The Last Outlaw (TV)
Encyclopedia
The Last Outlaw was a western released in 1994
starring Mickey Rourke
, Dermot Mulroney
, Ted Levine
, Daniel Quinn
, Gavan O'Herlihy
, Keith David
, John C. McGinley
, and Steve Buscemi
, along with a variety of other known actors, which has since become a cult classic
among western genre
fans. It was directed
by Geoff Murphy
and written by Eric Red
.
unit that had fought during the American Civil War
, with few surviving to its end. Their commander, Graff (Rourke) had once been a heroic and staunch supporter of the southern cause, but after losing his family he became cold hearted and ruthless. His second in command is Eustis (Mulroney), whom Graff has trained since 1861 on the strategies of leadership and combat command, right down to knowing exactly how many rounds of ammunition each of his soldiers has. The film centers around the relationship between Graff and Eustis, and the irony of Eustis turning on Graff due to Graff making a decision that Eustis disagrees with, and which mirrors a decision Eustis is also forced to make himself as a commander later.
. They begin committing bank robberies
, and are successful due to their experience and tactics. Local citizens and lawmen
are no match for them. However, when a robbery goes horribly wrong, resulting in the unit being shot up badly, with Loomis (Quinn) badly wounded, they find themselves pursued by Marshal
Sharp, who is respected and feared, as well as being diligent and honest and extremely capable.
Graff makes the command decision to kill the injured Loomis so that he won't delay their escape. Eustis objects, and when Graff slaps Eustis then moves to shoot Loomis, Eustis instead shoots Graff. Graff falls out of his saddle and rolls down a hillside, and thinking he is dead, Eustis now takes command and leads the band toward Mexico
, with the posse
still in pursuit. Potts (Levine) initially challenges Eustis as a commander, but Eustis beats him in a fist fight.
Marshal Sharp and his posse come upon the slightly wounded Graff, and take him prisoner. With Graff in chains, the posse continues their pursuit. Eustis sets up an ambush
and several posse members are killed. During the chaos Graff kills Marshal Sharp. Now leaderless, the posse decides to return home, but banker McClintock demands they continue the chase. Graff makes the posse members an offer of part of the loot taken by his former gang, if they help him track them down. They accept this more generous offer. With Graff now leading the posse, the posse sets up an ambush. Graff shoots and kills Philo (Buscemi) and wounds Loomis, then shoots parts of Loomis' body off, until Eustis shoots and kill Loomis to put him out of his misery.
When posse members attempt to cut off Philo's trigger finger as a trophy, Graff tells them he will kill them if they do, as Philo was one of "his men", showing that he respected and cared for his former soldiers. Later, Graff encounters members of the gang, almost like a ghost
, keeping them nervous and frightened. Wills (McGinley) steals the stolen money and leaves it in front of the posse, hoping they will stop the chase. Graff kills McClintock, throwing his body and the money off a cliff. He stages a shootout with the outlaws, and tells the posse it had been a trap.
Wills loses his horse, and Eustis decides it is necessary to leave him behind. On foot, Wills waits for the posse, killing a couple of them before being killed.
Lovecraft encounters Graff, who gives him extra ammunition and tells him he'll be spared if he kills Eustis. When Eustis gives Lovecraft ammunition to fill his pistol, he finds that Lovecraft already has a full chamber. Eustis, knowing that Lovecraft did not have a full six rounds left, realizes that Lovecraft has betrayed him. However, when Eustis presses for Lovecraft to do what Graff sent him to do, Lovecraft is overwhelmed with fear and guilt, and commits suicide
.
There are only two gang members left, Eustis and Potts. They make for the Rio Grande River, but Potts is shot through the gut by Graff. With Potts dead, Eustis, now alone, makes a final stand against the posse. He kills all of them except for Graff. The two draw, and Eustis is faster, but his gun is empty. As Graff approaches, Eustis shoots him with a pocket derringer
, which Graff hadn't counted on. Eustis crosses into Mexico, the last outlaw.
1994 in television
The year 1994 in television involved some significant events.Below is a list of television-related events in 1994.For the American TV schedule, see: 1994-95 United States network television schedule.-Events:-Debuts:-Miniseries:...
starring Mickey Rourke
Mickey Rourke
Philip Andre "Mickey" Rourke, Jr. is an American actor, screenwriter and retired boxer, who has appeared primarily as a leading man in action, drama, and thriller films....
