Last Action Hero | |
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Theatrical film poster
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Directed by | John McTiernan |
Produced by |
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Screenplay by |
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Story by |
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Starring | |
Music by | Michael Kamen |
Cinematography | Dean Semler |
Edited by | |
Distributed by | Columbia Pictures |
Release date
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Running time
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131 minutes |
Country | United States |
Language | English |
Budget | $85 million |
Box office | $137.3 million |
Last Action Hero: Music from the Original Motion Picture | ||
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Soundtrack album by Various Artists | ||
Released | June 8, 1993 | |
Genre | Heavy metal, alternative metal, grunge, alternative rock, hard rock | |
Length | 54:19 | |
Label | Columbia Records | |
Singles from Last Action Hero: Music from the Original Motion Picture | ||
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Professional ratings | |
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Source | Rating |
Allmusic | link |
Last Action Hero is a 1993 American cult comic fantasy action film directed and produced by John McTiernan. 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. Austin O'Brien co-stars as a boy magically transported into the Slater universe. Schwarzenegger also served as the film's executive producer and plays himself as the actor portraying Jack Slater, and Charles Dance plays an assassin who escapes from the Slater world into the real world. Last Action Hero was a box office disappointment during its initial theatrical release. The film also features Art Carney's last appearance in a motion picture.
Danny Madigan is a teenage boy living in a crime-ridden area of New York City with his widowed mother Irene. To escape from his harsh reality, Danny often skips school to watch movies at the run-down Pandora movie theater, owned and managed by Danny's friend Nick. Nick receives the film reels for Jack Slater IV, the latest in one of Danny's favorite film series starring Arnold Schwarzenegger as the titular Los Angeles police detective and violent action hero, and offers to show it to Danny at a private screening just before the world premiere. To mark the occasion, Nick tears up a special ticket he received from Harry Houdini years ago, giving one half of the stub to Danny as a keepsake.
As the film starts, Danny is unaware that the stub glows with magic. When a lit stick of dynamite exits the film during a car chase scene and lands in the theater, Danny instinctively ducks for cover. When he comes to, he finds that he is now in the film, riding along with Slater who is in disbelief as how Danny arrived.