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.
16 Reviews
Above average car 'thriller'.
Nickkendell7 April 2006
With simply stunning scenery which has now been all but destroyed or tamed by modernity, this film is more than a good British film, it is a wonderful tourist film and social documentary. A typically stout performance by JRJ helps the film retain some semblance of realism against a backdrop of lakes and mountains that post war Britain must have forgotten about.
The cars are the undoubted stars of the film, with many classic marques in evidence. They alone can make the hairs stand up on your neck as they go through small villages at (slightly) unbelievable speeds whilst driver and co-driver mange to hold a conversation!! Other performances are up to usual standards for the type of film, and as usual in this type of film, young men are played by ever-so-slightly older ones.
Overall a good film that can help while away a wet afternoon whilst taking you back to the post-war era that didn't really exist.
The cars are the undoubted stars of the film, with many classic marques in evidence. They alone can make the hairs stand up on your neck as they go through small villages at (slightly) unbelievable speeds whilst driver and co-driver mange to hold a conversation!! Other performances are up to usual standards for the type of film, and as usual in this type of film, young men are played by ever-so-slightly older ones.
Overall a good film that can help while away a wet afternoon whilst taking you back to the post-war era that didn't really exist.
Enjoyable and fast paced thriller
chris_gaskin1232 June 2006
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.
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.
Nice scenery, not so thrilling car race.
Philby-33 June 1999
This film was produced in colour in 1956 at a time when Britain was just emerging from post-war austerity and pleasant motoring trips to the continent were becoming a possibility for the British middle class. The film was made on location and Ralph Thomas the director is clearly anxious to show off the delights of Florence and the Italian lakes. In fact the whole thing is like a Peter Stuyvesant cigarette commercial. It includes a great deal of motor racing from an era when 160 mph racing cars were raced on public roads with huge crowds lining the routes and minimal safety considerations (fits in with the ciggies I guess). The plot is pretty mechanical, the acting, except for Stanley Baker, who was incapable of a bad performance, is pretty routine and the script merely servicable. I have to confess to liking James Robertson Justice, the overbearing boss from central casting, but actually the cars (Aston-Martins) had the meatiest roles. The participation of Aston Martin no doubt accounts for O'Donovan trying to burn some DB3 bodyshells in the opening sequences. Well, it was all a great excuse for some jaded Rank and Aston-Martin employees to catch some Italian sun and one can only hope they enjoyed themselves.
Industrial Espionage
boblipton17 February 2020
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.
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.
Terrific looks, great performance, feeble plot
malcp10 August 2015
Warning: Spoilers
There is a lot to like about this film, particularly if you're a fan of motor racing and cinematography. Beautiful costume, wonderful settings and terrific cars all shot in sumptuous colour. Stanley Baker and James Robertson Justice adding more than a little gravitas to roles thinner than a ten-bob note, but even though they're backed up by the talents of Odile Versois and Maurice Denham amongst others, they are unable to drag your attention from a plot so ludicrous that even 'Boys Own' would have rejected it. Anthony Steel has top billing, but the troubles that had begun to dog him off-screen translate into a performance that barely registers and one wonders if there were major changes in the story and script to accommodate his fall from grace. The film is quite an enjoyable romp and definitely worth watching, even if it's just for a glimpse of such obscure cars as the Fairthorpe Atom and Isocarro Furgone!
Disparate plot elements
Leofwine_draca29 November 2020
Warning: Spoilers
A good cast enlivens an otherwise rather stodgy movie, partially shot in Italy and with a plot in which the disparate elements never really gel. CHECKPOINT stars off on a good footing, with sneak thief Stanley Baker - always a favourite screen presence of mine - forced to raise hell when he's nearly caught by the security. So far so good, but we then move into a more staid and prosaic story in which Anthony Steel's boring racing car driver romances a girl and gets involved in a labyrinthine plot. A great supporting cast is present here - the likes of Michael Medwin, Maurice Denham, James Robertson Justice and Anne Heywood appear - but the direction is middling, the racing scenes very old-fashioned, the excitement only coming in right at the climax.
Fast Company
richardchatten21 November 2020
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!
