1990: The Bronx Warriors (1982)

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nTitle: 1990: The BronxnWarriors (1982)

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nDirector: Enzo G. Castellari

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nCast: Fred Williamson, Vic Morrow, Marc Gregory, StefanianGirolami

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nReview:

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nDirector Enzo G. Castellari was one of the many Italian directorsnthat made a career out of  ripping-off morensuccessful American films; this guy liked an American film, he’d immediately gonand make his own low budget version of it. The most infamous of these rip-offsnis of course Great White (L’ultimo Squalo) (1981) a film that was so similar tonSpielberg’s JAWS (1975) that Universal actually sued and won, which is the mainnreason why we haven’t gotten a proper dvd release of that film yet. Gotta benhonest, I am more than a little curious to check that film out, from what I’venseen, it looks like fun. But anyways, for a while there all Castellari could donwhere rip offs. The Great White fiasco didn’t stop this guy! Right after thatnone, he went and made The New Barbarians (1983) and 1990: The Bronx Warriors (1982),ntwo films that ripped off various successful American films. The film I will benreviewing today is 1990: The Bronx Warriors; a film I’d been looking forward tonseeing for a while now; if anything, out of sheer curiosity. How was it?

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nSame as in Escape from New Yorkn(1981) the apocalypse on this film isn’t a world-wide event, the apocalypse hasnonly taken place in The Bronx, Newn York where as the film states in its openingnstatements “The Bronx is officially declared ‘no man’s land’”.  The Authorities give up all attempts tonrestore law and order to that notorious borough. From then on, the area isnruled by gangs with such names as Sharks, Scavengers, Tigers and The Riders. Sonbasically, nobody dares venture into The Bronx, well, almost nobody. Thendaughter of the president of a powerful weapons manufacturing company called ‘ThenManhattan Corporation’ decides she no longer wants to be a part of her fathersnbusiness, she considers him and his company scum, and “unscrupulous”.  So she decides to go and live with the poornand the oppressed deep within the heart of The Bronx. Problem is her fathernwants none of that! He needs his daughter because she is the heir to hisnfortune! So he sends a murderous cop known as “The Hammer” to find his daughternand kill those who get in his way.

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nWeirdest thing happened while watching this movie. Normally,nwhen I watch an Italian Rip-Off like this one, I try and pin point which filmsnhave inspired the rip-off, but on 1990: The Bronx Warriors the oppositenhappened! I noticed how an American film ripped this one off, I’m speaking ofncourse of John Carpenter’s Escape from L.A.n(1996). If you guys remember correctly, Escape from L.A. is all about thenpresidents daughter escaping to L.A. (which has been turned into an island/wastelandnby a savage earthquake) and falling in love with a Che Guevara type gang leaderncalled ‘Cuervo Jones’. The president then sends Snake Plissken in to rescue hisndaughter, who has taken with her a doomsday device that could shut down thenentire world. The plot for 1990: Bronx Warriors is extremely similar, a richnand powerful girl decides to side with the rebels, she falls for one of them,nand her father sends a mercenary of sorts to rescue her. The real differencenbetween both films is that the man sent in to rescue the girl in Escape from L.A. is our hero, SnakenPlissken while in 1990: The Bronx Warriors the man sent in to rescue the girl isna murderous cop known as ‘The Hammer’. This is a man who thrives on killing people;nhe believes in nothing and works for no one. He just loves killing! So anyways,nif we take in consideration that 1990: The Bronx Warriors rips off Carpenter’snEscape from New York, one could argue that Carpenter was executing sweetnrevenge on the Italians and giving them a taste of their own medicine bynripping off 1990: The Bronx Warriors with Escape from L.A., but that’s just menand I could be horribly wrong. But I make perfect sense don’t I?

