Harry Garmes, George C. Scott, is an aging American career criminal living in self-imposed exile in Albufeira, a quiet fishing village in southern Portugal. He leads a hardscrabble, solitary life, tending a small fishing boat and occasionally seeking company from Monique, Colleen Dewhurst a local prostitute, while his wife has left him after the death of their son. The arrangement is wary, practical, and fragile, a quiet existence that might never be the same again.
Unexpectedly, Harry is offered a job—his first in nine years—to drive an escaped killer and the man’s girlfriend across Portugal and Spain into France. The escapees are Paul Rickard, Tony Musante, and Claudie Scherrer, Trish Van Devere. Rickard, imprisoned in Spain for an unrelated crime, was originally hired to assassinate French President Charles de Gaulle by the OAS, a plan tied to a larger, dangerous political motive. The story hints that the OAS is trying another strike, and Rickard’s escape has become part of a cunning setup.
Harry takes the assignment as a test of his lingering skills and his own self-worth, even as he passes some money to Monique to hold—money that could become her own if he doesn’t return. The job forces him back into a world of risk and risk assessment he thought he’d left behind, where every turn could end in disaster.
The journey unfolds in a BMW 503, a vehicle customized with a hidden smuggling compartment and a supercharger, a machine built for speed and secrecy. As they race through the landscapes of Portugal and Spain toward France, they are pursued by two relentless authorities: the Spanish police and the French Security Service. In a twist, the French Service is implicated in orchestrating the escape in an effort to eliminate Rickard, adding political weight to the cat-and-mouse chase.
Back in Portugal, trust frays and loyalties blur. Harry believes he has been betrayed by Monique, a betrayal felt deeply as the tension of the trip peaks. The pursuit reaches a climactic moment on the shores of Albufeira, where Harry is shot on the beach, just moments before he could join Rickard and Scherrer on a final bid to flee by boat. The scene leaves a stark mark on a man who had hoped his skills could prove he could still rise to the challenge, ending in a violent, reckless conclusion that echoes the film’s themes of fate, loyalty, and the high costs of a life spent on the edge.