Running With the Devil
bnwfilmbuff23 April 2017
The stars of this movie are the beautiful cinematography of the Italian towns and vistas and the great stock footage of the vintage Euro racing cars. The story itself is pretty far-fetched. James Robertson Justice owns a British racing team that he wants badly to displace the Italians as champions. So he dispatches Stanley Baker to Italy to hire the key designer away from the competitive team. Instead, Baker blows up the Italian plant and kills several inept policemen during his theft of the race car blueprints. Making this all the more unbelievable is that Justice knew Baker was a crook when he hired him! There's a lot of silly womanizing and drinking on the part of the drivers that must be sifted through not to mention the love story between Steel and Versois. While the ending is somewhat exciting, this one is really mainly for racing enthusiasts.
Riding Shotgun Before Driving Hell Drivers
TheFearmakers25 January 2024
What begins with an edgy heist by square-jawed tough guy Stanley Baker as a hired thief provides CHECKPOINT the only hint of not only a criminal but being a crime film at all...
Otherwise featuring cocky race-car drivers led by handsome Anthony Steel and younger Lee Patterson, standing around a track discussing an upcoming Italian race when Steel's not romancing ingenue Odile Versois...
Meanwhile a temperamental Baker waits for the next step since, after killing several guards in the initial heist... and having been hired by the car company owner... his mere existence is blackmail alone: so head racer Steel has to drive Baker across the Swiss border during the anticipated third act race - unless (or until) one kills the other...
At which point neither the sport or crime film had panned-out since it all should have belonged entirely to Stanley Baker who, ironically, the next year became a superstar in HELL DRIVERS, making CHECKPOINT one of his last good-for-nothing scoundrel roles before playing cool anti-heroes, tough cops or upright villains.
Otherwise featuring cocky race-car drivers led by handsome Anthony Steel and younger Lee Patterson, standing around a track discussing an upcoming Italian race when Steel's not romancing ingenue Odile Versois...
Meanwhile a temperamental Baker waits for the next step since, after killing several guards in the initial heist... and having been hired by the car company owner... his mere existence is blackmail alone: so head racer Steel has to drive Baker across the Swiss border during the anticipated third act race - unless (or until) one kills the other...
At which point neither the sport or crime film had panned-out since it all should have belonged entirely to Stanley Baker who, ironically, the next year became a superstar in HELL DRIVERS, making CHECKPOINT one of his last good-for-nothing scoundrel roles before playing cool anti-heroes, tough cops or upright villains.
Never gets out of first gear
malcolmgsw27 January 2021
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.
Underrated
bensonmum227 May 2017
The robbery of an Italian automobile factory goes horribly wrong, resulting in the deaths of several policeman. After he escapes, the robber, O'Donovan (Stanley Baker), is able to blackmail his sponsor into helping him get out of the country. Their plan is to use an international automobile race as a cover to smuggle O'Donovan out of Italy and into Switzerland. O'Donovan will have to impersonate one of the co-drivers. Will the other drivers go along with the plan and can O'Donovan keep his cool all the way to the Swiss border?
This is one of those cases where I find a film underrated on IMDb. IMDb - 5.6/10. Me - 8/10. So it's obvious that I enjoyed Checkpoint much more than most. There's a lot I liked about director Ralph Thomas' film. There's plenty of drama, action, and intrigue throughout Checkpoint. The opening robbery, even though at this point we have no idea what's happening, is a great introduction to what is to come. The race scenes really worked with me and I found them incredibly exciting. I've seen other films with similar race scenes that either do not look "real" or are just plain old dull. The fight scene at the film's end is thrilling. It could have gone either way in my mind. The acting is top notch. Stanley Baker plays about as good a thugish brute as anyone. And Odile Versois is just delightful - a word I don't think I use very often, but it describes her perfectly. Finally, the Italian locations are as gorgeous as anything I've seen recently. It's all so beautifully filmed. I can't say enough about Ernest Steward's cinematography. My only complaint is with the second act of the film where Checkpoint seems to lose a bit of focus and almost turns into a schmaltzy romance. Still, the overall movie is highly enjoyable.
I don't know much about old racing cars, but the cars featured in Checkpoint are amazing looking machines. If you're into racing, it's probably worth checking out the movie for all the cool cars and real racing footage.
