Leo the Last
Encyclopedia
Leo the Last is a 1970 film directed by John Boorman
, based on the play The Prince by George Tabori
, starring Marcello Mastroianni
and Billie Whitelaw
.
Gradually he is stirred from his emotional detachment to try to assist her, a development that confuses, alarms, and angers his parasitic entourage; Margaret, his social climbing fiancé, Max, the shady family lawyer (who for reasons never directly explained is desperate for Leo to marry Margaret), David, his quack doctor, and Lazlo, the household manager and apparent leader of a secret society aiming to restore the dynasty. (Leo’s sudden vitality also threatens Roscoe the pimp who is, in fact, in league with Lazlo.)
A pacifist and liberal idealist with no interest in reigning, Leo is relieved when Lazlo confesses that the society is a fraud but furious when he discovers that he is the owner of the slum and his life of wealth and privilege has been paid for from its rents.
The movie turns Marxist parable as Leo becomes the unlikeliest of revolutionaries, rallying the denizens of the slum with the aid of Salumbo and her charismatic working-class hero boyfriend Roscoe. (A different character from the pimp of the same name.) The intellectual and professional class (in the person of the socialite, the doctor, and the lawyer) is quickly overcome, but the capitalists and petit bourgeoisie (pimp, rent collector, shop keep, and real estate shareholders) prove tougher, fortifying themselves in Leo’s mansion.
In the final cataclysm, Leo leads the mob in burning his own mansion to the ground, its occupiers surrendering and fleeing at the last moment. In the last line of dialogue, Roscoe (the people’s hero, not the pimp) tells Leo: “Well, you didn’t change the world, did you?” Leo replies: “No, but we changed our street.” The victors laugh together and disperse. Leo wanders up to his old home and picks from the rubble one of his spy-glasses. Smiling happily he chucks it aside and skips merrily away.
at the 1970 Cannes Film Festival
for the film, however the film has not yet been made available on DVD in the UK.
The film's exteriors were shot in a street due to be demolished near Latimer Road tube station
in West London. Raymond Durgnat
rated it in his all-time top ten films.
John Boorman
John Boorman is a British filmmaker who is a long time resident of Ireland and is best known for his feature films such as Point Blank, Deliverance, Zardoz, Excalibur, The Emerald Forest, Hope and Glory, The General and The Tailor of Panama.-Early life:Boorman was born in Shepperton, Surrey,...
, based on the play The Prince by George Tabori
George Tabori
George Tabori was a Hungarian writer and theater director.-Life and career:Tabori was born in Budapest as György Tábori, a son of Kornél and Elsa Tábori. His father died in Auschwitz in 1944, but his mother and his brother Paul managed to escape the Nazis. His son Peter Tabori and again his son...
, starring Marcello Mastroianni
Marcello Mastroianni
Marcello Vincenzo Domenico Mastroianni, Knight Grand Cross was an Italian film actor. His honours included British Film Academy Awards, Best Actor awards at the Cannes Film Festival and two Golden Globe Awards.- Personal life :...
and Billie Whitelaw
Billie Whitelaw
Billie Honor Whitelaw, CBE is an English actress. She worked in close collaboration with Irish playwright Samuel Beckett for 25 years and is regarded as one of the foremost interpreters of his works...
.
Plot
The ennui afflicted heir to a deposed European throne returns to his father’s house in West London to find that the neighborhood has become a slum. An ornithologist ill at ease with others, he finds his spy-glass wandering from birds to observe his neighbors. Strictly an observer at first, he increasingly becomes agitated as their lives are blighted by violence, poverty, and injustice. In particular he is moved by the plight of the pubescent Salambo Mardi and her family, beset by the rapist shop-keep Kowalski and the pimp Roscoe.Gradually he is stirred from his emotional detachment to try to assist her, a development that confuses, alarms, and angers his parasitic entourage; Margaret, his social climbing fiancé, Max, the shady family lawyer (who for reasons never directly explained is desperate for Leo to marry Margaret), David, his quack doctor, and Lazlo, the household manager and apparent leader of a secret society aiming to restore the dynasty. (Leo’s sudden vitality also threatens Roscoe the pimp who is, in fact, in league with Lazlo.)
