Hilton Head-area ‘gentlemen smugglers’ inspired a movie. Here’s how to watch
With college degrees and an aversion to smuggling cocaine because of the associated violence, these brainy marijuna and hashish traffickers would become known as the “Gentlemen Smugglers.” In the 1970s and 1980s, captaining trawlers, sailboats and ocean racers, they criss-crossed oceans to buy drugs in Colombia, Lebanon and Jamaica before returning to Hilton Head, Edisto and St. Helena Island on the coast of South Carolina, where they eluded authorities using the Lowcountry’s maze of rivers and creeks.
A new film that highlights the smugglers and the Beaufort County waters they expertly navigated will hit two major streaming services – Apple TV and Fandango – on Aug. 15.
It’s called “The Final Run.”
Walter Czura, a resident of Hilton Head’s Sea Pines Plantation, wrote the screenplay and produced the movie, most of which was filmed in 2023 in Beaufort and St. Helena Island. Czura has intimate details about the characters. He was one of the “gentleman smugglers” and served time in prison after pleading guilty to conspiracy to import over 1,000 pounds of marijuana in 1982. He never stepped foot on any of the boats but, as an attorney, he was part of the operation.
Now he’s telling the legendary Lowcountry story, at least a version of it, and he’s elated that “The Final Run” has finally been picked up for distribution.
“To break into this Hollywood mode is very difficult,” Czura told the Beaufort Gazette and Island Packet, “and for me to do this first film, I consider it kind of exceptional.”
The public release comes 18 months after the Czura and his movie created a buzz at its premier at the 2024 Beaufort International Film Festival.
Besides reaching a deal with the streaming platforms, Fortress Films also has sold the foreign film rights to the film, which will allow it to be distributed in South America, Central America, Europe and India.
Czura’s next goal is to have the movie shown on Amazon Prime.
The film, says Czura, will be of great interest to Lowcountry residents because it prominently features the very same rivers and creeks and marshes that the smugglers used to evade authorities.
“Back then, there were no cell phones,” Czura said. “And there were very few police and there are creeks and rivers everywhere. Like a maze of water.”
Eventually, some 200 drug traffickers were caught in the FBI’s “Operation Jackpot,” which involved none other than South Carolina Gov. Henry McMaster, who was a federal prosecutor at the time. The operation was part of President Ronald Reagan’s “war on drugs.”
Landmarks that locals will instantly recognize in the movie will include Beaufort’s Woods Memorial Bridge, Tabernacle Baptist Church and Pick Pocket Plantation in Burton.
The cost of making a documentary about the smuggling case was too high so Czura decided to make a contemporary feature film instead.
“The Final Run” stars Jeff Fahey, who might be best-known for his roles in Stephen King’s “The Lawnmower Man” and ABC’s “Lost” series. Fahey plays a former Marine and long-retired marijuana smuggler whose wife is suffering from a rare type of cancer. The dire situation forces him to make one “final run” in order to save his house, his company and his wife.
Czura says the Fahey character is based on the real-life Robert Leslie “Les” Riley. Riley was the “king pirate” in the smuggling operation, says Czura, and owned a home in the private Hilton Head community of Calibogue Cay. He served years in federal prison for his role.
The movie, directed by Chris Helton, also features Judd Nelson of “The Breakfast Club” and “New Jack City” fame.
Just the other day, says Czura, he talked to Gov. McMaster about the film. The governor, he says, was impressed by the cinematography and how it showcased the amazing rivers and marshes of the South Carolina Lowcountry, Czura said.
The film’s beginning includes archival footage from Operation Jackpot and the war on drugs including old photos and newspaper clippings.
“I’ve already written a sequel called “One More Run,” Czura says.
This story was originally published August 6, 2025 at 2:44 PM.
