PIERCE BROSNAN INTHE LAST RIFLEMAN

TERRY LOANE: THE LAST RIFLEMAN (2023) - MOSTLY BRITISH, SAN FRANCISCO -

Final exploit

The action is set five years ago, when the 75th anniversary of the D-Day landings was celebrated. So that means when it happened Artie Crawford (Pierce Brosnan) was 17. A flashback to combat reveals Afrie and his closest comrades were from North Berlfast. Now he's 92. Hiswife Maggie (Stella McCusker), who was in the same care home with him, hs just died. The management of the place refuses to let him go to attend the observnces in Normandy from this place, which is in Northern Ireland. The lady reminds him he's "a 92-year-old diabetic with erratic blood pressure and a weak heart...a disfunctional kidney, artrhitis, and a medication plan so complex that students use it for research."

So Artie does the obvious thing. He escapes in a laudry truck to the tune of "Don't Fence Me In." This becomes a road picture. Artie gets freebies on the train and a cab for his age and distinction (he was a rifleman at D-Day, with a row of ribbons), but hooligans knock open his small scuitcase. He must take a bus rather than the train to get to the boat to France on time. A friendly young Morricone fan, charmed b y his recollection of meeting the famous Italian film composer, who treats him to an earful of Morricone's score for The Mission[/I on his headphones,]helps him hitchhike when the bus breaks down.

But his 17 years out of date passport is a more difficult problem: he can't legally enter France. However, d but he persuades a French mother with two iids and a trailer to hide him in the latter and bring him in unbeknownst to the Ffrench [I]douane . That doesn't work eitehr. He has told the lady who gave him and the Morricone fan a ride earlier, who happened to recognize that he was diabetic and revived him, that in the War they said he had nine lives.

So that explains it.

Artie has faily and they're concerned about him. The link is an Irish journalist, who sees in this exploit a great story. He is Tony McCann (Desmond Eastwood), and his task is to find Artie in Normandy, somewhere near the fabled town of D-Day stories, Sainte-Mère Église. And here, he meets an SS man called Friedrich Mueller (Jürgen Prochnow), because Artie must take a D-Day bus with German veterans on it. Mueller acknowledges to Artie that he not only was on the losing side, the "the wrong side." And he sings the World War I song, which they both know, "It's a Long Way to Tipperary. Usefully for American viewers Artie runs into an American artillaryman from the only black regiment at D-Day, played by the late John Amos.

From Tony McCann Artie learns that he is the sole surviving mamer of the entire Royal Ulster regiment. And this is why, when Artie returns to Ireland from his brave exploit - medical authorities are amazed that he survived without his meds and under such stress - he is taken in military vehicles and met by an array of soldiers worthy of a brigadier general - which, in a way, by default, ne now is. Toward the end, Artie has revealed his deepest buried feelings, as he visits the cemetary where Charlie, his best friend and Ulster regiment comrade, is buried and we learn of his complex survivor guilt.

A feel-good piece which perhaps sentimental war veterans may find endearing, this film is hokey to the max, but it avoids false sentimentality. Brosnan plays a man 21 years his ssenior convincingly and the whole thing is dignified. Excellent cast all down the line, of which the key supporting players Jürgen Prochnow, John Amos, and Clémence Poésy who plays the French mother who gets ARtie over the border, who has her own medical problem pending. Insired by a true story.

The Last Rifleman, 95 mins., debuted on TV and internet in the UK Nov. 5, 2023. LAter release in other countries including Spain, Italy and France. US limited release November 8, 2024.

_________________
©Chris Knipp. Blog: http://chrisknipp.blogspot.com/.