THE LAST MATCH (1991)
Label: Cauldron Films
Region Code: Region-Free
Rating: Unrated
Duration: 94 Minutes 3 Seconds
Audio: English DTS-HD MA 2.0 Dual-Mono with Optional English Subtitles
Video: 1080p HD Widescreen (1:66:1)
Director: Fabrizio De Angelis
Cast: Oliver Tobias, Ernest Borgnine, Charles Napier, Henry Silva, Jim Kelly, Martin Balsam, Melissa Palmisano
Here's the perfect z-grade counter-programming to the Super Bowl this weekend - an Italian exploitation flick directed by Fabrizio De Angelis (Killer Crocodile), who produced some of Lucio Fulci's best flicks, helmed the bat-shit insane action-sports genre-grinder The Last Match (1991), made during the waning years of Italian genre cinema and starring a couple of fading American actors who were still working in Italy at that time. It starts during an American football game were quarterback Cliff Gaylor (Oliver Tobias, Cobra Mission) and his coach (Ernest Borgnine, Willard) lead their team to victory, but that victory is short-lived however when Cliff gets word that his daughter Susan (Melissa Palmisano) who is down in the Caribbean on vacation with her boyfriend (Robert Floyd, TVs Sliders) has been busted for drug trafficking after illegal drugs are planted in her luggage at the airport. She finds herself in prison under the sadistic rule and impure attentions of sleazy Warden Yachin (Henry Silva, Almost Human). Cliff hightails it to the tropical island to try to free his daughter, but after meeting with the local U.S. consulate (Charles Napier, (SuperVixens) and an English speaking local lawyer (Martin Balsam, The Stone Killer) he comes to realize that the government is completely corrupt and that his pretty daughter is going to be rotting in that prison for years.
Cliff just cannot abide by this travesty of justice and decides he's gonna do something about it, enlisting the help of his coach (Borginine) and nearly his entire football team, who all fly down to the Caribbean to lend a hand. There's a bit of impromptu weapons training in a glorious training montage, and the team decide to launch an all out assault on the prison to jailbreak Cliff's teenage daughter. So far it sounds a bit like North Dallas Forty by way of The Inglorious Bastards, and that's sort of apt description, but, you know, made on a fraction of the budget of those and silly as fucking Hell! The guys raid the prison commando style with machine guns and grenades, wearing their football uniforms, pads and all, a choice which is never explained, but I guess that it's their preferred battle-gear, which sort of makes sense, sort of... It's wild stuff, and the sort of late era Italian wackiness that Cauldron Films love trafficking in, and I thank the cinema-lord for that, otherwise I might never have laid by eyes on this flick. Worth the price of admission is just how bonkers it is seeing a bunch of football players fully uniformed, wearing helmets, and padded-up storming the prison complex, spraying bullets and blowing shit up. Just when you think it cannot get any more buts the team's kicker throws a grenade inside of a football and punts it into an oncoming helicopter blowing it up! I seriously doubt anything Super Bowl 59 has to offer this Sunday is gonna top the z-grade exploitation spectacle of The Last Match!
Audio/Video: The Last Match (1991) makes it's worldwide Bu-ray debut on region-free Blu-ray from Cauldron Film in 1080p HD framed in 1.85:1 widescreen, sourced from a new 4K scan of the OCN. It looks great, the source is in great shape, grain is nicely resolved with pleasing textures and detail, and colors look terrific. Audio comes by way of English DTS-HD MA 2.0 dual-mono with optional English subtitles.
Extras start off with an Audio Commentary by Italian exploitation movie critic Michael A. Martinez, then the 29-min American Actors in a Declining Italian Cinema: Minidoc by EUROCRIME! director Mike Malloy, a self-proclaimed tough-guy film expert, who starts off by talking about Lee Van Chef vs Clint Eastwood's post Italian cinema careers, how the decline of Italian cinema coincided with the introduction of new TV channels, and contrasting that with late era Italian cinema careers of Americans like Bo Svenson, Henry Silva, Fred Williamson, Ernest Borgnine, Lee Van Cleef, Charles Napier who worked through the 80s, as well as the rise of Directors Claudio Fragraso, Bruno Matei, Joe D'Amato, Fabrizio de Angelis. It's a terrific piece, very humorous, and a cool overview of this era of Italian schlock.
Then onto the 17-min Blown Away: An Interview with Special Effects artist Roberto Ricci, where Ricci talks about producers use to invest their own money and this were more hands on, And how later producers borrowed from banks and lenders, which lead to them skimping on costs to line their own pockets, describing De Angelis as a second rate producer nicknamed Er Cobra, because he always rook advantage of and situation, and was a bit of a snake. And you had to keep your eyes open around them. He also gets into shooting Cobra Mission in Santo Domingo and memories of working on The Last Match, also shot in Santo Domingo, problems with the American football players on-set, who brought their wives along and treated it like a vacation and didn't forgive a fuck about acting, and an explosives miscalculation involving Henry Silva, describing Borgnine as a true gentleman, and memories of working with Antonio Margheriti and Stelvio Massi among others.
The 18-min Understanding the Cobra: A video-essay by Italian film expert Eugenio Ercolani gets further into how new TV options at home lead to decline of Italian genre cinema, how producer Fabrizio de Angelis carved out a successful string of films during the decline for Fulvia Films with copycat genre fare, but painting him through archival interviews as a sly businessman, but harsh and cynical man who treated people poorly.
Disc extras are buttoned-up with the 3-min Trailer, 1-min Image Gallery with poster artworks from various territories, and stills. The single-disc release arrives in a clear keepcase with Reversible Wrap.
Special Features:
- American Actors in a Declining Italian Cinema: Minidoc by EUROCRIME! director Mike Malloy (29:03)
- Blown Away: An Interview with Special Effects artist Roberto Ricci (16:14)
- Reversible Blu-ray wrap with alternate artwork
- All Region And Playable Worldwide
- 4K restoration from the negative / 1080p presentation
- English audio with Optional English SDH subtitles
- Understanding the Cobra: A video-essay by Italian film expert Eugenio Ercolani (17:38)
- Audio Commentary by Italian exploitation movie critic Michael A. Martinez
- Trailer (3:10)
- Image Gallery (1:07)
Screenshots from the Cauldron Films Blu-ray:
Buy it!
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