1990: BRONX WARRIORS :: POST-APOCALYPTIC CINEMA

D. Enzo G. Castellari :: Italy 1982 :: 89min :: 35mm :: Exhumed Films

Italian directors were fascinated with duplicating the successful formulas of American post-apocalyptic and/or gang films for a good part of the 1980's, and 1990: BRONX WARRIORS is one of the best - equal parts ESCAPE FROM NEW YORK, THE WARRIORS and MAD FOXES.

The year is 1990 and the Bronx region of New York City has become a wasteland ruled by street gangs and violent criminals. Normal citizens have fled across the river to the Manhattan area and police dare not tread in the crime-infested cesspool. But apparently not all is well within the privileged sector, because Ann (Stefania Girolami), the heiress to a fortune, has chosen to flee her rich lifestyle and risk the dangers of the Bronx instead.

Inevitably, she gets kidnapped by a gang called The Zombies (led by euro-staple George Eastman), but Trash, the leader of rival gang The Riders is smitten wit the young heiress and decides to rescue her, with the help of The Ogre (Fred "the Hammer" Williamson), the recognized "king" of the Bronx. Unfortunately The Ogre's domain is on the other side of the Bronx, so Trash and two compatriots must travel across the neighborhoods of competing gangs such as the Jackals, the Scavengers and the Sharks.

But the street gangs are not Trash's only concern, for the Manhattan Corporation has hired Hammer (Vic Morrow) and Hot Dog (Christopher Connelly), two dangerous mercenaries, to retrieve Ann. Behind them is the entire might of the corporation's soldiers and Manhattan law enforcement, and eventually all street gangs and corporate armies will clash in a bloody showdown. (The 80s Reborn)