Last Action Hero
- Synopsis
- Feature blockbuster action/comedy film. Young Danny Madigan is a big fan of Jack Slater, a larger-than-life action hero played by Schwarzenegger. When his best friend, Nick the projectionist, gives him a magic ticket to the new Jack Slater film he moves into the film world of his hero. But the ticket falls into the hands of a mobster, Benedict who moves into the real world followed by Jack and the boy. He realises that if he can kill Schwarzenegger, Slater will be no more. Slater and Danny must travel back and stop him. In a much analysed scene a teacher, trying to make Shakespeare interesting for her bored students, claims that Hamlet is "one of the first action heroes", and to back-up her claim she shows them an extract from Olivier’s HAMLET, introduced by Joan Plowright, Hamlet’s hesitation in killing Claudius prompts Danny to imagine that Jack Slater plays Hamlet in which Hamlet is an action-hero, firing machine guns and bombing everyone.
- Language
- English
- Country
- United States
- Medium
- Film
- Technical information
- Colour / Sound
- Year of release
- 1993
- Duration
- 131 mins; 11,770 feet
Credits
- Director
- John McTiernan
- Producer
- John McTiernan; Steve Roth
- Cinematographer
- Dean Semler
- Screenplay
- David Arnott; Shane Black
- Music
- Michael Kamen
- Cast
Arnold Schwarzenegger Jack Slater (Hamlet) Austin O’Brien Danny
Additional Details
- Production type
- Fiction Films
- Plays
- Hamlet
- Keywords
- Shakespeare, William (1564-1616)
Notes
- Reviews
- The Hamlet scene is analysed by Eric Mallin ‘You killed my foddah’: Arnold, Prince of Denmark’ in Shakespeare Quarterly 50,2 pp127-51.
Production Company
Distributor
- Name
Columbia TriStar
Distributor (Sale)
- Name
Retail outlets
How to cite this record
Shakespeare, "Last Action Hero". https://learningonscreen.ac.uk/shakespeare/search/index.php/title/av36825 (Accessed 26 Nov 2024)