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nSo yeah, of course 1990: The Bronx Warriors borrows heavilynfrom other American films. If I had to describe it in someway it would have tonbe a mix between Escape from New York (1981) and The Warriors (1979), with anlittle bit of A Clockwork Orange (1971) thrown in. Same as Escape from NewnYork, on this film they’ve gone and turned a part of New York City into anwasteland populated by bums, low lives and gangs, the kind of place wherenanything can crawl out of the darkest corners. And it’s like The Warriorsnbecause each gang has its own distinctive gimmick. For example, one gang looksnlike a roller derby team, the other looks like a group of zombies, the other isna gang of dudes with make up and batons who like to tap dance and so forth. Thenmain gang in the film is actually a biker gang called ‘The Riders’ led by ansuper gay dude called ‘Trash’; why all these super tough dudes, riding choppersnand sporting huge beards and leather jackets would let themselves be lead bynthis skinny clean shaven, effeminate is beyond me, but such is the logic of annItalian Rip Off.
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nThe film is filled with nonsensical moments, for example. Whenntwo gangs are about to meet for face off, we hear the beat of a drum. Normallynyou’d think ok, it’s the soundtrack setting the mood for this big face offnbetween two gangs, but then as the camera zooms out we realize, no, in factnthere is a drummer banging his drum set right there in the scene. For nonreason! Ha! I’ve read that in fact, the drummer in the scene wasn’t planned; henwas simply there when they were going to shoot the scene and Castelliarindecided to include him in the scene. What the Hell?? Another scene that left menbaffled: The Bronx is supposed to be a ‘No Man’s Land’ according to the filmsnopening credits, but in one scene as the biker gang rides across an abandonednneighborhood, we can clearly see regular every day traffic going on in thenbackground! Yeah, right, post apocalyptic waste land my ass! How lazy! Had Inbeen the director I would have simply NOT used those seconds of film, but they didn’tncare and left it in there so it could completely take us out of the film. So benready for lazy filmmaking and some bad acting, especially from the two leads.

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nDon’t know what it was about New York City, but Italian filmmakers were enamorednwith it. How many Italian made films take place in Newn York or partially in Newn York City? Just off the top of my head: The New YorknRipper (1982), Escape from the Bronx (1983), Inferno (1980), Zombie (1979),nHouse by the Cemetery (1981), Cannibal Holocaust (1980), Zombie Holocaust (1980),n2019: After the Fall of New York (1983), the list just goes on and on! My guessnis that the infatuation with New York had something to do with the fact thatnmany of these exploitation films played in 42^nd Street Cinemas,nwhere they probably made most of their money and had their biggest audience, sonthat makes sense; plus New York has always been considered a pulse for culturalnhappenings, so all these things add up I guess, to this mega infatuation that Italiannb-movie filmmakers had with the city. But who am I kidding right? The Big Applenrocks, I personally love the place. 

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nThis film was shot between New Yorknand Rome, but mostly in Rome. What they did to create the illusionnthat the whole film was shot in New York is they shot lot’s of exterior shotsnwith New York buildings in the background and the rest was simply shot it in placesnthat looked like New York but where actually Rome. Gotta say they did a goodnjob of hiding it. I didn’t really notice! But the scenes that they did shoot innNew York look very much like The Bronx, the abandoned buildings and isolatednareas look post-apocalyptic because The Bronx was kind of post apocalypticnlooking back in those days. The Bronx was a boroughnthat was emerging from the 70’s and was in a transitional period. Lot’s of changes were going on in terms of buildings andnarchitecture back in those days. I know because I lived in The Bronx during thenearly 80’s, I experienced this desolation first hand!
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nFinal words on this film is that it’s bad, it’s got some badnacting, and it’s obviously a rip off of many films that came before it, but atnthe same time some of you out there with a tolerance for heavy cheese andnb-movie madness will find it watchable and maybe even entertaining. The filmnmade me giggle a time or two, especially when the character called The Hammerncomes into play. He was played by Vic Morrow before Vic Morrow died whilenmaking John Landis’s segment for Twilight Zone: The Movie (1983), so 1990: ThenBronx Warriors was actually Morrow’s penultimate screen performance before hisnuntimely death. Morrow steals the show as ‘The Hammer’ a heartless bad guy whonlaughs while ordering his minions to kill. Another bonus is Fred Williamson as ‘ThenOgre’ a.k.a. The King of New York.nThough to be honest, I don’t know why they didn’t call Williamson’s characternThe Hammer, that’s how he calls himself in real life anyways! But whatever, let’snnot try and make sense of these Italian rip offs which are best enjoyed withnour sense-o-meters turned off. Speaking of Willamson, highly recommend youncheck out the dvd extras which include an interview to Williamson where he goesnon and on about how he built his career from the ground up, loved hearing hisnstory. He kind of comes off as the black Arnold Schwarzenegger. Or many Schwarzeneggernis the white Fred Williamson? So anyways, 1990: The Bronx Warriors is at timesna slow film, a violent film and a funny film all rolled up into one. Just don’tnexpect a masterpiece.

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nRatings: 2 ½ out of 5 
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