Stateline Motel (1973)

Absolutely the worst movie.

It's not great by any means, but it's a pretty good movie that didn't leave me filled with regret for investing time in it.

It's funny, it's tense, it features two great performances from two actors and the director expertly creates a web of odd tension where you actually don't know what is happening for the majority of the run time.

Very good movie overall, highly recommended. Most of the negative reviews don't have any merit and are all pollitically based. Give this movie a chance at least, and it might give you a different perspective.

For some obscure reason most reviews of the profoundly entertaining 'Motel of Fear' (aka) 'L'ultima Chance' seem to be somewhat dismissive; which I find hard to understand as this is primo, Italian schlockball entertainment with solid performances from both fabio Testi and Eli Wallach as a couple of hardboiled crims on the lam. Admittedly Andress has always been a dud, and she certainly doesn't disappoint here; since a tin of congealed magnolia gloss could emote with greater eloquence; but, who cares; 'L'ultima Chance' is all about Wallach/Testi, and the deluge of righteous funk riffs from the grand master of euro-crime soundtracks Luis Bacalov. While much of the film does feel a tad familiar; this ultimately works to its advantage, as it's familiar in all the right manner of heady euro crime cliché. Good Times!

Floyd (Testi) just out of prison arranges a robbery with an accomplice. They steal a huge amount of diamond from a jeweller's. Immediately they are chased by Canadian police but Floyd who has a powerful Ford Mustang, is able to shake them off. The two accomplices take different streets because Canadian government issued a warrant of expulsion to Floyd so he has to leave the country in 48 hours. He goes toward the border with an old Chevrolet but the street is frozen and he goes off the road. Walking he arrives in a Hotel called the "Last Chance". He gets a room and hides the loot under the bed. Michell (Andress) a beautiful hotel's owner hearing the TV notices about a robbery in the town, finds out that Floyd is one of the robbers. After a sex night with her, Floyd doesn't find the diamonds because Jack, Michelle's lover, has hidden them. He cannot leave Canada without recovering the diamonds so he threatens Michelle with death in order to force her to reveal the hiding place. After being mistreated, Michelle tells Floyd she hasn't the diamonds but Floyd doesn't believe her. He goes on to find the diamonds without results. In the meantime Joe the second accomplice, receives a telephone call from Floyd and not believing him decides to go to the hotel. Just arrived he orders a room and together Floyd begins to search in Michelle's room and again without results. Floyd realizes that he is suspected by Joe of an arrangement with Michelle, so he plans an escape. Michelle leaves the hotel by bus and Floyd catch her up later. When Michelle sees the Chevrolet (Floyd's car) jumps in but discovers the driver is Joe. He beat her up in order to force her to reveal where the diamonds are but he strangles her out of rage . Then he searches in Michelle's bag finding a puppet that contains inside the diamonds. Meanwhile Floyd comes and seeing Michelle dead out of the car, chase Joe and kills him. Unfortunately inside the puppet there are only some stones. The film ends this way. It's clear it is cut because is impossible for me thinks that the story doesn't explain where the diamonds are. Indeed looking up in some cinema books I discovered the film lasts 105 minutes while my personal copy (recorded by TV channel) is 97 minutes. It is possible that in those missing minutes it is told where the diamonds have ended up. By the way the film runs well with a good screenplay and good actors. I think this it is better than others Italian crime films. In a town that I cannot recognize (we cannot be sure the movie has been shot in Canada like the plot tell us) there is a long chase between a Mustang (Floyd's car) and three police cars. Watching well we can see a stuntman driving the Mustang while in the close ups backs Fabio Testi. There is Ursula Andress older-looking to tell the true, but always gorgeous, Massimo Girotti in the role of husband of Andress, Eli Wallach as the accomplice of Fabio Testi . Even if Testi has started as a stuntman is also a fairly good actor. The car used in this film are: a Chevrolet impala model 1962, a Ford mustang coupè and a Wolkswagen beetle of seventies. Sound strange but the film was shot in English language then dubbed in Italian. The dubbing is not very good especially for the synchronism. Why doesn't exist a copy in direct sound for the English market given that the actors speak a good English? What is the point of dubbing a film into Italian and delivering it for the foreign market dubbed again and badly, sticking to the public opinion written in IMDb?I give it 5.5 of 10

This Italian crime film is interesting at first, but the pace never picks up. Fabio Testi is a good-hearted robber stranded at the "Last Chance Motel", Ursula Andress is the beautiful (but somewhat stiff) wife of the motel's owner, and Eli Wallach is Testi's partner, who comes after him when the diamonds they stole somehow disappear. You'd expect that the appearance of Wallach would help increase the tension, but that doesn't happen. Some of the night scenes (including the sex scene) are so dark you can't see anything! (**)

L' ultima chance is one of those Italian films overdubbed in English in order to appeal to english-speaking audiences. It's about the love of a woman for a criminal who stays at the motel she owns. Well, it's a little more complicated than that, but it's an interesting plot. The movie, however,is poorly made, complete with lousy acting (Andress being an exception). Suspense is maintained throughout the movie, which is certainly a plus.By the way, the ending seems very familiar... I'm sure I've seen a similar one in another movie...5