Improv Rocket Surgery: “Last Dance of the Devil’s” (1993)
Lord of Board and Sword
If we told you that there was a 1990s movie starring Martin Sheen’s brother featuring a post-apocalyptic world of skateboarding, sword-wielding Jedi dudes, would you believe us? Well, you shouldn’t, because we made it up on the spot. Concluding our trilogy of improvised “Rocket Surgery” episodes, this is “Last Dance of the Devil’s”, a film so bad that its title is mispunctuated.
Listen to this episode (1 hour, 31 minutes)
Show Notes
LAST DANCE OF THE DEVIL’S (1993)
directed by Derek Stevens
written by Derek Stevens
Joe Estevez as Holy Father Hightower Bell
Julie Strain as Destinella
Jerry Gray as Dare Rockforth
Andrew Reed as Scott Noname
Brittany Westland as Nameless Woman
After the final nuclear war, America became a wasteland ruled by Holy Father Hightower Bell (Joe Estevez), who controls access to fresh water, edible food, and Steel Horses (motorcycles). Either you join his Sacred Knights of Compliance, or live on your own “outside the limits” of the Lord’s Dominion of Lost Angels (which looks suspiciously like abandoned and otherwise cheap shooting locations in and around Los Angeles). The elite guard of the Sacred Knights are called “Incorporals”.
Those who live outside Lost Angels are called Out-Towners. They were once protected by a roving band of freedom fighters called The Devil’s Doers, who are suspiciously like Jedi Knights but with pawn shop samurai swords, trench coats, and…apparently most importantly…skateboards. The most powerful among them are called TruLords…those who “master board and sword.” “The Devil’s”, as they are awkwardly called, are said to have all been hunted down and killed, but one named Dare Rockforth remains in hiding…and the first promising apprentice in years has just appeared…by the name of Scott Noname.
Since no adult men remain among the Out-Towners, their leader is a woman named Destinella (Julie Strain), the daughter of the last living TruLord. Before he died, he gave her the secret plans for how to destroy the iron grip of the Sacred Knights of Compliance. She has been kidnapped by Hightower Bell and must be rescued! But what virile, bare-chested white man is left to save her?!
