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The time period in which writer-director Francis Galluppi’s The Last Stop in Yuma County takes place never quite crystallizes. But it’s definitely not 2024. No one has cell phones, and everything is priced a lot cheaper. Most of the action in this tidy, 90-minute crime thriller occurs in a shabby Yuma County, Arizona diner/motel/gas station complex. The fuel tanker is late, so customers in need of a fill-up are left with little to do in this one-horse town except wait it out. The next gas stop is some 100 miles away.
A shifty knife salesman (Jim Cummings) makes awkward small talk with the waitress (Jocelin Donahue). An onery older couple comes in. There’s a rambunctious younger couple. But the center of attention is a pair of shady guys who, as it turns out, have just robbed a bank. Galluppi has set up an intriguing gallery of oddballs, some of which feel like scraps that didn’t make the cut in Tarantino, Coen Brothers, or Guy Ritchie movies. As the bad guys try to figure out how to react once the waitress (whose husband happens to be the town sheriff) figures out who they are, the suspense builds agreeably.
As low-budget, nearly-direct-to-video fare (this did scare up a tiny bit of business on a few dozen cinema screens) is concerned, Yuma County is pretty compelling. Unfortunately, Galluppi doesn’t seem to know what to do with his motley crew once they’re assembled. Most of the folks turn out to be straight-up red herrings. It’s not so much that Galluppi backs himself into a narrative corner. It’s just that, after painting an interesting variety of character sketches, he falls back on a bunch of crime flick cliches instead of building anything interesting.
Cummings’ disconcerting knife salesman is ostensibly on his way to celebrate his daughter’s birthday. It does seem there’s more to his story than that, but we never get to know him any better. Donahue is intriguing as Charlotte, dropping hints that she’s capable of more than waitressing in a dive diner. But as anyone who rolls the dice on Yuma County will discover, Galluppi exhibits almost zero interest in developing these colorful sketches into full-bodied people. The cast is game and deserved better.
All that said, The Last Stop in Yuma County has enough fun moments and bracing surprises to make it worth a spin for those with a taste for the genre. Just don’t expect much depth or repeat-viewing value. Three audio commentaries grace Well Go USA’s Blu-ray edition for anyone who wants to take a deeper dive.
