Forgotten Films: The Final Option (1982)

For about five minutes in 1982, Lewis Collins was whispered to be a likely successor to Roger Moore for the James Bond series. This seemingly unknown film — titled WHO DARES WIN in the United Kingdom — acted as his screen-test and based on his performance alone, I would have loved to see Collins step in as 007. He has Timothy Dalton’s serious gaze and Daniel Craig’s action physique. THE FINAL OPTION, written by Reginald Rose (THE WILD GEESE) and directed by Ian Sharp (who shot second unit for GOLDENEYE), was rushed into production in the wake of the terrorist capture of the Iranian Embassy in London and successful rescue by Special Air Services. The plot here is more dramatically arched: Frankie Leith (Judy Davis) the former lover of SAS agent Peter Skellen (Collins), leads a group of terrorists to capture an embassy in England and the agent goes undercover to convince Leith to let him join. With expected violent results.

I’m not going to spend a lot of time on the film, as it’s not all that great, but there are nifty scenes and performances, and I still own the long out of print LP soundtrack with an awesome theme by the killer Roy Budd (GET CARTER). As stated, the main reason to watch THE FINAL OPTION is to pretend Collins is in a James Bond film; he’s quite intense and engaging. The shot of him leading the SAS team down the embassy hall while soundtracked by Budd’s sleek music is a fantastic moment and he should have been cast as 007 immediately. Another reason is to see the brilliant Judy Davis heft a machine-gun in her low-cut evening gown while mouthing political platitudes in a not-quite-right American accent, replete with lots of “fucking, man.” There’s also Edward Woodward in fine stock form as a SAS Commander and Richard Widmark as The American Diplomat.

I also enjoy the debates between the terrorists and their hostages, ridiculous though they be, since I’m a sucker for Stanley Krameresque adversarial dialogues. Even better are the action beats, with lots of rappeling and shooting, and Davis’ last moment is one of the most memorable scenes in 80’s action cinema. THE FINAL OPTION is still unavailable on DVD here, although you can pick it up on Region 2 under its original title. If you want a cinematic flashback to Reagan era jingoism and heroics, this is an interesting and underlooked timepiece.

UPDATE: RIP Lewis Collins. Ian Sharp recalls the actor with a great line: In those days, they wanted the smoothie type, like Roger Moore and, if you like, he was a Daniel Craig in a Roger Moore era.