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February 08, 2022

The Final Option

Who Dares Wins
Ian Sharp - 1982
KL Studio Classics BD Region A

First, I will say that I think the original British title is so much better than the generic title provided for the U.S. release.

My interest in checking out this Reagan era artifact is that I had read that star Lewis Collins was once considered for the role of James Bond. Reportedly, Collins was rejected for being "too aggressive". He might have made an interesting choice. In The Final Conflict he seems capable for the action scenes but most of the comes across as glum, cold and smug. Collins is the hero, going undercover to infiltrate a group of political terrorists that have used the cover of a respected anti-war group for their own hidden agenda.

Judy Davis provides the screen charisma here, somewhat improbably cast as an American activist with a lion's mane of a hair-do, and the conviction that diplomacy works better from the barrel of a gun. Davis' plan is to hold a group of diplomats hostage to force the British military into nuking a submarine base in Scotland. By having the bombing televised, people would understand better the destructive capabilities of a single nuclear bomb - or so the theory goes. The Final Option takes place in a parallel universe where documentary footage of Hiroshima and testing at the Alamogordo Bombing Range does not exist.

Richard Widmark is on hand in the latter part of the film as the U.S. State Department chief, one of the hostages, who attempts to point out the errors of her logic to Ms. Davis. There is also Ingrid Pitt as a particularly merciless terrorist who makes a point of making life miserable for anyone within shooting range. And while some of the political biases of the film are obvious, especially forty years after the initial release the politics are almost besides the point. To watch The Final Option now might be considered analogous to watching a Cold War film from the early 1950s informed by the paranoia of Commie subversives where the intrigue and adventure are still entertaining while the topical events that inspired the film are no longer relevant.

The blu-ray includes a commentary track by producer Euan Lloyd and director Ian Sharp from 2002. Rosalind Lloyd, daughter of the producer, who has a supporting role, also makes a brief contribution. The commentary track and the supplementary documentary, from 2004, on Euan Lloyd's career are good examples of the producer as auteur. Aside from originating the theme for The Final Option, the film is a reflection of his admittedly center-right politics. Lloyd culled director Sharp and star Lewis Collins from the British television series, The Professionals. According to Lloyd, MGM lost interest in supporting the film when it became known that Ronald Reagan spoke highly of it following a requested preview. There may be some truth to that although at the time of release, MGM was in a precarious state with a revolving door of financiers and executives in charge, and huge losses from most of the few films in release. As for Lloyd's politics, he had had no problem working for the blacklisted Carl Foreman in the early 1960s. There is also the production of A Poppy is also a Flower on behalf of the Untied Nations. The Wild Geese was the subject of contention having been filmed in apartheid South Africa, though with a racially mixed cast. Lloyd did make certain to have the film premiere in Soweto where it proved to be popular. In the supplemental documentary, Last of the Gentlemen Producers, star Roger Moore and singer Joan Armatrading share their experiences and thoughts on The Wild Geese. Something not explained is why Lloyd retired at age 62 following production of The Wild Geese II. It may have been that the challenges of being an independent producer had outweighed the rewards. The documentary on Euan Lloyd's life showed that there was almost as much drama in producing a film as would be seen on screen.

Posted by Peter Nellhaus at February 8, 2022 06:14 AM