The Last Match — The Last Match(Blu Ray)
The Last Match is a 1991 action movie directed by Frabrizio De Angelis (Deadly Impact, Killer Crocodile and the Thunder trilogy). For a cheap movie, it has a pretty stacked cast including Ernest Borgnine (Escape from New York, The Poseidon adventure and The Devil’s Rain), Olive Tobias (‘Tis Pity She’s A Whore, The Stud and the Dad’s Army movie), Charles Napier (Rambo, Supervixens and Silence of the Lambs), Henry Silva (The Manchurian Candidate, Ghost Dog: Way of the Samurai and Above the Law) and Martin Balsam (All the President’s Men, Psycho and 12 Angry Men).
The Last Match( L'ultima Meta) follows American football star, Cliff Gaylor (Tobias), whose daughter has been arrested on drug charges and thrown in prison on an unnamed Caribbean island. As soon as he finds out, Gaylor heads straight to the island to try to free his daughter, who has been framed with the drugs. Once he arrives, he finds that the prison in which his daughter is being held is run by a slimy warden called Yashin (Silva), who hints at wanting to have his own way with his daughter. When Gaylor gets angry, he is beaten by the guards and escorted from the prison. The American consul (Napier) is unwilling to assist him in getting his daughter out of jail and puts him in touch with a local lawyer (Balsam) who wants his cash but refuses to offer any results. At this point, Gaylor decides to take things into his own hands and calls his football coach (Borgnine). The coach and his teammates load up a plane with weapons and follow Gaylor to the island with one thing on their mind, freeing Gaylor’s daughter, Susan, from the prison and taking her home.
The Last Match can be pretty much summed up in that description. The plot is very simple and straightforward, but it’s a fun exploitation action movie with an excellent cast. Ernest Borgnine is perfectly cast as the coach, who just so happens to plan the whole rescue mission with the tactical nous of a military general. Henry Silva is also excellent as the sleazy prison warden. However, it is Oliver Tobias as the lead who gets most of the plaudits. He looks very much the part as the stereotypical all-American action hero out to get his daughter back and get revenge on the prison warden. There’s plenty of high-octane action in this one when the football team (dressed in full kit) fly in via helicopters to break into the prison, shoot their way through and take back Susan.
Overall, this is a pretty decent release for this obscure Italian production. The print of the movie is really good; it’s drawn from a brand new 4k restoration and looks really nice. The colours are vibrant and natural, and the picture is as sharp as a pin. The disc also features an interview with special effects artist Roberto Ricci, a featurette looking at American actors in the declining Italian cinema of the time, a video essay from Italian cinema expert, Eugenio Ercolani and an audio commentary by movie critic Michael A. Martinez, as well as the ubiquitous trailer and image gallery.
The Last Match is a surprisingly enjoyable movie, and while it will never win awards for quality, it’s a fun watch when you just want to turn off your brain and enjoy the sort of fun action movie that the Italians are so good at.