10 Movies That Defined The One Last Job Genre

One Last Job stories are a staple of cinema, especially crime films and westerns. Here are 10 movies that defined the genre.

You Are Reading :10 Movies That Defined The One Last Job Genre

Going out in style means ensuring the last conquest was one worth embarking on. By procuring a victorious end result, it cannot be left up for debate; they went out on top.

In cinema, heroes of this kind are revered for their ability to deliver on what audiences know is coming, yet, cannot help but tune in to find out how it will all go down. The following films are a testament to those who prove the “one final time” motivation resonates with everyone who has ever come to the end of the line and refused to waver without a fight.

While these movies were not necessarily the first to emphasize “one last job,” they are synonymous with the concept.

10 The Town (2010)

Ben Affleck’s heist-heavy thriller brought him back to the crime-ravaged neighborhoods of Boston that he and Matt Damon captured to authentic precision with their Oscar-winning screenplay for 1997’s Good Will Hunting.

The Town follows Affleck as a once-promising Hockey prospect who grew to become the brains behind a Southie bank robbery outfit. While courting the frazzled bank teller who witnessed his most recent armed-and-masked job, he expresses his desire to retire to Florida following the next job.

There, he plans to search for his mother who abandoned him as a child. While the promise of the said plan actually coming to fruition fluctuates as the stakes grow tenser, there is never a moment when audiences are not rooting for the professional criminal to wind up Sunshine State-bound when all is set and done.

9 Logan (2017)

The first superhero film to receive a screenplay nomination at the Academy Awards is also heralded for being closer to a western than a traditional superhero flick.

After playing Wolverine for seventeen years worth of X-Men films, Hugh Jackman brought James “Logan” Howlett to the very end of the open road. In 2029, a significantly-weakened Wolverine is pulled back into duty to provide protection for a child mutant while fighting off adversaries and caring for a dying Professor X. Director James Mangold drew from classic westerns like Shane to capture how a familial dynamic can exist as a survival-based motivational tool both during downtime and in the heat of battle.

8 Mr. 3000 (2004)

Due to a few screw-ups in the scorebook, Mac’s Hall-of-Fame Milwaukee Brewer legend Stan “The Man” Ross – who retired in the middle of a pennant race immediately after recording his 3,000 hit seven years early – learns that he actually only has 2,997 hits. Obviously, this inspires him to make a comeback tour. A return to reclaim what has since become his sole brand and identity.

While clashing with teammates at first, Ross eventually makes the sacrifices necessary to be a team player for the first time. At first, his sole purpose was to reach that magic number by season’s end. But eventually, it is the team’s magic number for a 3rd place finish in the standings that allures Ross and the whole Brewers’ squad the most.

7 Se7en (1995)

Morgan Freeman’s Det. Somerset made it known early on in Se7en that he would not allow his young partner, Brad Pitt’s Det. Mills, to go unguided in their pursuit of the sadistic, deadly sin-motivated killer. Even with his long-awaited retirement looming, Somerset longs to solve the unique case just under the wire.

By the end, the audience is left unsure as to whether or not Somerset will follow through on his plans to retire, or go back on his word and remain on the force in light of what has transpired. Regardless, Det. Somerset’s journey embodies whole-heartedly what it means to jam-pack a case-for-the-ages into a seasoned veteran’s last week on the job.

6 The Shootist (1976)

Serving as a career reflection, John Wayne’s on-brand turn as the gunslinging J.B. Books could have been a morbid iteration of the “one last job” subgenre. Instead, it champions the soul that exists in every western from A-Z.

After receiving a terminal diagnosis, Books prepares to find someone to square off against in a shootout where, if all goes according to plan, he will meet his fate the way someone like him he was meant to: With his boots on. The built-in conflict of Books being the deadliest man in the West who seeks a foe worthy of his status solidifies The Shootist as not just a sly-and-understated western classic, but a triumph of cinema in general.

5 Layer Cake (2004)

Just as pundits often point to Good Time as the film that landed Robert Pattinson the titular role in The Batman (even if the caped crusader probably needs a Robin), Layer Cake is the picture responsible for Daniel Craig’s casting as James Bond.

Before being cast in 2006’s Casino Royale, Craig was a regular-working actor whose lead turn as a high-stakes cocaine dealer planning his early retirement in 2004’s Layer Cake foretold a career that would flourish in mission-based action flicks. Within the film, Craig’s code-named ‘XXXX’ must jump through hoops galore for a boss in order to meet the permanent payoff he is itching to redeem.

4 The Last Movie Star (2017)

Through thick and thin, entertainers are there. Playing other people for the audience’s benefit, and accepting praise given unto them in statue form as themselves. However, the slightest hiccup can summon persecution.

Burt Reynolds’ performance in the film Adam Rifkin wrote specifically for the late actor is defined by genuineness. An actor, in-universe-and-out, who threw the die-hards a bone simply by showing up. In the context of The Last Movie Star, the star’s reluctance and eventual compliance in attending a film festival held to commemorate his work helped perpetuate an important “one last job” criteria: if they have strayed, help them back to the course. And help Burt, this movie did.

3 Thief (1981)

In Michael Mann’s 1981 crime thriller, James Caan’s Frank is the best safecracker criminal money can buy. Yet his ultimate dream is to lead a normal life and have a doting wife by his side to share it with. Classic Michael Mann movie formula.

In pursuit of his dream, Frank takes a job working for someone other than himself – a policy-breaking rarity – and begins committing his high-stakes jewelry heists with less assuredness than usual. As he and viewers approach the end, both wrestle with the fact that it is tougher to be a mere reactor to mayhem, rather than the manufacturer of it.

2 Furious 7 (2015) (& Basically Every Other Fast & Furious Movie)

While a case can be made for almost every installment in the franchise, Furious 7 notably retired the most major character in the series not played by Vin Diesel as a result of Paul Walker’s untimely death in 2013.

As Brian O’Conner in six of the first seven Fast and Furious movies, Walker brought a realness to the role that only expanded as he and on-screen best friend Vin Diesel’s off-screen friendship blossomed. After Walker’s passing, Diesel vowed to oversee a post-production edit of Furious 7 that served as a “For Paul” in-memoriam. Ultimately, Walker’s character retired at the end of the final Brian-involved “last ride,” this time avenging the death(?) of Han.

1 Unforgiven (1992)

The Best Picture-winning 1992 western saw Clint Eastwood as a long-out-of-the-game gunslinger who is asked to kill again. With a young prostitute unjustly slashed by a john, William Munny (Eastwood) reluctantly mulls what it will take to reclaim his devil-in-human form identity for a final time.

Unforgiven covers the journey of Eastwood and his old partner-in-crime, Ned Logan (Morgan Freeman), as they ride into town for the purpose of their mission just as they did so many times before. It is the epitome of a “one last job” movie, which Eastwood knew upon first receiving David Webb Peoples’ screenplay in the mid-’80s.

The grizzled actor/filmmaker had the foresight to shelve the project for nearly a decade, deciding to commence production when he deemed himself old enough to play the character with the age-based motivations and appearance it deserved.

Link Source : https://screenrant.com/movies-defined-one-last-job-genre/