American crime writer Dashiel Hammett once wrote a novel called “Red Harvest,” in which a nameless Prohibition-era private eye comes into a small city torn between two warring crime gangs and plays both gangs against each other until they wipe each other out, leaving the town peaceful once more.

Japanese director Akira Kurosawa then made a movie called “Yojimbo” in which a nameless ronin (or masterless samurai) comes into a small village torn between two warring Yakuza families and plays them both against each other until they wipe each other out, leaving the village peaceful once more.

Italian director Sergio Leone then made a Western movie called “Fistful of Dollars,” in which The Man With No Name (played by Clint Eastwood) comes into a small town torn between two gangs of bandits, and so forth and so on.

David Carradine later made a movie called “The Warrior and the Sorceress,” in which a warrior on a faraway world plays warlord Zeg against warlord Balcaz.

And finally, Bruce Willis played a nearly-nameless hitman called “John Smith” who plays two bootlegging gangs against each other during Prohibition. Despite the fact that the story had now come full circle back to the Prohibition-era beer wars, “Last Man Standing” was not directly based on “Red Harvest”- it was simply another remake of Yojimbo in a different setting.

If you want to experience deja vu, you can rent all of these movies and watch them in order with a group of friends. I've done it, and it's great fun!