Arnold Schwarzenegger in 'The Last Stand,' a new action flick

NRA LEADERS like to say that only good guys with guns can stop bad guys with guns. They should get a screenplay credit for "The Last Stand."

This energetic, gun-drunk actioner is a return to "B" basics for '80s action icon Arnold Schwarzenegger, until recently distracted by a career in politics, and also by his housekeeper.

Schwarzenegger plays Ray Owens, a border-country sheriff whose sleepy Old West town is selected by Corvette-driving drug lord (Eduardo Noriega) for a high-speed crossing into Mexico, federal agents (led by Forest Whitaker) in hot pursuit.

The kingpin's heavily armed confederates attempt to take over the town, but learn the same lesson the North Koreans learned in the recent remake of "Red Dawn": If you're going to invade a country, you should choose one with fewer guns.

Or, let's frame it this way - imagine a remake of "High Noon," but instead of a scenario in which nobody helps the sheriff, everybody helps the sheriff, and everybody has a carry permit. (You'll note the nod here to Grace Kelly.)

And they carry some exotic species of weapon.

Owens and his deputies (including Luis Guzman) enlist the aid of a local goofball (Johnny Knoxville) who runs a firearms museum, so white hats go to battle with a World War II Vickers machine gun, a tommy gun and a handheld elephant pistol.

It all leads to a mythic showdown on Main Street, where black hats with fancy, fussy assault gear and euro haircuts run up against old hand Arnold and his old-school gun collection.

But, lest we characterize "The Last Stand" as being merely gun-happy, let us note (in the spirit of Philadelphia Auto Show's opening weekend) that it also lovingly fondles its muscle cars.

The drug dealer blows into town driving his space-age, 700 horsepower Corvette, and in the end must face down Arnold in a Dodge Charger. The duel takes place in a cornfield, here a field of dreams for subscribers of Guns & Ammo or Car and Driver.

Who directed this riotous explosion of all-American iconography?

Korean Jee-woon Kim, known for his gonzo Pacific Rim thrillers. He pitches this movie as an outlandish action-comedy, playing to the strengths of his star, who turns his age into an asset here, part of the joke.

Expendable, yes, but durable.