The Last Chase

In a fuel-starved future, the totalitarian government has just impounded all private vehicles. Twenty years ago, the world was ravaged by a mysterious disease. Race car driver Franklyn Hart (Lee Majors) lost his family during the epidemic. Hart is now the spokesman for the mass transit system. He is being investigated for breaking into the impound lot and in danger of re-education. Ring (Chris Makepeace) is a hacker anti-authority boarding school student. Ring goes on the run from the police and gets Hart's help to drive to "Free California". The government has to stop this symbol of personal freedom. They bring out Vietnam vet Captain Williams (Burgess Meredith) and an F-86 Sabre jet.

This is a rally for driving freedom in response to the speed limit. There are a couple cool things in this movie. However at its heart, it's a non-sensical cheesy Canadian production. I like the operations room although I wonder if it's recycled from another movie. The world in the movie makes little sense but the idea of the freedom of the road is very appealing. Burgess talking to his plane is kind of funny. The movie probably needs more comedy and not the unintended kind.

Not as weird as it sounds but twice as unbelievable. Though this isn't a great movie it's a nice time killer for nostalgists. Lee Majors gets sick of the government who wishes to restrain everyone's need for speed. So he and a teen skip town and go cross country as a team that's like the Dukes of Hazard meets Batman and Robin (not the lame film, just the hero team). Things get nutty when Burgess Meredith is called in to take them down but he decides he won't and just pretend to. It's fun but all in all a cheese flick. Last words of the film: "this could set us back to the 1980's." That's is kinda scary when you think about it but John Hughes films would improve.

OK, I'll be the first to admit that this film is nothing special in the grand scheme of millions of movies ever made. However, did you ever see a movie that was barely OK production & acting wise but held your interest? That movie is "The Last Chase." Sometimes you don't want a movie to be technically correct with perfect continuity and a flawless believable story line. This again is "The Last Chase". Sometimes you see a movie at a certain point in your past and watching it again brings back great memories from that time in your life. The Last Chase has characters that you can identify with. Lee Majors plays Franklin Hart an ex-race car driver living in a futuristic Boston who is tired of the laws of an America without oil. Chris Makepeace (Meatballs) plays a brainy student who tags along and gives Lee someone to talk to in the film. Longing for the days when America has gasoline and he could race his car and be a recognized sports figure Frank sees an illegal television broadcast from California (A Free State) and decides that Boston is no longer the place he wants to be. Set in the United States and filmed in Canada, the Last Chase is a fun albeit silly romp that converts an interesting story to film. If it's listed, record it. This one's very tough to find in any format. Made by Crown International Pictures Canada, I'd plead for the DVD, but that request would fall on deaf ears as almost no one would ever remember this one. But I liked it. The Gil Melle score is terrific!

With a silliness index comparable to that of Death Race 2000, and none of the political insight, The Last Chase starts off with two strikes against it. Nevertheless, this film scored a base-hit with me and earned the "somewhat watchable" rating of 5.

If you have ever wanted to see Lee Majors siphoning regular gas from tanks abandoned 40 years ago and using it in a Formula I Car while chased by Burgess Meredith in a Sabre Jet, this is the film for you. I'm afraid that if you have never had this particular fantasy, you might want to avoid this film. Majors plays a professional race car driver forced to give up his career and dismantle his car by a US government which has outlawed petroleum use. Now let's just play along here and lets ignore the fact that the petroleum and defense industries have been the most valuable players in the election of most of the US's recent right-wing executives, and a few of the lefties too - so let's ignore this impossibility of the basic premise - and let's not even ask how these people are generating electricity, etc. I didn't notice any nukes.... Anyway. Steve Austin...ummm sorry.... Lee Majors' character decides to leave for, of all places, California, where people have not realized that petroleum use is a desire, not a right, and are carrying on the same sort of destructive culture the rest of the USA has apparently disavowed. Believability is, of course not an issue here, as the viewer is never challenged to accept any of this absurdity.

Instead, you just let it go along from ridiculous scene to ridiculous scene. And if you start to wonder how Mr. Majors kept such a straight face throughout this film, just think back on his run in The Six Million Dollar Man. And when you get bored with the Roger Corman-like 2 minute pans across screen following the ancient Burgess Meredith and his Sabre Jet, just imagine him cackling like the Penguin, or focus on the other bizarre animal noises he keeps uttering in his aerially induced euphoria.

This film is remarkably good for what it is. The script is not bad, the directing and editing are fine, the acting is decent, and the soundtrack is even acceptable. It does get boring at times, but, given the utterly ludicrous plot, it's not nearly as bad as it should have been.

This was a staple of 1980s Canadian television, not because it's particularly good (though I like it), but because it was made with Canadian dollars. Thus allowing it to fit in with the country's strange (to non-Canadians anyway) Canadian Content broadcast regulations.

Lee Majors takes time out inbetween his Six Million Dollar Man/Fall Guy gigs and races around the countryside near my neck of the woods, while Chris Makepeace blows the head off a statue real good and Burgess Meredith talks to his kite. All this, plus a decent supporting role from Harvey Atkin as the orgy-frequenting conformist co-worker who frowns upon Lee's free-thinking spirit. What's not to like?

Adding to the enjoyment is playing the game of "spot the location" and comparing places I've been to to how they're shown in the movie. The sight of dozens of extras bicycling around the Yorkdale shopping centre on their way towards a big clean Utopian bubble city (or a matte painting of it, anyway) always raises a smile.

Avoid the Mystery Science Theater 3000 version of this, it's really not funny, although the last line "aw, no wonder it sucks, it's Canadian!" is a good one.