LAST STOP IN YUMA COUNTY (2024)
Label: Well Go USA
Region Code: A
Rating: R
Duration: 90 Minutes 30 Seconds
Audio: English DTS-HD MA 2.0 Stereo, 5.1 Surround with Optional English or French Subtitles
Video: 1080p HD Widescreen (2.35:1)
Director: Francis Galluppi
Cast: Jim Cummings, Jocelin Donahue, Sierra McCormick, Nicholas Logan, Michael Abbott Jr., Connor Paolo, Alexandra Essoe, Robin Bartlett, Jon Proudstar, Sam Huntington
Set in the 1970 The Last Stop in Yuma County (2024) starts off with a travelling knife salesman (Jim Cummings, The Wolf of Snow Hollow) on his way to Carlsbad, California to visit his daughter when he finds himself low on gas passing through Yuma County, Arizona - stopping of at a dusty roadside gas station to fill 'er up only to find out from the proprietor Vernon (Faizon Love, Friday) that they are all out of gas and waiting for the fuel-tanker to arrive, which should be within the hour. As there is not another gas station for a hundred miles he recommends the salesman grab a cup of joe at the diner right next door and that's what he does. There he's greeted by waitress Charlotte (Jocelin Donahue, The House of the Devil) and grabs a seat by the window, he ends up chatting a bit with Charlotte and throws his knife-salesman pitch at her. A bit later another pair of rough looking fellas also looking for gas end up at the diner, Travis (Nicholas Logan, Dark Winds) and Beau (Richard Brake, 3 From Hell), arriving in a beat-up green Ford Pinto. They are are a sketchy duo, having just robbed a bank in nearby Buckeye, Arizona earlier that morning they're looking to get out of Dodge quick. The knife salesman notices that the damage to their car matches the description of the bank robbers getaway car from an earlier radio report, he lets Charlotte discreetly in on his observation, but Beau is no dummy, and when she tries to make a phone call to alert her husband, who just happens to be the local sheriff Charlie (Michael Abbott Jr., The Dark and the Wicked) he quickly sticks a gun in her face and cuts the phone cord. It turn into a hostage situation quickly and it's pretty obvious these two bank robbers would have no qualms about using violence if need be, but they tell Charlotte and the knife salesman to play it cool and act normal. As more diner patron arrives they are told to casually inquire about each new arrivals fuel-tank status, in the hopes that someone with a full tank might happen by so they can drive on down to Mexico before the cops show-up.
The fuel-truck is running later than usual and more customers arrive at the diner biding their time, we have an older couple by way of Robert (Gene Jones, The Sacrament) and Earline (Robin Bartlett, Shutter Island), and the sheriff's deputy Gavin (Connor Paoloz, A Creature Was Stirring) arrives looking for coffee for the sheriff and his secratary (Barbara Crampton, From Beyond), which leads to a pretty tense scenario as Charlotte oversweetens the coffee intended for her husband in hopes of alerting him to the trouble brewing at the diner. Another wrench in the works is the arrival of a hot-headed wanna-be Bonnie & Clyde couple (or Kit & Holly from Badland) Miles (Ryan Masson) and Sybil (Sierra McCormick).
This is director Francis Galluppi's first feature film, and it's total banger, infused with the DNA of Quentin Tarantino (Jackie Brown) and the black humored neo-noir blood of the Coen Bros. (Blood Simple) coursing through its veins. This roadside thriller is fantastic, very assured and tonally pitch perfect. The sunbaked diner in the middle of nowhere is a perfect setting, the atmosphere inside the diner slowly simmering as new elements and characters are added, eventually you know it's gonna boil over, and when it does it delivers the thrills; we get sharp dialogue, the acting is aces, and the music cues are fantastic, we get needle drops from Roy Orbison, Glady Knights and the Pips, Dusty Rhodes & The River Band, The Grass Roots and more, it's a terrific soundtrack. Also, the lensing from Mac Fisken (Pod, Darling, Carnage Park) is visually quite pleasing, capturing that dusty, sun-baked, neo-noir vibe that is the cherry-on-top of this demented thriller.
The whole cast is terrific, but Cummings is particularly good, hos arc as just a dude trying to get home to his kid to where his character ends up was absolutely thrilling to watch, you just keep wondering how far will this go in the direction it's going, and it just keeps going to an absurdly explosive finale that had me rapt. The build-up is steadfast, the threat is palpable, and when the violence erupts beginning with a multi-facted Mexican standoff it just puts the petal to the metal and never lets up until the nihilistic mad-dash to the finish line.
Audio/Video: The Last Stop in Yuma County (2023) on Blu-ray from Well Go USA in 1080p HD framed in 2.35:1 widescreen. The film was shot digital so there are no celluloid defects to contend with, the image us nicely sharp and detailed, colors look excellent and as it's shot throughout the day black levels are never an issue. Audio comes by way of either English DTS-HD MA 2.0 stereo or 5.1 surround with optional English subtitles. It's not a wide soundfield here, it's dialogue heavy, we do get some atmospherics, and for a brief moments a cacophonous exchange of gunfire and an explosion, which are full-bodied and piercing, and the terrific needle drops sounds wonderful.
Extras include Three Audio Commentaries with the Director, Producers, Actors and Cinematographer; a 9-min Making Of Featurette, plus a Trailer for the film and a selection of Well Go USA Previews. The making-of doc is quite entertaining, getting into how the producer sold his house to finance the picture for the first-time director, the prob alems they faced, and the joy of success. The single disc release arrives in a standard keepcase with a single-sided sleeve of artwork and a Slipcover with spot-gloss finish on the lettering of the front, back and spines, which is probably limited to the first-pressing only.
Special Features:
- Making-of Featurette (8:28)
- Trailer (2:13)
- Well Go USA Previews: Sting (2:15), Monolith (2:17), A Creature Was Stirring (2:05)
- Director & Actors Audio Commentary Track
- Director & Executive Producer Audio Commentary
- Director & Cinematographer Audio Commentary
Buy it!
Amazon
Buy it!
Amazon
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