THE LAST PATROL / THE LAST WARRIOR (Sheldon Lettich, 1999)

[Jox]

VHS cover from Argentina, what's the problem?

[Jox]

Here's an interesting comment on the IMDB page for Sheldon Lettich...

by Brude_Storm (Sun Apr 26 2009 23:41:20)

I worked for Sheldon's manager at the time of Last Patrol, we did the deal for that gig. As I recall, one of the producers literally disappeared with a big chunk of the budget just as filming started - literally, he embezzled it/stole it/whatever and so the movie was made with far less funding than it was supposed to have had. This was a long time ago so my memories of all the problems with that project are a bit fuzzy now, but I do recall Sheldon calling from the set annoyed with how meager the production was after that. It could have been a better project but the fact is they are lucky they even got the movie made at all with all the crap that was going on that was out of his control.

Sheldon said really good things about working with Lundgren, though - said he was a really good guy and very professional.

[dolphage]

Wow, maybe they should've pulled the plug, when the budget halfway disappeared, it would have saved the world from one incredibly bad film.

No info on what happened to the producer who took off with the cash?

[Jox]

Wow, maybe they should've pulled the plug, when the budget halfway disappeared, it would have saved the world from one incredibly bad film.

That's the kind of situation where they probably can't do that with the deals already in place, having to deliver a 90 mins film to distributors they pre-sold it to, same reason why they kept shooting on DIAMOND DOGS no matter what. As for Dolph he's already been paid a substantial advance to star in the picture so, since he's a professional and won't slam the door like that, he's in the same boat as everybody everybody and tries to make the best out of it, even though on this one both he and Lettich had a hard time making any changes with the two writers / co-producers controlling the situation and thinking they had masterpiece on their hands so they wouldn't let a coma be removed from the script...

[dolphage]

Haha, the writers really thought they had a masterpiece on their hands with Last Patrol? I haven't read the script but, if the movie follows it fairly closely it must be less like the script to "Citizen Kane" and more like "taking a small childs finger paintings and having them translated into words by a drunk schimpanze".

[Jox]

And they guess what their background is, soap opera! There was actually a conflict as to what this show was, a TV pilot or a feature, and in TV the writers/conceptors have, as executive producers, pretty much control over the show. The producer of the film Jacob Kotzky (who had previously done COVER-UP) had promised Dolph and Lettich that they could re-write the script but then he shut himself up, letting this duo pulling the strings... I'm not mentioning how they sometimes didn't have the money to light a scene properly or how Avi Lerner having scene some footage came to the rescue in the sound post-production stage, or the movie may have not been completed, or would have but even worse...

Who wants to be in the movie business?

[dolphage]

The soap opera and television pilot things make a lot of sense. The film feels exactly like a pilot for a low budget tv show.

To be honest I would have preferred it if DL would have abandoned ship. I am so against him giving up quality control and starring in projects that are detrimental to his career.

But this was during some of his roughest years so he's in a better place now, careerwise, and he gets offered cooler projects.

[Jox]

If his career was at his lowest, his personal and family life was probably at one of its peak, his eldest daughter was only 3 so he was happy focusing on his family life and supporting them making good money doing movies. That doesn't mean he wasn't trying and developing better projects (like STILL THE DRUMS a period piece set during the Swedish civil war) but he sure wasn't as motivated and moreover confident as he is now. Directing and growing a few years older certainly gave him an edge recently...

[Axel Berntsson]

Not the one we are most waiting for but German company Splendid Film will release THE LAST PATROL on Blu-Ray (region B) on January 27, 2012!
http://www.splendid-film.de/ceemes//article/show/141092
(at least from Splendid this should benefit a decent transfer)

(Blu-ray) (DVD)
(click for high-res)

Does someone own this blu-ray??
How is the picture quality??

[gearsofwar3]

Am i the only one who thinks The Last Patrol isn't that bad i actually like Dolph's character in this movie.

The positives in this movie that i liked was :

1. The locations the dusty desert and the military installation with all the old military junk
2. Dolph's character
3. Sheldon did actually a good job, i dislike when people blame the directors since it's not always their fault
the scene of Dolph in the hummer chasing Mcbride in the horse is a good example how well the scenes were captured.

The Negatives were:

1. Dolph was surrounded by bad characters
2. Not enough action scenes, they should have send some of the prisoners to try to take over the military camp so they could control the water, instead of drinking their own urine in the prison looking like zombies

Agent Red Cover Up and Jill the ripper are worst then last patrol just my opinion

[savagesketch]

Agent Red Cover Up and Jill the ripper are worst then last patrol just my opinion[/quote]

Maybe so, but I think we can all agree that these four films are the worst of his career, and oddly enough three of which occurred one after another in the same three-year span (1999-2001). Thankfully, he rebounded quited successfully, but wow, was he in a slump there for the late '90's...

[gearsofwar3]

I agree 1999 to 2001 was Dolph's worst years in movie making, i'm glad he took over has director of his movies but his last 2 movies Command Performance and Icarus wasn't that great.

The Russian Specialist, Missionary Man and The Defender are still his best directorial movies.

[Jox]

I can't count JILL RIPS as one of his worsts, on the countrary. Let's not forget HIDDEN AGENDA which was also one of his bests of the 1998-2003 era.

[dolphage]

Am i the only one who thinks The Last Patrol isn't that bad i actually like Dolph's character in this movie.

You must be joking. It's not only the worst movie Dolph has ever made, it's the worst movie that has ever been made anywhere by anyone.

To be honest it's almost identical in quality to the student films we used to make at school.

In other words; it's used as an alternative to waterboarding in Americ... sorry, in certain torture camps around the world.

And the fact that you don't like Command Performance... Wow...

[whiteandblank]

nahhh, its got D in it, it can't be bad!

I have seen a lot worse, some blaxplotation films are poor, and you obviously havent seen bollywood