The Last Outlaw

Red's Western Bleeds a Related Tint
by Eric Red (Los Angeles, '05)

I wrote and co-produced the first western Mickey Rourke did called “THE LAST OUTLAW.” Made for HBO in 1993, the film is
just coming out on DVD, and fans of westerns and of Mickey should get a kick out of it. It’s a gritty, bloody visceral oater for
hard-core western fans.

Rourke plays Graff, the brutal leader of a gang of hardened cowboy outlaws so tough he is shot and left for dead by his boys when
they resist his harsh leadership tactics to elude a posse. Graff survives to be captured by the posse, which he winds up taking over
and leading after his treacherous men, picking them off one by one. But revenge is just the beginning. Graff has in store for his old
gang a far more fearsome psychological price. And the chase is on. We assembled a strong cast including Steve Buscemi, Ted
Levine, John McGinley, Dermot Mulroney and Keith David. The goal was to create a realistic and hard-edged gang of wild bunch
outlaws. As the leader, Mickey Rourke won the part over some strong competition, including Sam Elliott and Sam Shepherd.
Filmed in 24 days on location Santa Fe, New Mexico, we made use of the brutal and spectacular physical canyon terrain to mirror
the harsh and rugged psychology of the characters. We shot the film in classical western style. In one memorable shot, we rigged
an actual 1800’s Sharp’s rifle on the front of a Panavision camera, simulating a gunman’s point of view, in a rack focus shot down
the sight of a gun firing on the outlaws riding over the hill. That’s the kind of show it is.

The question I get asked most about the film is what’s up with Mickey’s makeup? I think Rourke took his makeup cue from a
descriptive line in the script that Graff had “fierce Kabuki features.” By this I was referring the Japanese mask theatrical style, or
“YOJIMBO” star Toshiro Mifune’s samurai glower. I don’t know how Mickey got that mixed up with “MADAME
BUTTERFLY,” but that’s another story. At the end of the day Rourke delivered the goods and supplied the sheer presence the
make Graff as tough and omnipresent as he needed to be. He gave us the “moments.”

One of those defining moments is after Graff is shot in the shoulder, he violently self-cauterizes the wound with a stick match. In
doing so, he sucks up the pain and gives his boys a lesson in steely toughness and shows why he is the gang leader. Mickey nailed
the scene with his scary tough insane gaze in one of the best moments in the film.

On a personal note, I didn’t get to know Mickey all that well, but he struck me as a man with a lot of sophistication and intelligence
behind his tough guy manner, and was much more affable than I expected. He had the Hell’s Angels as his entourage, and they
were very cool guys, who worked as stuntmen on the film playing posse men.

Rourke just radiates kind of supernatural presence sometimes. I remember one afternoon, hanging out with Ted Levine who plays
Potts, we looked up and saw Mickey riding alone in full wardrobe on his white horse up on a ridge, and his samurai presence
uncannily filled the area. Levine looked over and we shook our heads in amazement. For all of Mickey’s quirks, the guy channels
something ancient and special.

In order to ensure that the completed film would remain faithful to the script, I co-produced the show and was on the set the better
part of production. I’m pleased to say the final film was 90 percent the script, except some idiot added a voice over narration by
Eustis in the film that was not in the script and was completely clichéd -- not my fault, people! That being said, I’m pleased the
screenplay was done justice by the final film.

One thing for sure, “THE LAST OUTLAW” is certainly the bloodiest and most violent film ever made for television, with heads
getting blown off, cowboys being shot to pieces etc. In fact, almost every single person in the story is killed, except for one. I’m
still amazed we got away with making this one for TV. To HBO’s credit, they never pressured us to tone down the story or
compromise it at all.

To me, Mickey Rourke is one of the last real movie tough guys in the old school way of Lee Marvin and Charles Bronson, who live
it, and it comes off on screen. Like those guys, who gave their best performances in their 50’s, I believe Mickey’s best
performances are still to come

Home Web-Ring Bio Staff The New Rourke Times MROL Exclusives Contact

Many thanks to Mr. Eric Red for contributing the review of his project to Mickey Rourke Online and Associates. Click for
feedback, all messages will be relayed back to Mr. Red.

~Kathy and Tammy

Maintained and created by:
Justin

Visual created by: Tammy of
Mickeyfan Base

Mickey Rourke As Graff
Character's Page