1990 Bronx Warriors

......also check out

1.Escape from the Bronx
2.The Warriors
3.Warriors of the Wasteland
4.Escape from New York
5.Escape from L.A
6.Original Gangsters

If Kurt Russell could have predicted what the Italians would do to his work in "Escape From New York," he probably would have outright refused to star in the picture. John Carpenter probably would have burned the negatives. Castellari's film follows Trash (Mark Gregory), a gang leader in the blasted remnants of the Bronx. The year 1990 hasn't been a good year for New York City, apparently. Some huge conglomerate called the Manhattan Corporation is taking over the world neighborhood by neighborhood. They own the Bronx, nominally anyway, but the various gangs really control the borough. You've got gangs on roller skates, gangs on motorcycles, kung fu gangs, and gangs that look like rejects from "All That Jazz." A powerful gang lord called Ogre (Fred Williamson) presides over the entire area. It's a wild, wacky world, the Bronx, but it's also a dangerous place to go messing around in. Wars go on all the time in this place. When a young lady named Amy turns up in the Bronx, her appearance incites a brief battle between Trash's gang and the roller skating clowns. Trash soon learns who Amy is and why she's in the Bronx, and her presence is going to cause a world of trouble.

It turns out that Amy is a key figure in the future of the Manhattan Corporation. The head of the company wants her back, so he hires Hammer (Vic Morrow) to infiltrate the Bronx and cause discord amongst the competing thugs. In the process, he'll extract Amy and mop up the syndicates for the last time. It's a good plan on paper but a poor one in execution as a movie. Nothing really happens onscreen for the entire duration of the picture. Oh sure, Trash embarks on a mission to see Ogre, requiring him to navigate a path through many rivals' territory. A bit of hand-to-hand combat, a betrayal within Trash's organization, and a conclusion involving chaotic scenes of combat are all rather tepid and poorly filmed. Even the sight of Vic Morrow laughing maniacally before meeting his maker isn't enough to raise the pulse rate. The plot sort of just lies there, slowly meandering along until the credits roll. The only question the film raises is this one: what was that guy doing out there playing drums when the gangs confabbed at the wharf?

The acting, script, and special effects are so poorly done and horribly presented that I would rather spend time discussing a feature on the extras' menu, namely the very lengthy interview (forty minutes) with Fred Williamson that Media Blasters filmed for the DVD release. The Hammer waxes on numerous topics of interest to the lover of low budget 1980's cinema. He discusses how he moved into the foreign film business, his experiences with several notable directors, and how utterly pathetic these Italian rip-offs were. Williamson talks about the highly praised Lucio Fulci, claiming that the man was not a great director because he never followed up on what was going on. Moreover, he says Fulci never had a sense of continuity in his films because he would just show up and start filming whatever he thought would work that day. Anyone who has seen Fulci's films knows Williamson tells the truth. We worship Fulci for the mind blasting gore in his films even as we cringe at the plodding pacing and sloppy plot. I think anyone who likes watching these zero budget horror and action films should pick this DVD up just for the Williamson interview.

"1990: The Bronx Warriors" does contain several other noteworthy extras. A commentary track with director Castellari graces this disc (!) along with an interview to boot. There's a stills gallery and a bunch of trailers for films like "Flesh for the Beast," "Faceless," "Flesh Eater," and "2019: The Fall of New York." Can't beat that, can you? Well, you probably could, but you get the idea. The inclusion of these sorts of extras for a forgettable potboiler is surprising yet probably an indication that Castellari's films-and by extension, other Italian hacks' films of the era-are still remembered and revered by schlock cinema fans. Here's to Media Blasters for a job well done, along with a wish for more titles from this intriguing sub genre in the future.