A Última Fuga

A really excellent film, written by the wonderful and neglected Alan Sharp (see Night Moves). Scott is great and in an era of endless explosions and car chases, this is a welcome, intelligent relief.

Richard Fleisher did several good early noir films before his late career as a hack TV director. Also, this background reminds one of Frears film The Hit. (or is it The Last Hit?)...anyway,the writing is first rate, as always with Sharp and the characters quite memorable. Why is it so overlooked? This is the kind of genre piece that simply doesn't get made anymore. All performances are solid --- and I also have to wonder at the career of Richard Fleisher. From something as good as this, to his late work will remain a filmic enigma.

The plot is simple: an aging criminal getaway driver stumbles out of semi-retirement for one last job and ends up getting more than he bargained for. It's the stuff film noir writers have dreamed up for years. But in Richard Fleischer's "The Last Run", released in 1971 and starring George C. Scott, it feels refreshingly original and brash.

A troubled production from the start, "The Last Run" barreled through several directors (including John Huston) before Fleischer came on board. It probably wouldn't have been quite as successful without the star status of Scott... an interestingly low budget choice for an actor spring boarding off his home run performance in the blockbuster "Patton" a year earlier. And it is Scott who gives the film its grizzled pessimism... portraying his character Harry Garmes as a guy who understands the consequences of a lifetime on the fringes. He doesn't wink at the audience and for that, "The Last Run" is a seriously overlooked film that ranks with "The Outfit" and "Prime Cut" as three no-nonsense early 70's examples of the crime picture done amazingly right.

There's something about Tony Musante that makes you want to punch him in the nose. Or if you're not the violent type - to have someone else do it. Which is perfect for an actor like George C. Scott, who didn't suffer fools and would scrap with just about anyone, on or off the set...

In THE LAST RUN Scott plays an aged getaway driver hired to take an escaped convict... whom he helped escape... on a score, and the entire Spain setting takes place either in the adobe brown countrysides, painted landscapes and, there and back again, a cool blue, fishing-boat beach. The tagline states, "In the tradition of Hemingway and Bogart," but with a Jerry Goldsmith score detailed by a haunting, reposeful harpsichord, it's really more of a Spaghetti Western with sporadic bursts of action between a "two's company, three's a crowd" road trip from one double-cross to another chance to score, with some twists and turns that shouldn't be spoiled in-between...

Stretched upon another intentionally bleak, atmospheric Neo Noir canvas by director Richard Fleischer, the action ala chase scenes and roadside shootout sequences flow smoothly at times, awkward at others within the parenthetical, motel-hopping, uneven yet savory dialogue, so it's about the characters, guided by their reactions to and against each other rather than the situation at hand, which needed more urgency, overall...

Meanwhile, the signature Spaghetti "revenge" element is portioned out to the audience as it's learned and dealt with by our main man, going from "over his head" to "in too deep" while far from alone in this particular, road-weaving purgatory that includes a brief June/November romance that's more a contrived male fantasy than being necessary to the overall story-line. Then again, this is pulp and it's fiction both. In droves - literally.

As the ingenue, Trish Van Devere delivers lines in a sort of dreamy, lifeless monotone, and she doesn't provide any chemistry in either direction as Scott's initial abhor for the cocky and condescending Musante shapes into something of an Uncle/Nephew who still have it in for each other, and the anti-chemistry works...

Once the trio hooks up during the second act there's a slick, cool, slownburn pace after suffering through a somewhat grueling rudimentary stage: by his rugged, granite looks and tough guy name alone, Scott's Harry Garmes need only exist in a sparse tale that initially tries too hard to establish his rabbit's-foot-religious yet existential character (in a loose "relationship" with a hooker played by ex-wife Colleen Dewhurst) who does only one thing well, and may or may not have waited too long for his return to it. In that, literally from the onset, the title explains everything about him while, at the same time, giving everything away.

Well made dramatic thriller about an ex-driver for the mob, now retired and living on a beach with nothing else to do, and nothing else he knows how to do. When he's called upon after nine years to perform a job he takes it, simply to see if he can still do it. Scott is the best reason to watch this other-wise standard chase film; As the aging driver who's lost everything and has nothing to do but die, he is masterful. This is one of his finest (and most under-rated) performances. An engaging film with some intense moments of action and a great existentialist feel to it. Doesn't quite hit it's mark at times, but worth-while for Scott. Good photography.

*** out of ****

The Last Run was originally a John Huston project, but in the end it was taken up and completed by maverick director Richard Fleischer. Often, a change of personnel affects the film, but in this case, Fleischer has fashioned a decent thriller with picturesque locations and a tight plot.

It's all about a getaway driver from Chicago who has settled down to a peaceful life in a Portugese fishing village. He is hired to drive a gangster and his girlfriend to the French border, under total assurance that the job is strictly routine. However, it turns out that the whole thing is a set-up, and that the gangster is the target of some killers. Getaway driver, gangster, and gangster's girlfriend all flee back to Portugal, pursued by their enemies.

The characters are quite cold and cynical and don't appeal to the audience a great deal. This hurts the film, because it's awfully hard to care a damn about what happens to them. The film also suffers from a typically downbeat ending (as, indeed, many films from this era do). However, it has exciting moments and is always pleasing to the eye. The chase plot is gripping throughout and really helps to compensate for some of the not-so-good aspects.