La Dernière Grenade

Having appeared in films such as 'The Great Escape', 'Guns at Batasi', 'Flight of the Phoenix' and 'Dr. Dolittle', as well as making his directorial debut in 'Oh! What a Lovely War', Dickie Attenborough continued to act in films like this one in between directing his own. This was made just before he directed 'Young Winston'.

I saw this movie when it first came out, and it made a BIG impression on me -- because it was so BAD. I remember the ride home listening to my parents in the front seat absolutely trash this thing. There were holes in the plot big enough for a herd of elephants to trample through. My father (normally one of the sweetest men you'll ever meet) worked himself up to the point where he was criticizing the costumes.

As I remember (and it has been 35 years), a platoon is shown heading off into the jungle on a secret mission, and they are all in camouflage, "Except for that idiot," my father exclaims through bursts of laughter, "you know, the guy wearing RED on a secret mission!" And even though I was kind of young, I do remember how wooden the acting was, especially Alex Cord, who had to be one of the worst actors ever.

Bottom line: Good for a few laughs, but there is a reason this one is obscure.

Stanley Baker and Alex Cord used to be buddies until the Congo. Now Baker, in London to deal with his tuberculosis, is hired by Whitehall. Cord is making trouble on the border between China and Hong Kong. The local commanding general, Richard Attenborough, can't do anything, since that might raise tensions with China, so Baker and his mercenaries are supposed to deal with the situation.

It's one of those movies in which the action is far more important than the events, like Baker's affair with Attenborough's wife, Honor Blackman. It's never clear why Cord is causing trouble. What is clear is that the two are in a life-and-death struggle, and who will survive is the end the movie is pointing to. There's some good location shooting by DP Alan Hume, but director Gordon Flemyng is more interested in entertainment and striking images than story.

I have always loved this kind of films made in late sixties and early seventies, downbeat and pessimist topics, speaking of anti heroes battling in combats lost in advance. This is not a masterpiece, but I crave for the charm of those movies. Honor Blackman's awesome character's name is Cathy...I guess a tribute to Cathy Gale, the famous TV show THE AVENGERS that made her a star. To summarize, nothing new, compared to other features of this era, speaking of mercenaries but I will never get tired of them. And there were plenty of those, batches, mostly grade B movies. But who cares?

It would take a more proficient cast than this lot to make an interesting movie of this dog's dinner of script writing & direction. Stanley Baker is Ok as a supporting actor in other roles but seems to lack the skills to pull off the starring gig in this movie. Alex Cord adds nothing to the endeavour with his unpolished portrayal of a marginally deranged loose unit.

The movie is directed by Gordon Flemyng, previously directing 'Doctor Who And The Daleks' with Peter Cushing & 'The Split' in the USA starring several creditable actors. 'The Last Grenade' is Flemyng's last major film & understandably so after this 'epitome of meandering tedium'.

The jungle and actions scenes are slow paced and unexciting; the romantic scenes with Honor Blackman are far more interesting.

The whole enterprise seems like a mistake, I'm sure the producers wish this had never been made.