
The Last Action Heroes
The Triumphs, Flops, and Feuds of Hollywood's Kings of Carnage
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Narrated by:
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Bronson Pinchot
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By:
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Nick de Semlyen
The behind-the-scenes story of the action heroes who ruled 1980s and ’90s Hollywood and the beloved films that made them stars, including Die Hard, First Blood, The Terminator, and more.
“Entertaining . . . This is a book that makes you ache for the days when the movie screen belonged not to men who dress in superhero capes but to those who lift weights.”—Washington Examiner
A NEWSWEEK BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR
The Last Action Heroes opens in May 1990 in Cannes, with Arnold Schwarzenegger and Sylvester Stallone waltzing together, cheered on by a crowd of famous faces. After years of bitter combat—Stallone once threw a bowl of flowers at Schwarzenegger’s head, and the body count in Schwarzenegger’s Commando was increased so the film would “have a bigger dick than Rambo”—the world’s biggest action stars have at last made peace.
In this wildly entertaining account of the golden age of the action movie, Nick de Semlyen charts Stallone and Schwarzenegger’s carnage-packed journey from enmity to friendship against the backdrop of Reagan’s America and the Cold War. He also reveals fascinating untold stories of the colorful characters who ascended in their wake: high-kickers Chuck Norris and Jackie Chan, glowering tough guys Dolph Lundgren and Steven Seagal, and quipping troublemakers Jean-Claude Van Damme and Bruce Willis. But as time rolled on, the era of the invincible action hero who used muscle, martial arts, or the perfect weapon to save the day began to fade. When Jurassic Park trounced Schwarzenegger’s Last Action Hero in 1993, the glory days of these macho men—and the vision of masculinity they celebrated—were officially over.
Drawing on candid interviews with the action stars themselves, plus their collaborators, friends, and foes, The Last Action Heroes is a no-holds-barred account of a period in Hollywood history when there were no limits to the heights of fame these men achieved, or to the mayhem they wrought, on-screen and off.
©2023 Nick de Semlyen (P)2023 Random House AudioListeners also enjoyed...




















Critic reviews
“Fans of ’80s excess will revel in the book’s accounts of the boozy bacchanals and ego-driven feuds that played out behind the scenes of the biggest movies in Hollywood history.”—The Seattle Times
“An all-you-can-eat feast . . . [a] deft, hilarious, overlapping weave of anecdotes and detail.”—AirMail
‘If it’s bulging biceps, titanic tantrums, sculpted shoulders and Herculean drug habits you're after, then Nick de Semlyen is the author for you. His book The Last Action Heroes is not bad either, a hugely entertaining romp through ’80s and ’90s action cinema, every page riddled with a zillion bullet holes.”—Edgar Wright
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Entertaining, but lacks depth
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I couldn’t stop listening
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So good, I want more!
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Simply Wonderful
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How can you leave good ol’ Jack Burton out of a book like this???
Could have been THE book on the subject
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Bronson Pinchot is a very good narrater — very impressed… had no idea! 2 Thumbs up!!
Excellent!!
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Listening to this made me that little kid excited for the movies on Friday night.
Even though a lot of the material in here I've heard before(I'm a podcast addict), having them all collected and talking about each star equally kept this a quality listen even when it was stuff I already heard of or knew.
Great listen and will return to in a year or so probably because it just goes down so easily.
A kid again...
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These are fascinating stories for anyone fascinated by these stars and the period that propelled them to stardom. I found the volume so easily digestible, like many others I was wanting more in depth coverage - as I am a voracious hunter of this kind of lore. Don't let that deter you, listener, you'll have a great time with it. I sure did.
You son of a b**ch I'm in!
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A VERY ENJOYABLE BOOK
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Great Look at the 80s and 90s
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