THE LAST CHANCE

 

THE LAST CHANCE is a 1968 Italian spy film, originally titled SACCO INTERNAZIONALE. It happens to be the very last film that Eurospy queen Daniela Bianchi starred in--and I doubt after this movie she missed the acting business very much. 

The MacGuffin in this espionage tale is an Albanian freighter that has exploded near the Italian coast. An American newspaper reporter based in Rome named Patrick Harris (Tab Hunter) has some information about the incident, and various folks from the West and the East want to know what he knows, including an American embassy official (Michael Rennie). Soon Harris is on the run, wanted for a murder he didn't commit and trying to avoid attempts on his own life. 

Most Italian genre knockoffs have enough crazy elements to be entertaining, but THE LAST CHANCE opts for a more down-to-earth approach. This approach, however, just makes the picture slow-moving and dull. There's no exotic locales, or James Bond-style hanky-panky going on--and there's no impressive action sequences either. Writer-director Giuseppe Rosati (who is billed on the credits as Niny Rosati) uses way too many tight close-ups, and there's also a plethora of shots of various characters sitting in a car while driving. 

Tab Hunter wasn't the most charismatic actor to begin with, but he doesn't have much to work with here. We never really find out what's so important about the Albanian ship blowing up, and we don't really get to know why everyone in the film thinks Patrick Harris is such a threat. The clumsy editing doesn't help a confusing plot.

Daniela Bianchi plays Harris' wife, and she spends most of her time worrying and looking anxious. She's lovely as always, but she doesn't even get the advantage of a stylish wardrobe. Michael Rennie has very little screen time before he's bumped off. Spaghetti Western fans will recognize Franco Ressel as a police inspector. 

THE LAST CHANCE has a third-act twist that I sort of anticipated.....but this was negated by another twist, coming at the very last minute, that just seemed a desperate attempt to give the story a "happy" ending. 

There are far better Eurospy movies out there than THE LAST CHANCE. Daniela Bianchi herself starred in a few of them--and she deserved a better production for her last film.