This is one of those cases where I find a film underrated on IMDb. IMDb - 5.6/10. Me - 8/10. So it's obvious that I enjoyed Checkpoint much more than most. There's a lot I liked about director Ralph Thomas' film. There's plenty of drama, action, and intrigue throughout Checkpoint. The opening robbery, even though at this point we have no idea what's happening, is a great introduction to what is to come. The race scenes really worked with me and I found them incredibly exciting. I've seen other films with similar race scenes that either do not look "real" or are just plain old dull. The fight scene at the film's end is thrilling. It could have gone either way in my mind. The acting is top notch. Stanley Baker plays about as good a thugish brute as anyone. And Odile Versois is just delightful - a word I don't think I use very often, but it describes her perfectly. Finally, the Italian locations are as gorgeous as anything I've seen recently. It's all so beautifully filmed. I can't say enough about Ernest Steward's cinematography. My only complaint is with the second act of the film where Checkpoint seems to lose a bit of focus and almost turns into a schmaltzy romance. Still, the overall movie is highly enjoyable.
I don't know much about old racing cars, but the cars featured in Checkpoint are amazing looking machines. If you're into racing, it's probably worth checking out the movie for all the cool cars and real racing footage.
A race to avoid punishment and checkmate.
mark.waltz30 May 2023
Warning: Spoilers
The racing scenes and Florence Italy location sequences are far more interesting than the crime setup involving industrial espionage and crook Stanley Baker. I found that a confusing start to this otherwise colorful film which has Baker in hiding and utilizing race car driver Anthony Steel to get away, sending the rather annoying Odile Versois into a tizzy, quite clinging in her romance with Steel and in cahoots with the sinister James Robertson Justice, the film's real heavy.
The chase sequences on the curvy mountain roads seem like they would have been thrilling on a big screen, even more intense than the race sequences. A favorite moment occurs when a helmet wearing Baker is confronted by a pesky photographer who tries to rip it off, getting a surprisingly justifiable reaction by Baker. But the subject matter didn't really interest me, so it was the gorgeous color photography and action that kept me watching. Otherwise, it came off to me as a tedious convoluted bore.
The chase sequences on the curvy mountain roads seem like they would have been thrilling on a big screen, even more intense than the race sequences. A favorite moment occurs when a helmet wearing Baker is confronted by a pesky photographer who tries to rip it off, getting a surprisingly justifiable reaction by Baker. But the subject matter didn't really interest me, so it was the gorgeous color photography and action that kept me watching. Otherwise, it came off to me as a tedious convoluted bore.
Classic cars, definitely not a classic film
barkiswilling28 November 2021
Bit of a mishmash really - some lovely sleek models, by which we mean the cars (obviously) and in particular the classic DB2s and Lotus amongst others. Filmed in rather garish Eastmancolor, the end product would have been much better off sticking to B&W. The plot involving corporate espionage in the world of automotive engineering is ropey at best and interestingly the best interventions come from the character parts - Maurice Denham, Michael Medwin and even the wonderfully irascible James Robertson Justice as a racing team boss with blinkered vision and questionable decision making. Anthony Steel is bland to the point of somnolence and, as if to counter this, Stanley Baker, normally such a strong screen presence, appears to overact wildly as the somewhat twitchy bad guy.
Car race with a murderer for a stowaway
clanciai9 September 2023
This is all about car racing with plenty of intrigue and corruption, while the chief victim of it all actually is the reluctant murderer who is hired for some murky business that goes all wrong resulting in a massacre and a blown up car factory. That was not intended. The major part of the film is dedicated to a car race from Florence to Locarno in Switzerland, where all the drivers drive on like mad along slippery roads that should have caused at least one car accident. No deal. There is one car incident in the end but not because of high speed or risky roads but because the driver and his second start fighting in the middle of the drive, with one of them holding a gun. Of course it has to end up badly. The scenery is great, the music is fine, the story is somewhat exclusive for car racing enthusiasts, and the acting is all right. One driver is forced out of the game for being too intoxicated, but in reality it was Anthony Steel, the lead, who had problems with this. He survives, and the crooks end up as usual hoisted by their own petards, while the girl, refusing to marry Anthony Steel, perhaps changes her mind.
Goof
dfrench_43022 November 2020
The fork in the road shows the road from Italy to Locarno to the right. But they take the left fork which is then purported to go up the wrong side of the lake
Baker noticed the lake is on their left, whereas it should be on their right, if they were on the correct side of the lake
Proves the signs on the fork in the road are the wrong way round
I know as I have driven up the west side of the lake to Locarno
Baker noticed the lake is on their left, whereas it should be on their right, if they were on the correct side of the lake
Proves the signs on the fork in the road are the wrong way round
I know as I have driven up the west side of the lake to Locarno
See also
Awards | FAQ | User Ratings | External Reviews | Metacritic Reviews
