User Reviews

The story is simple... George C. Scott, a retired Chicago gangster, whose specialty in the old days was as a wheelman, lives in Spain... For various reasons, he agrees to drive an escaped convict (Tony Musante) and his girl (Trish Van Devere) across the country in a getaway drive from the Guardia Civil and rival gangsters...

The twist is that the ex-gangster genuinely loves automobiles... In his garage he has a super charged 1957 BMW 503, one of the prettiest sporting cars ever built, and Scott cares for this vehicle almost with the love he would give a woman...

Forced to drive it too far and too fast with the 'blower' cut in, he complains that it will ruin the motor, a thought about the internal-combustion engine which movie drivers never seem to have... When, at the end of the film, he crashes the car, it is obvious that he will then sacrifice his life for the hoodlum and the girl, because there is nothing left for him...

Colleen Dewhurst (who was Mrs. Scott) is also featured in this exciting, and certainly, one of the most beautifully photographed chase thriller...

I was surprised by this film, as I went into it blind, didn't think of George C Scott much one way or the other and have no particular interest in cars or machinery. Straight action films, also don't interest me much. But despite these reservations I like The Last Run for its thoughtful characterisations and straightforward story of three people who make a dash for the cash, and have to live and die with the consequences. George C Scott is more subdued, and much easier to like here than in his better known movies such as Patton, or The Hustler. His gruff demeanour does not indicate a heart of gold, but still it seems obvious he is a decent person. As an older man his character seems confounded by his fate, the realisation that he's running out of time. He's wonderful to watch and gives a superb performance. The cinematography and musical scores are first rate, and the ensemble cast make their presence felt, but it's Mr Scott's movie, and I can't help but like him.

Possible spoiler about the ending

Others have adequately described the plot. I saw this movie shortly after it came out and loved it. Being able to see it again was a treat---like visiting a friend one hasn't seen in years (in this case, 34 years). The best aspect of the movie is that it respects the act of thinking and portrays it with pauses, facial expressions, and moments of no dialog.

Underlying the main character's actions and attitudes was a bleak, fatalistic view of life (existentialism?). While I dislike "action" for action's sake, I enjoyed the car chase sequences because they served to define the main character's profession and mental state. And in spite of the well-shot car chases, this is not an action movie. Rather, it is about the actions that people take and the reasons for their doing so.

Though the main character was a retired crook, I liked him, and felt sorry for him because he was double-crossed by his employers. It hurt me to see him discover that his fisherman friend Miguel had been killed. The young woman's cynical manipulation angered me but I felt sorry for her because she was making choices about life that were guaranteed to make it a miserable one. The Tony Musante character was immature, heartless, and despicable: I hated him. That he seemed to get away in the end was a letdown.

Just before the end there is a pair of camera shots that reek of symbolism and were my favorite moments: when the policeman turns off the ignition of the battered car, the main character, who is elsewhere, dies. This understated and underrated film was a delight.

This film was apparently panned by the critics on its release and it did not do well commercially. However, it is still worth a look and I think it has aged quite well, compared to many films of its time.

George C Scott is always worth watching, even when he is not at his best, and perhaps this is not his most memorable performance.

Despite the screenplay focussing on a bunch of gangsters, Scott's character (Harry Garmes) is still sympathetic, with his own moral standards and, if somewhat bleak, personality.

It is clear from the beginning that Harry Garmes is doomed — the very name of the film gives that away — but you are rooting for him, despite his destiny. He is an old man, and the end is near, but he is not going down without a fight. Maybe it is just my age, but I rather relate to that.

By far the best part of the whole project is the near-forgotten Jerry Goldsmith theme music. A beautiful and haunting piece that will remain with you long after the film has been forgotten.

A consummate bearer of American patriotism if ever there was one. If he's not chasing his daughter's traffickers in Paul Schrader's Hardcore (1979), he's barking orders as the famous General George S. Patton in Franklin J. Schaffner's self-titled film, Patton (1970). In whatever incarnation, he's got your back (and his own). In this acting turn, Scott plays Harry Garmes, a retired driver for criminals who's living a quiet, yet fruitless existence in a village in Portugal. With no further purpose in life, and only a prostitute, (an occasional lover), for company, Scott decides to gamble this, in some ways, enviously sedate life, in favour of one "last run", a job transporting an escaped killer, Paul Rickard (Tony Musante), and his girlfriend, Claudie Scherrer (Trish Van Devere), across Portugal and Spain, into France.

The film plays out as a sort-of mid-life crisis piece, albeit loaded with thrilling action and spectacular car chases, with Garmes' 1956 BMW 503 Cabriolet being photographed at every angle. On this roller-coaster journey, Garmes begins to fall for the female protagonist (Van Devere) who, like her boyfriend, is very much a product of the free-spiritedness of the swinging sixties. Garmes' contemplation of a relationship with a younger woman, coupled with her flirtations towards him, faintly recalls trashy, drive-in movies of the previous decade such as Weekend With The Babysitter, in which an older man with conservative values becomes acquainted with the far-out freedoms of the hippie generation.