A pacifist and liberal idealist with no interest in reigning, Leo is relieved when Lazlo confesses that the society is a fraud but furious when he discovers that he is the owner of the slum and his life of wealth and privilege has been paid for from its rents.
The movie turns Marxist parable as Leo becomes the unlikeliest of revolutionaries, rallying the denizens of the slum with the aid of Salumbo and her charismatic working-class hero boyfriend Roscoe. (A different character from the pimp of the same name.) The intellectual and professional class (in the person of the socialite, the doctor, and the lawyer) is quickly overcome, but the capitalists and petit bourgeoisie (pimp, rent collector, shop keep, and real estate shareholders) prove tougher, fortifying themselves in Leo’s mansion.
In the final cataclysm, Leo leads the mob in burning his own mansion to the ground, its occupiers surrendering and fleeing at the last moment. In the last line of dialogue, Roscoe (the people’s hero, not the pimp) tells Leo: “Well, you didn’t change the world, did you?” Leo replies: “No, but we changed our street.” The victors laugh together and disperse. Leo wanders up to his old home and picks from the rubble one of his spy-glasses. Smiling happily he chucks it aside and skips merrily away.
Cast
- Marcello MastroianniMarcello MastroianniMarcello Vincenzo Domenico Mastroianni, Knight Grand Cross was an Italian film actor. His honours included British Film Academy Awards, Best Actor awards at the Cannes Film Festival and two Golden Globe Awards.- Personal life :...
- Prince Leo - Billie WhitelawBillie WhitelawBillie Honor Whitelaw, CBE is an English actress. She worked in close collaboration with Irish playwright Samuel Beckett for 25 years and is regarded as one of the foremost interpreters of his works...
- Margaret - Keefe West - Jasper (The Pimp)
- Calvin LockhartCalvin LockhartCalvin Lockhart was a Bahamian-American actor on stage and in film. He was best known for the role of a big time gangster "Biggie Smalls" in the 1975 film Let's Do It Again, not to be confused with the deceased rapper Biggie Smalls...
- Roscoe - Glenna Forster-Jones - Salambo Mardi
- Louis Gossett Jr. - Roscoe (as Lew Gossett)
- Graham CrowdenGraham CrowdenClement Graham Crowden was a Scottish actor. He was best known for his many appearances in television comedy dramas and films, often playing eccentric 'offbeat' scientist, teacher and doctor characters.-Early life:...
- Max, the Lawyer - Gwen Ffrangcon Davies - Hilda
- Vladek SheybalVladek SheybalVladek Sheybal , born Władysław Sheybal, was a Polish character actor, whose career lasted from the 1950s into the 1980s. He was probably best known for his portrayal of the chess grandmaster Kronsteen in the 1963 James Bond film From Russia with Love, a role for which he had been personally...
- Laszlo, Leo's Aide - Kenneth J. WarrenKenneth J. WarrenKenneth John Warren was an Australian actor.-Selected Filmography:*Long John Silver *I Was Monty's Double *The Criminal *The Double Man *S*P*Y*S...
- Kowalski (as Kenneth Warren) - David de KeyserDavid de KeyserDavid de Keyser is a British actor. He is the father of Alexei de Keyser, Pia de Keyser and Thomas de Keyser.In the mid-sixties de Keyser worked twice with the writer, actor and director Jane Arden. Their first collaboration, The Logic Game, was the first BBC drama to be shot on film; it was...
- David
Commentary
Boorman won the award for Best DirectorBest Director Award (Cannes Film Festival)
The Best Director Award is an award presented at the Cannes Film Festival. It is chosen by the jury from the 'official section' of movies at the festival. It was first awarded in 1946....
at the 1970 Cannes Film Festival
1970 Cannes Film Festival
The 1970 Cannes Film Festival was the 23rd competition. This year, Robert Favre LeBret, the founder of the festival, decided not to include any films from Russia and Japan...
for the film, however the film has not yet been made available on DVD in the UK.
The film's exteriors were shot in a street due to be demolished near Latimer Road tube station
Latimer Road tube station
Latimer Road Station is a London Underground station in North Kensington on the Circle and Hammersmith & City lines between Wood Lane and Ladbroke Grove stations...
in West London. Raymond Durgnat
Raymond Durgnat
Raymond Durgnat was a distinctive and highly influential British film critic, who was born in London of Swiss parents...
rated it in his all-time top ten films.