18 December 2019 (London premiere)[3] 21 January 2020 (home video)[1]
Running time
140 minutes
Country
United Kingdom
Language
English
In Search of the Last Action Heroes is a 2019 documentary film written and directed by Oliver Harper, and co-written by Timon Singh.[4] The film revisits the action films of the 1980s and 1990s, often regarded as the genre's Golden Age, via interviews with filmmakers and actors who were active during that time, or are viewed as their successors.[5][6][7][8]
David J. Moore, author of the book The Good, the Tough, and the Deadly: Action Movies and Stars,[9] and Ian Nathan, Empire journalist and author of the book The Terminator Vault, also appear.[3]
Production
Director Harper worked in various capacities for British cinema chainCineworld.[3] Inspired by video retrospectives produced by gaming website Gametrailers, he started producing similar featurettes about classic action films, which he published on Blip[10] and his own website Oliver Harper's Retrospectives and Reviews. Robin Block, a music documentarian looking to branch out into popular film history,[11] came across Harper's series and offered to sponsor his work.[12] The relationship evolved into a feature-length project.[13] News of the documentary's production reached Timon Singh, an advertising creative and author of the book Born to Be Bad: Talking to the Greatest Villains in Action Cinema, who offered to collaborate on the venture and use the connections he had forged during the making of his book to arrange some of the film's interviews.[14] Film journalist David A. Weiner, who would go on to direct his own documentaries for Block, served as a producer on the feature.[4]
Release
In Search of the Last Action Heroes premiered on 18 December 2019 at the Castle Cinema in London, United Kingdom.[3] The film was released on DVD and Blu-ray Disc by American distributor Gravitas Ventures on 21 January 2020.[1]
^Harper, Oliver (8 March 2013). "Sudden Death (1995) Retrospective/Review". Oliver Harper's Retrospectives and Reviews. Blip Networks. Retrieved 14 January 2023. blip.tv/oliverharper
^"Shoot to Thrill". Retro Gamer. No. 223. Bath: Future. 5 August 2021. p. 8. ISSN1742-3155.