, Dermot Mulroney
Dermot Mulroney
-Early life:Mulroney was born in Alexandria, Virginia, the son of Ellen, a housewife and amateur actress originally from Manchester, Iowa, and Michael Mulroney, a law professor at Villanova University School of Law, originally from Elkader, Iowa. He has a sister, Moira, and three brothers, Conor,...
, Ted Levine
Ted Levine
Frank Theodore "Ted" Levine is an American actor. He is known for his roles as Buffalo Bill in The Silence of the Lambs and Captain Leland Stottlemeyer in the television series Monk.-Early life and career:...
, Daniel Quinn
Daniel Quinn (actor)
Daniel Quinn is an American actor.-Biography:Daniel Quinn is from Milwaukee, where his father Roger worked for Pabst Brewing Company and his mother Rosemary owned and operated an employment agency. He was raised in Wisconsin with his two older sisters, Kathleen and Colleen. He began performing at...
, Gavan O'Herlihy
Gavan O'Herlihy
Gavan O'Herlihy is an Irish actor.O'Herlihy was born in Dublin, the son of Elsa Bennett and Irish actor Dan O'Herlihy. In his youth, he was an avid tennis player, and even became Irish National Tennis Champion...
, Keith David
Keith David
Keith David Williams , better known as Keith David, is an American film, television, voice actor, and singer. He is perhaps most known for his live-action roles in such films as Crash, There's Something About Mary, Barbershop and Men at Work...
, John C. McGinley
John C. McGinley
John Christopher McGinley is an American actor, most notable for his roles as Perry Cox in Scrubs, Bob Slydell in Office Space, Sergeant Red O'Neill in Oliver Stone's Platoon and Marv in Stone's Wall Street. He has also written and produced for television and film...
, and Steve Buscemi
Steve Buscemi
Steven Vincent "Steve" Buscemi is an American actor, writer and film director. An associate member of the renowned experimental theater company The Wooster Group, Buscemi has starred and supported in successful Hollywood and indie films including New York Stories, Mystery Train, Reservoir Dogs,...
, along with a variety of other known actors, which has since become a cult classic
Cult Classic
Cult Classic is a Blue Öyster Cult studio recording released in 1994, containing remakes of many of the band's previous hits.-Track listing:# " The Reaper" - 5:05# "E.T.I...
among western genre
Western (genre)
The Western is a genre of various visual arts, such as film, television, radio, literature, painting and others. Westerns are devoted to telling stories set primarily in the latter half of the 19th century in the American Old West, hence the name. Some Westerns are set as early as the Battle of...
fans. It was directed
Film director
A film director is a person who directs the actors and film crew in filmmaking. They control a film's artistic and dramatic nathan roach, while guiding the technical crew and actors.-Responsibilities:...
by Geoff Murphy
Geoff Murphy
Geoff Murphy is a successful New Zealand filmmaker best known for his work during the renaissance of New Zealand cinema that began in the last half of the 1970s....
and written by Eric Red
Eric Red
Eric Red is an American screenwriter and director, best known for writing the horror films The Hitcher and Near Dark.-Early life:...
.
Introduction
The story follows a band of former Confederate soldiers who were part of a cavalryCavalry
Cavalry or horsemen were soldiers or warriors who fought mounted on horseback. Cavalry were historically the third oldest and the most mobile of the combat arms...
unit that had fought during the American Civil War
American Civil War
The American Civil War was a civil war fought in the United States of America. In response to the election of Abraham Lincoln as President of the United States, 11 southern slave states declared their secession from the United States and formed the Confederate States of America ; the other 25...
, with few surviving to its end. Their commander, Graff (Rourke) had once been a heroic and staunch supporter of the southern cause, but after losing his family he became cold hearted and ruthless. His second in command is Eustis (Mulroney), whom Graff has trained since 1861 on the strategies of leadership and combat command, right down to knowing exactly how many rounds of ammunition each of his soldiers has. The film centers around the relationship between Graff and Eustis, and the irony of Eustis turning on Graff due to Graff making a decision that Eustis disagrees with, and which mirrors a decision Eustis is also forced to make himself as a commander later.
Plot
When the war ends, the cavalry unit commanded by Graff makes the decision to stay together, and turn outlawOutlaw
In historical legal systems, an outlaw is declared as outside the protection of the law. In pre-modern societies, this takes the burden of active prosecution of a criminal from the authorities. Instead, the criminal is withdrawn all legal protection, so that anyone is legally empowered to persecute...
. They begin committing bank robberies
Bank robbery
Bank robbery is the crime of stealing from a bank during opening hours. According to the Federal Bureau of Investigation's Uniform Crime Reporting Program, robbery is "the taking or attempting to take anything of value from the care, custody, or control of a person or persons by force or threat of...
