My review was written in August 1983 after a Times Square screening.
"The Last Fight" is a low-budge boxing picture that showcases Panamanian-born Salsa recording star Ruben Blades as a singer-turned-fighter. After working with several of the same crew members and cast as exec producer of "Vigilante", Fania Records owne Jerry Masucci has conceived and produced an unexciting little film, which will have its greatest apeal to music fans rather than the action-pic trade.
Blades, who projects a handsome and empathetic screen presence resembling a Latino Bobby Darin, portrays Andy "Kid" Clave, a successful recording star aiming at the junior lightweight boxing title. Prone to running up big gambling debts, he is strong-armed into boxing for New York City nightclub owner Joaquin Vargas (Willie Colon), who provides Clave with the services of his girl friend Sally (Darlene Fluegel) as part of the deal.
Taking a nod from the films noirs of he 1940s, writer-director Fred Williamson has created a doomed atmosphere for the lead players, including Clave's pretty girl friend Nancy (Nereida Mercado), leading up to Clave risking his life (blood clo on his brain from a bar accident) in a title bout. Williamson, however, portrays his familiar "Dirty Harry"-like screen persona, ex-cop Jesse Crowder (seen in seveal earlier films such as "No Way Back"), so there's no quesiion of him surviving to return another day. As an actor, his smooh manner, tongue-in-cheek dialog and action ability brighten up the film.
Picture is dedicated to the late featherweight champion Salvador Sanchez (killed in an auto accident shortly after lensing wrapped in early 1982), who knocks the daylights out of Clave in the title bout. Promoter Don King is fun in a cameo role, but most of the cast (particularly the female leads) is under-directed by Williamson in his seventh outing as a feature helmer. Boxing footage is lensed from cameras outside the ring and overall the film remains too static (and with too many closeups) to energize action fans.
Biggest disappointment of "The Last Fight" is the absence of a positive role model for the Hispanic audience. In films of late, Puerto Ricans and Chicanos have become the stock baddies, with Willie Colon again a hissable villain as in "Vigilante". The musical talent, as evidenced here by Blades' pleasant vocals, needs to be harnessed with an upbeat story, not the flawed, doomed fighter saga conveyed in this picture.
