DJ
  • Bill Medley
    Bill Medley
    William Thomas Medley is an American singer and songwriter, best known as one half of The Righteous Brothers....

     as Himself
  • Verne Lundquist
    Verne Lundquist
    Merton Laverne "Verne" Lundquist, Jr. is an American sportscaster, currently employed by CBS Sports television.-Early life and career:Lundquist was born in Duluth, Minnesota...

     as Himself
  • Dick Butkus
    Dick Butkus
    Richard Marvin "Dick" Butkus is a former American football player for the Chicago Bears. He was drafted in 1965 and he is also widely regarded as one of the best and most durable linebackers of all time. Butkus starred as a football player for the University of Illinois and the Chicago Bears. He...

     as Himself
  • Lynn Swann
    Lynn Swann
    -Collegiate:Swann attended the University of Southern California, where he was an All-American on the Trojans football team. He played under legendary coach John McKay, including the 1972 undefeated and national championship season. McKay said of Swann, "He has speed, soft hands, and grace." He...

     as Himself
  • Billy Blanks
    Billy Blanks
    Billy Wayne Blanks is an American fitness guru, martial artist, actor, and the inventor of the Tae Bo exercise program.-Career:Blanks began his study of the martial arts at the age of eleven and practices Karate and Taekwondo...

     as Billy Cole
  • Ken Kells as Head Coach
  • Morris Chestnut
    Morris Chestnut
    Morris L. Chestnut is an American film and television actor. He is known for his roles as teenage father Ricky Baker in the 1991 film Boyz n the Hood, groom-to-be Lance Sullivan in the 1999 film The Best Man, as Tracy Reynolds, NBA star in the 2002 film Like Mike, and as the Visitor Ryan in the...

     as Locker Room Kid

Awards

The Last Boy Scout was nominated for two MTV Movie Awards
MTV Movie Awards
The MTV Movie Awards is a film awards show presented annually on MTV . It also contains movie parodies that used official movie footage with hosts and other celebrities and music performances. The nominees are decided by producers and executives at MTV. Winners are decided online by the general...

.
  • Best Action Sequence - For the helicopter blade sequence
  • Best On-Screen Duo - Bruce Willis & Damon Wayans

Reception

The film performed under expectations given the star power and hype surrounding the then record price paid for the screenplay by Shane Black ($1.75 million). Roger Ebert gave the film three stars, saying it was "a superb example of what it is: a glossy, skillful, cynical, smart, utterly corrupt and vilely misogynistic action thriller". It has a 43% rating on Rotten Tomatoes
Rotten Tomatoes
Rotten Tomatoes is a website devoted to reviews, information, and news of films—widely known as a film review aggregator. Its name derives from the cliché of audiences throwing tomatoes and other vegetables at a poor stage performance...

 and 6.7 out of 10 on the Internet Movie Database
Internet Movie Database
Internet Movie Database is an online database of information related to movies, television shows, actors, production crew personnel, video games and fictional characters featured in visual entertainment media. It is one of the most popular online entertainment destinations, with over 100 million...

. Reviews were mixed, and some critics cited the Christmas time release for such a violent film as a reason for its sluggish box office. It grossed $7,923,669 in its opening weekend, and the total gross was $59,509,925.
The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.  The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.
 
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