The Last Outlaw (1993)

Mickey Rourke plays Graff, a former Confederate officer won’t can’t come to face the fact that the war is over and leads a band of renegades to hit to Northerners where it counts – by robbing their banks.

Dermot Mulroney is Eustis, his loyal second in command. At least he’s loyal until he decides that he has to free himself from Graff’s blood-thirsty ways if he’s ever going to live a normal life.

Their falling out is hastened when a gang member named Loomis suffers a serious gunshot wound to his leg during a bank robbery gone bad. Graff insists he be left behind; Eustis won’t follow orders. When Graff decides to simplify matters by killing Loomis, he wounds up being shot and left to dead by Eustis instead.

And so Eustis takes command of the small band of misfits, planning to lead them to Mexico and safety. But Graff didn’t die. And when a posse catches up with him, he offers to lead them to his old gang and the money. He wants to teach his former second-in-command a thing or two about how difficult it is to be in command.

Review:

This is a TV Western, but it’s also an HBO release, which means it’s allowed to be grittier than any Western you’d find elsewhere.

Rourke turns in a memorable performance as the Yankee-hating Graff, who hates traitors even more. Mulroney and Ted Levine as a gang malcontent named Potts also excel in their roles.

Yeah, there are some implausible moments. Like when a gang member returns to bank loot and Graff throws if off a mountain top to ensure the chase continues. Really? Any outlaw would do that?

But the grittiness and the desperation felt by Graff’s former gang members is what will stick by you. Especially the unusually gruesome way in which Graff uses Loomis to teach Eustis a lesson in leadership.

Mulroney also prominent roles in two other Westerns of the period – “Young Guns” (1988) and “Bad Girls” (1994). One of Rourke’s early screen appearances was a small role in “Heaven’s Gate” (1980).

Directed by:
Geoff Murphy

Cast:
Mickey Rourke … Graff
Dermot Mulroney … Eustis
Ted Levine … Potts
John C. McGinley … Wills
Steve Buscemi … Philo
Keith David … Lovecraft
Daniel Quinn … Loomis
Gavan O’Herlihy … Marshal Sharp
Richard Fancy … McClintock (the banker)

Runtime: 93 min.

Memorable lines:

Potts: “There ain’t nothin’ on our ass but hair, Eustis. There ain’t no god-damned posse.”

Philo: “Mexico – sounds so good it hurts.”
Moment later, a bullet blows off most of his head.

Graff: “You owe me a lot more than money, boy. A lot more. You owe me everything.”

Potts to Eustis: “You know what I say, ‘You ain’t fit to lead shit, Useless’”

Wills, being left behind because his horse is dead: “Well, I guess nobody lives forever. I’m done.”

Graff to Eustis: “You couldn’t even count your god-damned bullets.”