A knife salesman, a waitress, and two bank robbers walk into a diner…it sounds like the start of a joke, but it’s the beginning of the tense and comedic 2023 indie thriller The Last Stop in Yuma County, the phenomenal debut feature film from writer/director Francis Galluppi.
Set sometime in the mid-late 1970s, a traveling kitchen knife salesman (Jim Cmmings, Halloween Kills) stops for gas at a rural Arizona rest stop while on his way to visit his daughter in California for her birthday. However, he is told by the attendant, Vernon (Faizon Love, Friday, Elf), that they are currently out of gas, are waiting for the fuel truck to arrive, and that the next gas station isn’t for 100 miles. So the man reluctantly heads into the nearby diner to wait, passing a sign outside stating “You’ll die for our rhubarb pie”.
Inside is friendly waitress/owner Charlotte (Jocelin Donahue, Insidious: Chapter 2), who happens to be married to the town sheriff, Charlie (Michael Abbott Jr., Killers of the Flower Moon). She offers the salesman a slice of pie as he sits at a booth, drinking coffee and doing the crossword puzzle from the newspaper. However, when he sees a damaged green Pinto pull up to the has station, he turns white—earlier he heard a radio news report stating that a similar vehicle was seen earlier that morning fleeing the scene of a bank robbery. Two men exit the car and head for the diner—a grizzled older fellow named Beau (Richard Brake, Mayor of Kingstown) and his more dim-witted younger partner Travis (Nicholas Logan, Dopesick). It isn’t long before they realize that the salesman recognizes their vehicle, and things start to get heated (and not just because the AC is broken).
As more patrons arrive—elderly couple Robert (Gene Jones, The Hateful Eight) & Earline (Robin Bartlett, Playing For Time) from Houston, a young deputy named Gavin (Connor Paolo, A Creature was Stirring), and local farmer/regular Pete (Jon Proudstar, Young Guns II)—the situation only gets worse and more intense. While only the waitress and the salesman are fully aware of what’s happening, others start to notice and suspect that something isn’t quite right, especially with Charlotte behaving oddly. But things really start to kick off when a rebellious young Badlands-obsessed couple, Miles (Ryan Masson) & Sybil (Sierra McCormick, The Nana Project), pull up and recognize the Pinto, and look to make a quick buck. With tensions rising and everyone waiting on this fuel truck (which the viewer knows from the opening minutes of the film is never going to arrive), is there any hope of any of these patrons getting out of this situation or alerting the cops for help? $700K is a lot of money (at least it was then), and greed will make people do violent and crazy things!
The cast also incudes Barbara Crampton (The Young and the Restless), Sam Huntington (Being Human, Seven Stages to Achieve Eternal Bliss), and Alexandra Essoe (The Pope’s Exorcist).
The Last Stop in Yuma County is a taut thrill ride that will keep viewers on the edge of their seats the whole time as they encounter many unexpected twists and turns. At the same time, the filmmakers also find ways to inject some humor to help break this tension. The filmmakers do an excellent job of building up the suspense, either through quick cuts of characters making observations or trying to nonverbally communicate, or through the film’s percussive score, or brilliant slow-motion montages set to pop music. There’s a particularly intense scene early on when police officer Gavin shows up at the diner to pick up some coffee, unaware of the hostage situation, and you really don’t know how things are going to play out. As Charlotte attempts to find a way to communicate to Gavin to let her husband know what’s happening, she risks escalating the situation if the robbers discover what she is up to. This is just one of many heart-pounding sequences in the film.
You can tell that a lot of care and crafting was put into the script, introducing things early on that have pay-offs later in the movie. There’s also some fun era-specific meta film-fan moments, particularly in the dialogue between Miles & Sybil, with their Badlands discussions and referring to the salesman as looking like Anthony Perkins from Psycho.
While much of the film takes place either in the diner or its parking lot, it is quite beautifully shot, with some really nice composition and use of panning and oners to put the viewer right in the middle of the action. The use of slow motion and editing also helps to build the action and tension. The film has some brutal and bloody fight sequences, which are shot in a way that makes the action feel quite real.
