LAST CHANCE

Italy, 1973, 106 minutes, Colour.
Eli Wallach, Ursula Andress, Fabio Testi, Massimo Girotti, Barbara Bach.
Directed by Maurizio Lucidi.

Last Chance is an entertaining Italian film, a mystery thriller. While it is in Italian with leading and popular Italian stars, it in fact filmed in Canada and relies on the international talents of Ursula Andress and Eli Wallach. It is a showpiece for the stars and for the country. Nothing startling, but entertaining

1. An entertaining thriller, mystery?

2. The thriller conventions, the robbery, criminal out of jail, mysterious woman, racketeer, unsuspicious criminals? Thriller situations, the trail, robberies? Conventional, different?

3. An Italian film but using Canadian colour locations, music? An authentic atmosphere? An across the border situation? A frontier? The title and the reference to the motel?

4, How credible was the plot, Floyd Gambino’s situation, the hold-up, the escape, the police pursuit, the hiding out at the motel? The heavy involvement of Albert and Emily? Michelle and her double-crossing? Joe and his violence, Floyd's violence? Sufficient for the purposes of the thriller?

5. How well done was the characterisation, Floyd as a kind of hero, prison background, the hold-up, the dramatics of the police pursuit, the motel, his trust in Michelle, the trail? The confrontation with Joe? Joe as a companion criminal? His feeling of being double-crossed, murder? Michelle and her place at the motel, suspicions of Floyd, involvement, sensuality? Her death? Albert and Emily and their role in the motel? Their having the jewels? The irony of the ending for them?

6. Particular crises in the confrontation of characters? The filling in of the atmosphere, the people around the motel, the police? The Last Chance Motel?

7. Themes of good and evil, justice, the falling out of thieves?