The Last Run (1971)

User Rating:

5.8/10   

Director:

Richard Fleischer

Writer:

Alan Sharp (writer)

Release Date:

7 January 1972 (Finland)

Genre:

Action | Drama | Crime | Thriller

Tagline:

In the tradition of Hemingway and Bogart.

Plot:

A former getaway driver from Chicago (George C. Scott) has retired to a peaceful life in a Portugese fishing village...

Plot Keywords:

Driving | Scenery | Police | Escape | Handgun

Cast

George C. Scott	...	Harry Garmes
Tony Musante	...	Paul Rickard
Trish Van Devere	...	Claudie Scherrer
Colleen Dewhurst	...	Monique
Aldo Sambrell	...	Miguel (as Aldo Sanbrell)
Antonio Tarruella	...	Motorcycle Policeman
Robert Coleby	...	Hitch Hiker
Pat Zurica	...	1st Man (as Patrick J. Zurica)
Rocky Taylor	...	2nd Man

Runtime:

95 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English | Portuguese | Spanish

Color:

Color (Metrocolor)

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

UK:18 (video rating) (1987) | UK:AA (original rating) | Australia:PG | Finland:K-16 | Norway:16 | Sweden:15 | USA:GP | West Germany:18

Filming Locations:

Nerja, Málaga, Andalucía, Spain

Company:

Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM)

Trivia:

Star George C. Scott fought with legendary director John Huston during the filming over script rewrites as well as the leading lady, Tina Aumont. After engaging in shouting matches with Scott, Huston quit the film. Fatefully, Aumont was replaced with Trish Van Devere, whom Scott fell in love with and married. Huston was replaced by Richard Fleischer, and the movie bombed both with critics and at the box office.

Goofs:

Incorrectly regarded as goofs: Tony Musante's hair goes from short to long several times during the film. This is because he keeps taking of the curly wig he is supposed to be wearing as a disguise.

Quotes:

Paul Rickard: I don't blow boxes, man, I blow heads. When I say bang, everything gets suddenly dark
[puts hands over Harry's eyes while he's driving]

A splendid film for those with a taste for existentialism

Other viewers' comments, both negative and positive, have aptly classified this film's genre. Those with inclination toward existentialist thought (e.g., why are we here and what are the best options before embracing the void?) generally like it. I think the film great and wish it were available on DVD. Others find it vapid. Yet I think the theme similar to that found in Blade Runner or Pierrot le Fou - though different from, say, Kafka's Metamophosis, or The Trial, or from Camus' The Stranger, etc., in that this film's protagonist undergoes emotional development - along with another character who fears her fate and sees no other path to follow.

Our protagonist's past life as an underworld character is significant not in the cops-and-robbers sense, but rather as an earmark of his "loner" personality - like Camus' Stranger. He's a retired individualist - like Blade Runner's Deckard - who after a career on the "outside" is sucked against his will into a melee of action and intrigue. All he'd longed for was to finish out his days in peace - in Portugal - though one can wonder if his automotive hobby (his surrogate child) and petty daily ritual could really have sustained him - yet such is the trap some see themselves born into; perhaps an earlier, unexpected coup de grace isn't to be under-appreciated.