1990: Bronx Warriors/Review 2

From The Grindhouse Cinema Database

< 1990: Bronx Warriors

As I said in my review of The New Barbarians, the Italian film industry in the early 80's was really getting into the Post-Apocalyptic craze thanks to the popularity of films like The Road Warrior and Escape From New York. These Italian films were different from the Hollywood flicks in many aspects. From the dialogue that sounded more like a novel, not a movie script, to their low-budget special effects to various campy elements. These things fascinated lots of people, including me. And if you're a newbie to this genre, I recommend 2019: After The Fall of New York and a film I'm going to review today called "1990: The Bronx Warriors". Why? Let's find out!

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The film takes place in a dystopian future of 1990 (I know what you're thinking. Before you laugh at this, please keep in mind that this review is written in the year 2015 and there's no hoverboard or flying cars available here). Anne, a daughter of the biggest arms manufacturing company, runs away from her home in the Bronx. At the time, The Bronx is the worst section of New York since it's a lawless area that's filled with various gangsters. There, Anne meets Trash, the leader of a biker gang, and she pleads to him "Don't let them take me away!". That's right, her father hires a sadistic mercenary named Hammer (Vic Morrow) who leads an army into the Bronx in order to find her. Trash and the biker gang have to protect her and they know that the real villain is the giant corporation, not other gangs like them. It's a story about friendship, betrayal, courage, and tragedy.

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Most people might think that this is just an "Escape From New York" rip-off, but actually the film would be made up of 85% The Warriors and 15% Escape From New York influences. Why? Well, The Bronx looks more like New York City in The Warriors since it has weird biker gangs, roller skating hockey gangs to Broadway style gangs. Plus, there are parts of the plot that is really similar: our hero is accused of killing someone important, so he has to prove that he's innocent. Luckily, this part in Bronx Warriors is about 3-5 minutes so it's not really a blatant rip-off.

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So what does this film offer to us cult film geeks? I said that the story is about "friendship, betrayal, courage, and tragedy". Although this is another "good guy vs. bad guy" story just like most of the Italian Post-Apocalypse flicks, what makes it outstanding is a really intense plot, good cinematography and an amazing soundtrack. Speaking of tragedy, I can tell you right now that this is not another happy ending type film. Although I knew what was going to happen while watching, it's still stunning to see an ending like this film has.

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One more thing that I'd like to comment on is the campy element. There's a scene that creates unintentional comedy and has no real purpose in the film at all, but I like it. It's a scene in which the biker gang meets another gang near the bridge. While the meeting is going on, there's a guy who plays a set of drums for no reason. He has no dialogue, he does nothing but play the drums, and he shouldn't even appear in this scene at all. But who cares? At least he provides a cool soundtrack in that scene.

Overall, this is a really amazing Post-Apocalyptic movie that you should check out. And if you can find the soundtrack, don't hesitate to grab it since it's one of my favorites from the Italian genre films. Highly recommended.


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Nuttawut Permpithak hails from Thailand. He spends his free time watching exploitation films (or any films from the past) writing articles, taking photos and reviewing films for GCDb.

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