Last Action Hero - Trivia, Questions and Fun Facts

[gerald]

In one scene, Jack says to Danny, regarding his ex-wife, "Do you think I would marry someone so stupid that doesn't know the real voice from a taped one?" In Arnold Schwarzenegger's next movie, True Lies (1994), he uses a taped voice to fool his wife.

[stephanie]

In the closing act, Nick begins to tell Danny about the time he saw the Buffalo Bill Wild West Show as a kid. Assuming he saw one of Bill's last shows, it would make him about ninety-years-old.

[sylvia]

Premiere Magazine ran an article in 1993 in which stated that there were nearly two hundred intentional "gaffs". "Gaffs" are what the industry used to call mistakes, some intentional, some actual mistakes. In other words, every scene has a mistake purposely inserted to make the audience feel as if they are in the movie.

[jessie]

In the beginning hostage scene, there are twenty-five Police cars viewable from the rooftop when Jack Slater (Arnold Schwarzenegger) confronts the Ripper (Tom Noonan).

[gabriel]

When Jack and Danny are in the video store, we see the boxes for Die Hard (1988), The Hunt for Red October (1990), and Medicine Man (1992), which were all directed by John McTiernan.

[veronica]

Tom Noonan playing a serial killer called "The Ripper" may be a nod to Noonan playing serial killer "The Tooth Fairy" in Manhunter (1986). Coincidentally, that movie had the first appearance of the infamous fictional serial killer, Hannibal Lecktor (Brian Cox), who is later mentioned by Benedict as a possible ally.

[lena]

Arnold Schwarzenegger's name is mentioned in the song "Jump Around" by House of Pain in Mrs. Doubtfire (1993). Robert Prosky was also in that movie, plus Cinematographer Donald McAlpine filmed Predator (1987), also directed by John McTiernan, and which also starred Schwarzenegger. They reunited with this movie.

[ivan]

These are the following guns in the movie. Slater: Desert Eagle .50 caliber Action Express; Benedict: Custom Dan Wesson Revolver .357 Magnum; Danny: SIG-Sauer P230; Vivaldi: Walther PPK custom engraved; Criminals: MP5K-PDW, M3A1 Grease Gun, and Intratec TEC-9 sub-machine guns; Slater/Hamlet: Switches from MAC-11 to MP5K; Van: Short Barreled Minigun. Whitney: Colt Python .357 Magnum; S.W.A.T. member: Colt Commando.

[jamie]

Tori Spelling had a cameo as herself but it was eventually left on the cutting room floor.

[riley]

Jack Slater, when trying to pose as Arnold Schwarzenegger in the real world, keeps getting the name wrong, and calling himself "Arnold Braunschweiger". The first part of Arnold's real name, "Schwarz", means "black" in German, while the first part of his wrong name, "Braun", means "brown" in German. Also, a "Braunschweiger" is a type of liverwurst made in Braunschweig (or Brunswick), Germany. In the German dub, he calls himself "Arnold Beckenbauer" ("Pool Builder"), which creates additional comedy, since it is also the name of one of Germany's most famous soccer players.

[albert]

Benedict's pistol is a Dan Wesson .357 revolver. Most noted for its interchangeable barrels on the same frame, from two inches to ten inches. Slater carries a Desert Eagle .50 caliber Action Express.

[ella]

(At around thirty-nine minutes) In the video store, Jack Slater's hand is resting almost right next to a DVD case for The Road Warrior (1981), which was the inspiration for The Terminator (1984), with Arnold Schwarzenegger in the title role. This is also during the conversation with Danny Madigan about how it was supposed to be Arnold in Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991) ), but instead had Sylvester Stallone.

[kylie]

When Danny and Jack are looking in the video store for the action section to find a "Schwarzenegger" movie. Danny is surprised and confused to see that Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991)'s poster features Sylvester Stallone, and that apparently Schwarzenegger movies do not exist. However, as Jack walks towards Danny to compliment Stallone's work, on the shelf alongside several other known Hollywood movies of the time, a VHS tape of one of Arnold Schwarzenegger's earlier movies Raw Deal (1986) is clearly visible, with Arnold featuring prominently on the cover.

[harry]

The movie's disappointing box-office result has often been contributed to the fact that the fans of Arnold Schwarzenegger did not appreciate their hero effectively spoofing himself, as well as the action genre that had made him great. However, time apparently seems to have made audiences much kinder to this movie and its type of self-aware humor. Schwarzenegger's next movie, True Lies (1994), which had a more subtle form of self-parody, did much better critically and financially, as did The Expendables (2010), The Expendables 2 (2012), and The Expendables 3 (2014), where Schwarzenegger parodied some of his famous trademarks. In fact, characters becoming aware of their own movie conventions became a big thing in the Scream (1996) franchise, and Danny's observation that villains often make the mistake of laying out their entire plan in a lengthy monologue was effectively re-used in The Incredibles (2004).