Cinematic cars: 1956 BMW 503 Cabriolet in “The Last Run” (1971)
If 1971’s “The Last Run” were in French, one might be forgiven for mistaking it for a Claude Lelouch film! Just as Lelouch’s love of cars and realistic automotive depictions in his films are well-documented, so, too, are cars used prominently and authentically in this film— one in particular, a supercharged 1956 BMW 503 Cabriolet. The car scenes are gritty and honest, the George C. Scott character’s love of his car is self-evident, and his on-screen hoonage ranks right up there with the best of automotive cinema. “The Last Run” is considered something of a BMW cult film (think Alfa Romeo and “The Graduate,” only obscure), and it’s not hard to see why.
A former getaway driver from Chicago (George C. Scott) has retired to a peaceful life in a Portugese fishing village. He is asked to pull off one last job, involving driving a dangerous crook and his girl-friend to France. However, the job turns out to be a double-cross and the trio are pursued back to Portugal where they make one last stand on the coast while the enemy assassins attempt to gun them down (source).
The chase scene (“the last run”). You can hear when the character switches on the supercharger around the 2:40 mark:
And here’s a longer clip with some equally nice scenes from the start of the film. The test run starts around the 2:43 mark:
Motoring Con Brio 
I would be very interested what happened to the car after it was wrecked at the end of the film….it must be somewhere along the coast of Portugal and because it is so rare someone must have kept it (I hope). JT
Joop said this on August 17, 2011 at 3:39 pm
thank you for the info-fell in love with the bmw-just took the movie on fox
don hobbs said this on September 15, 2013 at 10:35 am