Retired driver-for-criminals George C. Scott is sick of his empty life in Portugal and accepts a job picking up Tony Musante from a prison escape in Spain and smuggling him across the border into France. Scott and Musante clash immediately, with the energetic, talkative Musante irritating Scott, and Musante doubting that retired Scott has anything left in him. The situation worsens when Musante insists on picking up his girlfriend Trish Van Devere and this creates sexual tension.
Scott succeeds in getting Musante to his destination, but it turns out that the guys who sprung him just want him dead. Scott opts to save Musante and Van Devere, and races to bring them to Portugal where he can whisk them off to Africa in a fishing boat he owns. Complications arise when Van Devere seems to pick Scott over Musante and Scott conspires to run back to America with her.
John Huston originally agreed to direct this, but he demanded a lot of changes to Alan Sharp's screenplay. This annoyed Scott and he used his post-Oscar clout to get Huston off the picture. Richard Fleischer stepped in and I think he does his usual admirable job of crafting a cracking little crime film. Scott's spiritually empty driver is refreshingly not a guy who understands all the angles, and the film's meditation on three unsympathetic people driving straight into a tragic finale is pretty compelling. Plus there's a really nice car chase mid-film.
Sven Nykvist surprisingly shot this film, and he unsurprisingly delivers a really great looking film that feels more European than your expecting. Jerry Goldsmith also turns in a great score.
Scott succeeds in getting Musante to his destination, but it turns out that the guys who sprung him just want him dead. Scott opts to save Musante and Van Devere, and races to bring them to Portugal where he can whisk them off to Africa in a fishing boat he owns. Complications arise when Van Devere seems to pick Scott over Musante and Scott conspires to run back to America with her.
John Huston originally agreed to direct this, but he demanded a lot of changes to Alan Sharp's screenplay. This annoyed Scott and he used his post-Oscar clout to get Huston off the picture. Richard Fleischer stepped in and I think he does his usual admirable job of crafting a cracking little crime film. Scott's spiritually empty driver is refreshingly not a guy who understands all the angles, and the film's meditation on three unsympathetic people driving straight into a tragic finale is pretty compelling. Plus there's a really nice car chase mid-film.
Sven Nykvist surprisingly shot this film, and he unsurprisingly delivers a really great looking film that feels more European than your expecting. Jerry Goldsmith also turns in a great score.