It is one of the hoariest conventions in screen thrillers. Round up a bunch of people, some of them armed and dangerous. Park them in a roadside diner, and see what happens.
The classic “The Petrified Forest,” based on a hit Robert Sherwood play of the ’30s, did it first and best. But Tarantino paid homage to that set up in “Pulp Fiction,” and there are shades of it in “A History of Violence” and legions of stand-off, hostage situation and crooks-on-the-lam thrillers.
“The Last Stop in Yuma County” is a darkly funny variation on a well-worn plot and theme, cleverly-cast and sufficiently-twisty to be worth your trouble.
It’s the mid-70s, and a Joshua Tree region “last gas for 100 miles” filling station is gassed out. That’s what parks the traveling knife salesman (Jim Cummings) in that no-AC diner next door. Charlotte, the sheriff’s wife (Jocelin Donahue) is the waitress, cook (apparently) and rhubarb pie-pusher in charge.
They’re both a little leery of two toughs (Richard Brake and Nicholas Logan) who roll up in a green Ford Pinto. Say, wasn’t that the color of the car used in a bank robbery in Tuscon or somewheres?
They can’t warn the sheriff (Michael Abbott, Jr.) or his green deputy (Connor Paolo). At least others show up in the diner — an elderly couple (Robin Bartlett, Gene Jones), the 20ish lovers who figure out whose Pinto that is and what it has in it (Sierra McCormick and Ryan Masson), and the big guy who runs the empty gas station (Faizon Love).
It takes a while for everybody to get on the same page about what’s going down. And when they do, you can be sure that they and anybody else who rolls in, looking for gas or rhubarb pie, will be armed in one fashion or another.
The villains go from “Ain’t nobody gonna recognize us here” to “Drop it!” “No YOU drop it!” in a flash. And that’s where things turn interesting.
Writer-director Francis Galluppi’s feature debut is self-consciously, self-mockingly self-referential in where he borrows ideas, scenes and set ups. A character quotes “Badlands.” Roy Orbison is on the jukebox. Everybody is both a “type” and a seriously unpredictable “type.” And everybody in the cast gets just enough scenes to make an impression, and does.
The violence is visceral but realistic. About the only “over the top” things about the picture are the myriad misdirections that kick in just as things turn interesting, and just afterward. Didn’t see THAT coming. Not really.
It’s not the most ambitious, original thriller or dazzling writing-directing debut. But Galluppi makes his covenant with the genre and the audience, and fulfills his obligations in a solid and satisfying roadside diner drama with moments of suspense, blasts of violence and enough dark dry laughs to remind us it’s supposed to be fun.
Rating: R, violence, profanity
Cast: Jim Cummings, Jocelin Donahue, Richard Brake, Nicholas Logan, Michael Abbott Jr., Robin Bartlett, Sierra McCormick, Gene Jones, Connor Paolo, Ryan Masson and Faizon Love.
Credits: Scripted and directed by Francis Galluppi. A Well Go USA release.
Running time: 1:30
