I first encountered The Last Run by way of a late-night '80s airing on my blackand-white portable. I remember being amazed that such an obscure old car a BMW 503 Cabriolet - was centre stage in this 1971 road trip. Short on laughs, with a downbeat balalaika theme tune that lets you know from the start things aren't going to end well, it is the story of an aged Chicago gangster (George C Scott) who, having retired to a Portuguese fishing village, comes out of retirement for one last job: smuggling an escaped convict into Italy. Scott supplies the wheels, which we see being lovingly fettled by our antihero in the opening scenes.
Fresh from the success of Patton, the harddrinking Scott was after a moody, Humphrey Bogart-style role. He spends most of the film's 96 mins brooding behind dark glasses, looking suitably rugged in a battered old flying jacket, with a fag clamped firmly between his teeth.
By the end of filming, Scott had chopped in his then-wife, Colleen Dewhurst, for his leading lady, Trish Van Devere, to whom he was still married when he died in 1999 at 71 years old.
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Denne historien er fra June 2024-utgaven av Classic & Sports Car.
Start din 7-dagers gratis prøveperiode på Magzter GOLD for å få tilgang til tusenvis av utvalgte premiumhistorier og 9000+ magasiner og aviser.
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A Breath of Fresh Air- Alfa Romeo's exotic, V8-powered Montreal was like nothing the marque had made before, but can it compare with a Porsche masterpiece, the 911S 2.4?
The stereotype of the ItaloGermanic automotive rivalry is that the Latin car will be brilliant to drive, but poorly built and ergonomically flawed, while the Teutonic will be the opposite. Yet these 2+2 sports coupés both ran against orthodoxy. In the Montreal, Alfa Romeo created an outlandish-looking two-door more comfortable, more powerful and more refined than anything it had produced for decades. Meanwhile, Porsche continued to refine its back-to-front, austere and increasingly aged 911. Neither took a traditional development path, but both created thrilling and individual cars that have echoed through the decades.
Daring to be diminutive
AMC's Gremlin and Pacer, and Ford's much-derided Pinto, led America's response to the threat of imported European compacts
THE LONG WAY ROUND
There is a great tradition of overland trips by Land-Rover, but the tale of this 70s Aussie epic and the car itself was discovered by chance
Handsome cab
The Phantom V limousine marked the beginning of the end for coachbuilder James Young, but this Rolls-Royce represents the craft at its very best
DOING IT FOR THEMSELVES
Racing for their own F1 teams brought some drivers success and an enduring legacy. For others, it turned into a nightmare
20 30 LITRES CYLINDERS, 400BHP......AND MORE THAN A CENTURY OLD
Thunderous torque, flame-spitting stub-exhausts, white-knuckle thrills - and hopefully no spills - aboard a trio of Edwardian racing titans
ICON.
The three top-selling vehicles in the USA in 2023 were pick-ups, topped by the Ford F-Series. This is the truck that started it all
Blurred Lines
lan 'Del' Lines blended the V8 burble of Triumph's open GT with real practicality in his Stag V8 saloons and estates
Home of the brave
The innovative Silverstone proved a hit with keen amateur drivers. To mark its 75th, Healey's club racer returns to the circuit for which it is named
PLAYING ALL THE ANGLES
Alfa Romeo's wild RZ eschewed the jellymould styling of the period to offer a striking, wedge-shaped take on open-topped performance motoring