, and are successful due to their experience and tactics. Local citizens and lawmen
Police officer
A police officer is a warranted employee of a police force...
are no match for them. However, when a robbery goes horribly wrong, resulting in the unit being shot up badly, with Loomis (Quinn) badly wounded, they find themselves pursued by Marshal
Marshal
Marshal , is a word used in several official titles of various branches of society. The word is an ancient loan word from Old French, cf...
Sharp, who is respected and feared, as well as being diligent and honest and extremely capable.
Graff makes the command decision to kill the injured Loomis so that he won't delay their escape. Eustis objects, and when Graff slaps Eustis then moves to shoot Loomis, Eustis instead shoots Graff. Graff falls out of his saddle and rolls down a hillside, and thinking he is dead, Eustis now takes command and leads the band toward Mexico
Mexico
The United Mexican States , commonly known as Mexico , is a federal constitutional republic in North America. It is bordered on the north by the United States; on the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; on the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea; and on the east by the Gulf of...
, with the posse
Posse comitatus (common law)
Posse comitatus or sheriff's posse is the common-law or statute law authority of a county sheriff or other law officer to conscript any able-bodied males to assist him in keeping the peace or to pursue and arrest a felon, similar to the concept of the "hue and cry"...
still in pursuit. Potts (Levine) initially challenges Eustis as a commander, but Eustis beats him in a fist fight.
Marshal Sharp and his posse come upon the slightly wounded Graff, and take him prisoner. With Graff in chains, the posse continues their pursuit. Eustis sets up an ambush
Ambush
An ambush is a long-established military tactic, in which the aggressors take advantage of concealment and the element of surprise to attack an unsuspecting enemy from concealed positions, such as among dense underbrush or behind hilltops...
and several posse members are killed. During the chaos Graff kills Marshal Sharp. Now leaderless, the posse decides to return home, but banker McClintock demands they continue the chase. Graff makes the posse members an offer of part of the loot taken by his former gang, if they help him track them down. They accept this more generous offer. With Graff now leading the posse, the posse sets up an ambush. Graff shoots and kills Philo (Buscemi) and wounds Loomis, then shoots parts of Loomis' body off, until Eustis shoots and kill Loomis to put him out of his misery.
When posse members attempt to cut off Philo's trigger finger as a trophy, Graff tells them he will kill them if they do, as Philo was one of "his men", showing that he respected and cared for his former soldiers. Later, Graff encounters members of the gang, almost like a ghost
Ghost
In traditional belief and fiction, a ghost is the soul or spirit of a deceased person or animal that can appear, in visible form or other manifestation, to the living. Descriptions of the apparition of ghosts vary widely from an invisible presence to translucent or barely visible wispy shapes, to...
, keeping them nervous and frightened. Wills (McGinley) steals the stolen money and leaves it in front of the posse, hoping they will stop the chase. Graff kills McClintock, throwing his body and the money off a cliff. He stages a shootout with the outlaws, and tells the posse it had been a trap.
Wills loses his horse, and Eustis decides it is necessary to leave him behind. On foot, Wills waits for the posse, killing a couple of them before being killed.
Lovecraft encounters Graff, who gives him extra ammunition and tells him he'll be spared if he kills Eustis. When Eustis gives Lovecraft ammunition to fill his pistol, he finds that Lovecraft already has a full chamber. Eustis, knowing that Lovecraft did not have a full six rounds left, realizes that Lovecraft has betrayed him. However, when Eustis presses for Lovecraft to do what Graff sent him to do, Lovecraft is overwhelmed with fear and guilt, and commits suicide
Suicide
Suicide is the act of intentionally causing one's own death. Suicide is often committed out of despair or attributed to some underlying mental disorder, such as depression, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, alcoholism, or drug abuse...
.
There are only two gang members left, Eustis and Potts. They make for the Rio Grande River, but Potts is shot through the gut by Graff. With Potts dead, Eustis, now alone, makes a final stand against the posse. He kills all of them except for Graff. The two draw, and Eustis is faster, but his gun is empty. As Graff approaches, Eustis shoots him with a pocket derringer
Derringer
The term derringer is a genericized misspelling of the last name of Henry Deringer, a famous 19th-century maker of small pocket pistols. Many copies of the original Philadelphia Deringer pistol were made by other gun makers worldwide, and the name was often misspelled; this misspelling soon became...
, which Graff hadn't counted on. Eustis crosses into Mexico, the last outlaw.