THE LAST STOP IN YUMA COUNTY - Mark Reviews Movies

The Last Stop in Yuma County, Well Go USA

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Review by Mark Dujsik | May 9, 2024

There's a moment of violence in The Last Stop in Yuma County so shocking that it leaves one breathless. It's not the bloody or gory details of that violence, mind you, but the scale of it. The feeling is one of genuine surprise and, once the noise and smoke clear, a little worry. How can writer/director Francis Galluppi even proceed with his plot in a satisfying way after a moment that seems to stop everything about this story, the inherent suspense of the setup, and the film's momentum in their respective tracks?

In retrospect, any sliver of doubt one might have about the filmmaker's ability to pull off the narrative's final trick is misguided. Galluppi brings us to that moment when everything seems to be upended with such skill, in terms of both how the story is structured and maintaining the tension of its claustrophobic conflict, that of course he knows exactly what he's doing. The degrees of filmmaking confidence and of gutsy storytelling are the real shocks here—not only because this is Galluppi's feature debut, but also because the plot is so simple and confined that the material initially seems too restricted to do too much with it.

The location, for example, is a rest stop along a desert road in the-middle-of-nowhere Arizona. The period is likely the early 1970s, based on the fashions, the models of various vehicles, the music playing on the radio and a jukebox, and some passing discussions of the popular culture of the day. Galluppi is obviously showing his narrative and stylistic influences with the backdrop, but in more practical terms, the setting removes anything extraneous or potentially distracting from the core of the tension-filled premise.

It's about people in peril. Some of them know the danger, and others are blissfully unaware of what's really happening in this place. Either way, they're helpless, because there's no means of escape and no way to get in contact with potential aid from the world outside the rest stop.

We know all of that from that start, almost as soon as a traveling knife salesman (played by Jim Cummings) pulls into the gas station part of the property. He's low on fuel, and Vernon (Faizon Love), the owner of the pumps and the adjoining motel, informs him that station's tanks are empty. A fuel truck is on its way but late, and unless the salesman has enough gas to make it another hundred miles or so to the next stop, this is his only option. He doesn't, so he'll wait.

We already know he'll be waiting a while, because Galluppi shows us that truck overturned in a ditch down the road shortly into the film, too. Nobody in the story knows that detail, though, but it's going to be a significant issue once a couple of other travelers arrive.

Meanwhile, the salesman decides to wait in the diner next door to the gas station, where the server on duty—the only employee at the restaurant—has just opened for business for the day. She's Charlotte (Jocelin Donahue), who's polite with customers, kind-hearted to people in a jam, patient with everyone making a point about how pretty she is, and quick-witted in ways that might help the situation about to unfold.

That's for a little later, though. In the meantime, the salesman and the waitress talk about their lives, their families (He has a daughter and is trying to get home in time for her birthday, and she's married and "not blessed" with children), and the diner's famous rhubarb pie.

The conversation is so relaxed (the last moment of such a mood, really) and sincere (Charlotte gives the guy a piece of pie to bring to his daughter) that we like both of these characters immediately. Donahue channels the sort of downhome sweetness that's covering up how little nonsense this character will take, and if Cummings' unique and always compelling brand of anxious energy seems underutilized as a background player for most of the ensuing crisis, there's a big payoff to Galluppi's wisdom in casting the actor—for that exact and particular verve he can bring to a character—in what eventually becomes the leading role.

Soon, though, Beau (Richard Brake) and Travis (Nicholas Logan) show up, learn about the empty fuel pumps, and decide to wait in the restaurant, too. By the way, they have robbed a bank and are the subjects of a statewide manhunt.

By another way, the salesman figures this out, based on a news flash he hears on the radio and by noticing the pair's car, and quietly lets Charlotte in on this information. Beau, the brains of the duo, notices the other two noticing the outlaws' car, who they are, and what they've done. As Charlotte tries to call her Sheriff husband (played by Michael Abbott Jr.), the bank robbers move to take the waitress and the salesman hostage.

The rest of the plot is an extended standoff, as more people come to and go from or stay in the diner. It adds layers of complications for the robbers, as well as a greater sense of unease about innocent strangers caught up in something they know nothing about. It also provides more performances of note from the likes of character actor Genes Jones as an exhausted traveler, Connor Paolo as an eager but bumbling Sherrif's deputy, and Ryan Masson and Sierra McCormick as a couple of runaway, wannabe outlaws—a couple of wild cards in Galluppi's colorful deck of characters grounded in easy sympathy, pure menace, or something even more sinister in between.

Galluppi builds tension through close-ups, both of faces and by noting who has a weapon where, and finds specific setpieces in little moves, such as glances of acknowledgment and one gambit involving coffee cups. The Last Stop in Yuma County is a showcase for this new filmmaker's skill in using the camera to communicate and emphasize the stakes, in establishing a distinct sense of style from a simple setup, and, perhaps most impressive of all, in balancing this tricky tonal mixture of comedy, suspense, and, as the film becomes about the consequences of unhinged greed, mounting horror.

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