Jack Slater is an action-film hero played by Arnold Schwarzenegger. An old projectionist (Robert Prosky) hands a magic movie ticket to Jack's biggest preteen fan (Austin O'Brien), and the kid steps right inside the latest Jack Slater film, becoming the actor star's sidekick in gunfights and car chases. But when Jack's nemesis (Charles Dance) gets his hands on the ticket, the fight busts out into the real world and Jack (à la Toy Story's Buzz Lightyear) refuses to believe he's a fictional character. Director John McTiernan churns some nifty scenes out of this setup, although the fiction-to-reality shuffle is not as deft as in, say, Woody Allen's The Purple Rose of Cairo, and the plot needs the kind of logic and discipline found in that classic when-worlds-collide film Back to the Future. Still, Schwarzenegger has moments of wit and smashing action, and we get a faux-movie trailer advertising an intriguing new shoot-'em-up: "Something's rotten in the State of Denmark--and Hamlet is taking out the trash!"
Arnold Schwarzenegger | Jack Slater |
F. Murray Abraham | John Practice |
Austin O'Brien | Danny Madigan |
Art Carney | Frank |
Charles Dance | Benedict |
Frank McRae | Lieutenant Dekker |
Tom Noonan | Ripper / Himself |
Robert Prosky | Nick |
Anthony Quinn | Tony Vivaldi |
Mercedes Ruehl | Irene Madigan |
Ian McKellen | Death |
Professor Toru Tanaka | Tough Asian Man |
Joan Plowright | Teacher |
Jason Kelly | Lieutenant Governor |
Noah Emmerich | Rookie |
Jim Belushi | James Belushi |
Billy Lucas | |
Tina Turner | The Mayor |
Billy D. Lucas | SWAT Cop |
Ryan Todd | Andrew Slater |
Apollo Dukakis | Polonius |
Patrick Flanagan | Punk |
Donald C. Llorens | Monoghan |
Michael Chieffo | Monroe |
Mike Muscat | Cop #1 in L.A. Station |
John Finnegan | Watch Commander |
Bobbie Brown | Video Babe |
Angie Everhart | Video Babe |
Bridgette Wilson-Sampras | Whitney / Meredith (as Bridgette Wilson) |
Jeffrey Braer | Skeezy |
Sven-Ole Thorsen | Gunman |
Anthony Peck | Cop at Ex-Wife's House |
Paul Gonzales | Cop #2 in L.A. Station |
Anna Navarro | Cop #3 in L.A. Station |
Dex Elliott Sanders | Mitchell |
Nick Dimitri | Funeral Doctor |
Rick Ducommun | Ripper's Agent |
Wendle Josepher | Candy Girl |
Michael V. Gazzo | Torelli |
Lee Reherman | Krause |
R.C. Bates | Rabbi |
Colleen Camp | Ratcliff |
Donna Borghoff | Tammy, Hell's Kitchen Hooker |
John McTiernan Sr. | Cigar Stand Man |
Tiffany Puhy | Autograph Seeker |
Keith Barish | Himself |
James Belushi | Himself |
Chevy Chase | Cameo Appearance |
Karen Duffy | Herself |
Larry Ferguson | Himself |
Leeza Gibbons | Herself |
M.C. Hammer | Himself (as Hammer) |
Little Richard | Himself |
Robert Patrick | T-1000 |
Maria Shriver | Herself |
Sharon Stone | Catherine Tramell |
Jean-Claude Van Damme | Himself |
Melvin Van Peebles | Himself |
Damon Wayans | Himself |
Kim Anderson | (uncredited) |
Chris Connelly | Himself (uncredited) |
Neriah Davis | (uncredited) |
Danny DeVito | Whiskers (voice) (uncredited) |
Bryan Hanna | 'Valet' Manager (uncredited) |
Peter Kent | Maitre D' (uncredited) |
Henry Kingi | Vivaldi Thug Wheelman (uncredited) |
Dagmar Koller | Woman in Police Headquarters (uncredited) |
Lou Lollio | Mafioso (uncredited) |
Jason Menz | Sailor (uncredited) |
Frank Patton | Cop Touched by Death (uncredited) |
Nick Pernice | Policeman (uncredited) |
Janice Rivera | Model (uncredited) |
Thomas Rosales Jr. | Henchman (uncredited) |
Christopher Sararo | Sailor (uncredited) |
Michael Straka | Autograph seeker (uncredited) |
Symba | Model (uncredited) |
Kevin Ula Christie | L.A. Station Sergeant (uncredited) |
Michael Wehrhahn | Bell Boy (uncredited) |
Persia White | Herself (uncredited) |