The Last Run (1971)

This is one of my favorite George C. Scott movies. It holds your attention with the scenery and action while also delivering a good story.

Typical ,smart tough guy that Scott portrays. If you like GCS you’ll enjoy this film.

This is an excellent mostly forgotten movie which was sold in 1971 as being in the Bogart mold presumably because "Play It Again Sam" was on general release in theaters and "Casablanca" featured regularly on the box. However, it has much more in common with the films of french director Jean-Pierre Melville than with the WArner Bros output of Humphrey Bogart. It has some similarities with the recent George Clooney film "The American" but is superior in every department. "The Last Run" was planned by John Boorman, principal photography began with John Huston at the helm who was quickly replaced by Richard Fleischer. Despite these changes at the top the finished film remains consistent in tone throughout. Only the final five minutes or so disappoint slightly. Even so, the actual denouement still has a "Chinatown" feel - the nice guy suffers a sudden death and the sleazeball and his duplicitous girlfriend skedaddle to Africa.This is a beautifully crafted movie. Sven Nykvist's lighting and camera set ups are perfection apart from one silly crash zoom in on George C.Scott on a balcony, but this can be forgiven considering most popular action films of the time were littered with such ugly camerawork. Jerry Goldsmith's score is one of his best, not in the same league as "The Wind & The Lion" or "Chinatown" but still excellent and suitably spare. Russell Lloyd's editing of the numerous driving scenes is highly impressive and puts to shame all the other road movies of this era such as "The Vanishing Point" and "Easy Rider". I guess credit for these scenes should also go to second unit director Roy Stevens.Alan Sharp's spare terse screenplay feels just right, looking back to the gangster movies of Jean-Pierre Melville and forward to the 1970's road movies of Wim Wenders.The Warner Archive disc looks wonderful. It is presented in 2.35:1 and is perfectly clean, and is sharper and better looking than the DVD of "The American". Amazingly, unlike modern movies, you can hear every line of dialogue and the sound mix has highs and lows and no pop songs. This disc and film are so good that I watched it two days running.

I walked into this movie about 45 minutes late as a middle schooler eagerly anticipating just another double bill a year or so after it was first released and enjoyed the hell out of it. Through the years, I'd felt a little hollow not knowing what I missed but was ecstatic to find it was recently released on DVD. Well, I bought the thing and wasn't exactly bowled over all these years later with the plotline I had missed way back when. Quite frankly, the first half of the movie drags, and little is given away as to who the three main characters are or why we should care. This negates any steam the film tries to muster in the remaining reels. A few comments in this forum have brought up a comparison to Bogart, but, no, George C. Scott aptly plays just another steady, thinking man's character while his career was in full swing on the heels of his Oscar win. And he's in fine form even if he doesn't have much of a role to settle into. The recently departed Tony Musante plays a flakey hitman whose a bit jumpy with his lines (sometimes Scott looks more preturbed with this actor's delivery than as the character reacting to it), and Trish Van Devere, Scott's soon-to-be real-life wife, is quaintly unruffled as the hitman's girl. It seems as if any young, attractive actress at the time could have played the part. That, coupled with a few widely scattered plot twists, one good explosion, and a too sudden finale that allows the wrong guy to get away can't save this modest actioner. At least Scott gave it a confident enough go.

Many years ago when I saw this I thought it was a cool character study in an interesting era in Europe. The setting was appealing due to it being at the tale end of so many spy and intrigue movies set in Europe in the 60s and early 70s. George C. Scott is fresh off Patton and is compelling as the retired mob driver who wants to prove he’s still got it. He needs the old thrill because retirement is boring.After recently getting a chance to view again, I was struck by the overall nihilism of the story. His character gets some thrills, but it’s all due to things going wrong so he really just brings a lot of trouble down on himself. Innocent lives are lost due to his derailed assignment which was really just an exercise in vanity. So I don’t find this movie as “cool” as I did 30 years ago. For fans of Scott, he’s very good in it, just as he is in the underappreciated Islands in the Stream. Neither is upbeat but both have something to say about life-and death.

bought it mainly because it has trish van deVere ...I love her...!!!

An excellent widescreen print and an offbeat character study of a flawed man make this worth your time.

great film thanks

old classic

i have waited for quite some years for "the last run" to surface on dvd and now, thank to "warners archive," i can now enjoy it. this is quite a tensely-mounted film, with george c. scott as the aging driver for the chicago underworld, living at his retreat in portugal and wanting to retire. of course, the chicago underworld won't allow him........ scott is asked to drive this young couple across france in order that they may be able to escape their enemies. there are several key scenes along the way to enjoy, as well as a brilliant performance from george c. scott.