The film’s score make use of bongos and other percussive instruments to help maintain a level of uneasiness, while also making use of the familiar pop soundtrack from the 1960s and 1970s, featuring some well-placed tunes by Roy Orbison, Gladys Knight & The Pips, The Grass Roots, Lou Christie, and more that perfectly coincide with what is happening in the scenes.
The film has an amazing cast, all of whom deliver excellent performances, really grounding these characters, which could otherwise feel a bit over-the-top.
Well Go’s Blu-ray looks and sounds amazing, with a crisp, clean picture throughout. The film has more of an earth tone palette, but always looks rich and cinematic, with a solid level of detail. The audio track provides clear dialogue throughout, and really showcases the film’s score and soundtrack. The Blu-ray release also contains some nice bonus material, including the film’s trailer, an 8-minute making-of featurette, and three audio commentary tracks. These commentary tracks provide some fun behind-the-scenes stories. For example, star Jim Cummings sports an unusual red hairdo for this film, looking more like K.J. Apa from Riverdale—in the actor audio commentary, he states it was a hair dye mishap, and was actually supposed to turn out blonde (though his wife liked it and so he kept it for a while). The Blu-ray disc comes packed in a locking HD keepcase. There is no digital copy, but our review copy did include a nice cardboard slipcover.
What’s Included:
Film: (1:30:30)
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Blu-ray:
- 1080p / Widescreen 2.39:1
- Audio: English 5.1 DTS-HD Master Audio, English Stereo
- Subtitles: English SDH, French
Extras:
- Commentaries
The release includes a trio of entertaining and informative commentary tracks. In each, the participants share behind-the-scenes stories about the production, talk about some of the challenges of the shoot, what it was like working with the actors, point out of the Easter eggs and/or filming tricks, filming locations, and more. My favorite is probably the first one with the actors, though each provides some fun stories.- Director & Actors Commentary (1:30:30)
Director Francis Galluppi is joined by stars Jim Cummings (“The Knife Salesman”) & Jocelin Donahue (“Charlotte”). - Director & Executive Producer Commentary (1:30:30)
Director Francis Galluppi is joined by executive producer James Claeys, who sold his house to finance the film. - Director & Cinematographer Commentary (1:30:30)
Director Francis Galluppi is joined by cinematographer Mac Fisken.
- Director & Actors Commentary (1:30:30)
- Making Of (8:28)
The cast and crew talk about the some of the challenges they faced while making this indie movie with a first time director, the misbehaving weather, the financing issues, shooting the big finale, and more. Includes behind-the-scenes footage, and interviews with director/writer/editor Francis Galluppi, executive producer James Claeys, cinematographer Mac Fisken, and stars Jocelin Donahue (“Charlotte”), Faizon Love (“Vernon”), Nicholas Logan (“Travis”), Jim Cummings (“The Knife Salesman”) & Richard Brake (“Beau”). - Trailer (2:13)
- Previews
- Sting (2:15)
- Monolith (2:17)
- A Creature Was Stirring (2:05)
Final Thoughts:
I thoroughly enjoyed The Last Stop in Yuma County. It is a well-crafted thriller, with some excellent performances and fun moments of humor to break the constant tension. The film is beautifully and creatively shot, and also features a fantastic score and soundtrack. The Blu-ray presentation looks and sounds great, and the disc includes a short behind-the-scenes featurette as well as three audio commentary tracks. Fans of the film won’t be disappointed, and anyone looking for a fun and entertaining thriller should definitely check out this release!
The film is currently available for purchase/rental digitally, and arrives on Blu-ray July 16.
The Last Stop in Yuma County Blu-ray
35% Off $29.98 $19.49 (as of July 1, 2024 15:43 GMT -04:00 – More infoProduct prices and availability are accurate as of the date/time indicated and are subject to change. Any price and availability information displayed on [relevant Amazon Site(s), as applicable] at the time of purchase will apply to the purchase of this product.)
The Last Stop in Yuma County
$9.99 (as of July 1, 2024 15:43 GMT -04:00 – More infoProduct prices and availability are accurate as of the date/time indicated and are subject to change. Any price and availability information displayed on [relevant Amazon Site(s), as applicable] at the time of purchase will apply to the purchase of this product.)
