U.S. DVD Release
Folks, I’m listening to the soundtrack for 1990: Bronx Warriors by Walter Rizzati right now and I’m groovin’. This score makes me wanna scoop up my pimp cane, head to the nearest roller derby gang’s training facility and crack open a whole can of snarling Black Judo whoop ass on them! Fortunately for them…I know no Black Judo. I always tend to get like this though after watching a Fred Williamson flick, he brings out the blaxploitation in my cracker ass.
Anyhow, if you haven’t seen 1990: Bronx Warriors lemme break the news to you real quick like…this is 100% Italian rip-off cinema. Whether it’s “at its best” is really up to the viewer. Personally, I love it. Director Enzo G. Castellari and his co-writers (including Dardano Sacchetti!) cribbed generously from such films as Mad Max, Road Warrior (Mad Max 2), Death Wish, John Carpenter’s Escape from New York and The Warriors. Hell, I even spotted a bit of Planet of the Apes in there! Now I wouldn’t stake whatever reputation I have on this following observation but, to me, it looks as if the leader of The Zombies in 1990: Bronx Warriors was inspiration for Julius Carry’s Sho’nuff from 1985’s The Last Dragon. I could be wrong though.
Having been raised by outlaw bikers (Mom, Stepfather & Bio-Dad were Hell’s Henchmen, Outlaws & Sojourners) I always get a kick out of flicks like this that don’t even bother putting in any effort to make their actors look authentic. A good way of figuring out who the actors are as opposed to the real biker extras is to find everybody that looks like Freddie Mercury from Queen, The Biker from The Village People, ANYBODY from KISS or male figure skaters icin’ to “It’s Raining Men” and you’ve got your actors. I’m not sure why filmmakers seem to have such a hard time differentiating the outlaw biker look from the gay bondage fetish scene but they do.
1990: Bronx Warriors isn’t a complicated film. If you’ve seen Escape from New York and The Warriors, you’ve seen Bronx Warriors. Lemme recap for you anyhow…
The Bronx has been declared “No Man’s Land” and the gangs rule the streets of the boroughs. A young woman named Ann crosses into the Bronx from Manhattan and Trash, the leader of The Riders, rescues her from the clutches of the roller-hockey gang, The Zombies. Faced with the decision to go back to Manhattan or remain with Trash, Ann chooses the Bronx.
A large weapons manufacturing corporation is desperate to bring Ann back from the Bronx at any cost as she stands to inherit the corporation upon her eighteenth birthday. Instead of sending in a special tactical team to extract Ann, they hire a sadistic megalomaniacal cop named Hammer to retrieve the girl. Hammer isn’t interested at all in bringing the girl back though; he’s looking to make a name for himself by setting The Riders & Trash up for the murder of a soldier in The Tigers gang. With the help of gimpy truck driver Hotdog and the overly-ambitious Ice, from The Riders, Hammer does his best to start a war between The Riders and Tigers.
When Ann is kidnapped by The Zombies, Trash is forced to cross the Bronx and face dangerous gangs in order to seek the aid of The Ogre, king of the Bronx and leader of The Tigers. Will The Ogre believe Trash or will he fall for Hammer’s setup? Can Trash & The Ogre set aside their differences and join forces to save Ann and fight The Manhattan Corporation or is it already too late to stop the bloodshed?
1990: Bronx Warrior is pure post-apocalyptic Italian exploitation fun and, for me, it never gets old…that’s just me though. The comparisons between this film and the films it steals from will be obvious to anybody remotely familiar with 70’s & 80’s post-apocalyptic biker/gang cinema so I won’t bother going into all that. There’s a good chance many of you will find this film extremely cheesy though and rightly so because it is. The minute you get a load of Mark Gregory’s waxed chest, girly walk & Maneloe (Man Camel Toe) you’ll know right away this wasn’t meant to be taken too seriously. It’s one of those “switch your brain off” type entertaining testosterone flicks you smile and kick your feet up to.
Personally, I think this could have used some drugs and nudity to spice things up a bit but that’s just the sleaze peddler in me talking. Perhaps the future of 1990 isn’t about snorting a fat rail of a midget chicks little buttcheek but if I were Enzo G. Castellari it would have been! *humps air* YEAH BABY YEAH!!
Sorry.
1990: Bronx Warriors isn’t all that bad, the dialogue wasn’t as ridiculous as it tends to be in Italian exploitation cinema and the action/fight sequences were passable. Williamson’s pimp king, The Ogre, was slick as hell and sported a perfectly styled mustache I’d beat a Red Cross worker down for and Vic Morrow’s Hammer was so thoroughly over-the-top (especially during the finale) that the words “chewing scene while on speed” would be a huge understatement. Anybody out there wishin’ we could have gotten a quick peek at Stefania Girolami’s ass? Sorry Enzo but your daughter had a nasty fine can!
Interested viewers will find some decent special features on the Media Blasters disc and that’s all well and good but I would have been more appreciative had they slapped the sequel, Escape from the Bronx, on as an extra instead. Oh well, I’ll live. Check this out when you’ve got time!
