The Last Chase (1981)

Director: Martyn Burke

Writers: Christopher Crowe, Roy Moore, Martyn Burke

Composer: Gil Melle

Starring: Lee Majors, Burgess Meredith, Chris Makepeace, Alexandra Stewart, Diane D'Aquila, George Touliatos, Harvey Atkin

More info: IMDb

Tagline: The oil finally ran out... and somewhere in the future, the chase has begun.

Plot: In a future United States, the only transport available to an individual is public transportation. Predicated on an assertion that "the oil has run out", an increasingly totalitarian central government has ordered all personal vehicles be impounded by law. One man, a former race car driver, yearns again for his ability to choose his own roads and destiny. He reassembles his race car hidden from confiscation, and sets out for "Free California" which has broken away from the new regime, aided by a young technically savvy teen who feels alienated from this "social" society. Agents of the new government must stop this man at any cost to destroy the symbology he represents, and the instability that such a desire for personal autonomy could mean to the society. An old Korean War veteran and his F-86 Sabre jet are called into service to chase down this dangerous man, and end his flouting of the will of the state. In the words of one of the government agents, "People going where they want to, where they want to. This could set us back to the 1980s."

My rating: 5.5/10

Will I watch it again?  No.

As I watched this and after, I assumed without question that this was a made for TV movie.  There was nothing in it that suggested this was a theatrical release.  The production values alone betrayed it.  It's cheap with little left than the acting and story to save it.  I only watched it because of Majors and Meredith.  It's an OK picture.  Spending time with Lee Majors was fun and seeing Burgess Meredith piloting a jet is odd on its own.  The stuff I dug most was probably the first third of the movie before Majors escapes with the car.  That's the stuff of sci-fi-ishness that was more interesting than trying to survive alone "out there" in the wilderness.  The ending is ho-hum and as expected.