In terms of the film's cinematography, the widescreen shots of the perilous and graceful movements of the film's cars are inspiring, and a sequence near the beginning heavily recalls the opening sequence of Peter Collinson's The Italian Job (1969), in which Rossano Brazzi is filmed driving his Lamborghini in a predominantly over-the-shoulder manner. Where this film really succeeds, for me, is in channelling the spy vibe of the 60s and 70s, and this is thanks, in large part, to Jerry Goldsmith's wonderful music score. The swooning title song is sung by Steve Lawrence, sounding, in some places, scarily like Matt Monro. (Another reference to The Italian Job?)

The film's original poster promises a story "In the tradition of Hemingway and Bogart" and, in my estimation, it doesn't quite deliver. Perhaps the film would have been given more gravitas if John Huston had directed instead of Richard Fleischer. (Curiously, Huston walked out on the production after fights with Scott). Also of interest is the fact that Scott fell in love with actress Trish Van Devere during production and they would go on to make several movies together as husband and wife. So, despite critical failure, something good came out of this movie. Moreover, George C. Scott is one of a rare variety of actors who can get away with playing himself, or, better said, virtually the same role, in each film. In this sense, Scott's acting in The Last Run is irreproachable.

Watch this film on a Friday night as a slice of nostalgic 70s crime entertainment but don't expect it to show the bravura of the other aforesaid George C. Scott outings.

The Last Run is a forgotten gem.

George C. Scott lives a lonely life in a small fishing village in Portugal. His son has died and his wife has left him. His life has lost meaning. He decides to be once again a getaway driver to get back into the game of life. Of course it is a girl that brings this all out in the open.

The music by Jerry Goldsmith is poignant and beautiful.

Alan Sharp's writing is sharp indeed. And moving as well. Right up there with the screenplay for Arthur Penn's Night moves, which Sharp also wrote.

I strongly recommend this movie. I give it a straight A.

****SPOILERS**** Grossly underrated film by George C. Scott as professional getaway driver Harry Games who, as we see at the beginning of the film, is retired in a Portuguese fishing village who gets a job by the mob, the first in 9 years, to get convicted hit-man Paul Rickard,Tony Musante, out of a Spanish jail and back to safety across the border into France. With a staged break-out Rickard is picked up by Harry in his souped up BMW and to his surprise Rickard instead of wanting to flee to freedom he wants a confused and angry Harry to go out of his way and pick up his American girlfriend Claudine, Trish Van Dever, thus screwing up his time-table.

Still determined to get the job done Harry not only risks his life in getting now both Rickard & Claudine to safety from the police but the very gangsters who hired him to free Rickard in order, it comes as a big surprise to Harry, to murder him! In some of the most stirring car chase scenes in movie history Harry finally gets Rickard and his girlfriend to the Spanish coast only to have the mob waiting for them. Harry who at first was only an innocent bystander in all this is shot by the mobsters who were holding his main squeeze Monique, Colleen Dewhurst, hostage whom he dropped in to say good-by. Realizing that a trap is set for Rickard and Caudine by the mobsters who shot and wounded him Harry tries to warn them but finds out that his friend fisherman Miguel, Aldo Sanbrell, who's supposed to pick them up on his fishing boat has also been murdered and shoots it out with his killers only, after putting them down, is himself killed! Now with the coast cleared both Rickard & Claudine sail to safety in Miguel's dinky fishing boat to far off to North Africa, some 500 miles away, and to safety.

Not really an action movie as it was promoted to be that caused it to flop with the critics and public "The Last Run" was really a film of rediscovery for Harry Games who at first had no reason for living, after his son died at childbirth and wife left him,but found one in getting back behind the wheel and doing what he does or did best as a getaway driver for the mob back in Chicago. It gave Harry a final thrill that he lacked, in being out of the business, since he retired from the mob as well as knowing that he still, in being the top mob getaway driver,got it! P.S The movie "The Last Run" also had George C.Scott not only change professions, from a fisherman to getaway driver, but wives as well leaving his then wife Colleen Dewhurst, who he was married to twice, for the far younger by some 15 years Trish Van Devere who he stayed married to for 27 years until his death in 1999.

I was drawn to this film for two reasons: actor George C. Scott, and cinematographer Sven Nykvist. I was disappointed by neither. There is a story in here if you stick with it, particularly in the relationship between Scott's character and the girl. A tribute to Scott's great ability is my empathetic reaction to everything his character goes through, I cared about this man, and was truly let down by how it all ended for him. Old men should not have to die alone.