Checkpoint

This film was part of Ranks plans to go to far flung locations as background to their films.So here we have a colourful location in front of which is played out a colourless story.Anthony Steel is so inert he is virtually horizontal.Stanley Baker on the other hand wildly overplays barking out his lines like an RSM on a parade ground. Lucky they didn't film the following year as there were two fatal crashes which brought an end to this extremely hazardous race.

I taped Checkpoint when Channel 4 screened it one afternoon earlier this year (2006) and quite enjoyed it.

A man, O'Donovan breaks into a car factory to steal some plans for new models of racing cars to ensure his company wins the forthcoming race. But things go wrong and gets spotted resulting in him killing a security guard and several coppers who were sent to see what was going on at the factory after an alarm was triggered. The factory then catches fire. Later, O'Donovan enters the race himself and threatens his driver with a gun and both end up in a cliff hanging position, literally...

This movie contains some great Italian scenery and nice to see some classic cars too.

A great cast: Stanley Baker (Zulu) as O'Donovan, James Robertson Justice (Mobey Dick, Chitty Chitty Bang Bang), Anthony Steel, Maurice Denham, Odile Versois, Michael Medwin and Anne Heywood.

Watch out for Checkpoint in TV listings, doesn't seem to have been released on video or DVD anywhere. A treat.

Rating: 3 stars out of 5.

Stanley Baker has been sent by automotive financier John Robertson Justice to get an Italian racecar engineer to work for Justice. He refuses, so Baker steals automotive plans.... blowing up the plant and causing the deaths of several people, including five policemen. The authorities want him and have his picture posted. Justice feels responsible, so he arranges to get him out of the country as the co-driver of Anthony Steel's car on a Florence to Locarno run. Baker intends to leave no witnesses, including Steel.

It's a chance to look at beautiful people and beautiful cars. The race, which begins in the final third of the movie, is shot half on location and half in Pinewood Studios with some obvious back projection. Ralph Thomas directs for speed and excitement and the result is very watchable.... even more so if you enjoy handsome cars.

Another piece of fifties Rank escapism that proudly declares itself 'A British Film' in the opening credits before promptly decamping to a glamorous foreign location (in this case Florence) where we meet glamorous women against the glamorous and macho backdrop of motor racing, international crime and fisticuffs. All in glamorous fifties Eastman Color while composer Bruce Montgomery blares away in the background!

The film uses much footage from the Mille Miglia and although the plot is fairly thin it's worth watching for the amount of original footage of period racing cars. From the cars involved and the date of release it would appear to be the 1955 race, which was won by Stirling Moss and Denis Jenkinson in a Mercedes-Benz 300SLR. The cars used in the 'team' are actually Lagonda versions of the Aston Martin DB3S. Keen observers will note the scenes in the introduction, allegedly set in an Italian car factory, show Sunbeam Rapier bodies on a production line in what would have been Pressed Steel in Coventry. As the Rapier was introduced in 1955 this sets the date. Rootes Group were never slow in offering cars to the British Film Industry for scenes by way of publicity. The sports car bodies shown in part of the scene are obviously made-up replicas with a hint of Porsche. Worth watching if you are a car nut, but the scenery both automotive and geographical outweighs the story.