Fireflash - Der Tag nach dem Ende

After The Fall of New York (1983) is a cheesy knock-off of the cult classic Escape From New York. But like most knock-off they're parodies of the original source material and have achieved cult status on their own. This one is no exception. From "Martin Dolman" comes a tale about a once great city that has fallen during World War III. The city's inhabitants are dead or dying from radiation or have mutated to it's filthy surroundings. The "government" has hired a man who looks like a hybrid of Mad Max and Snake Plisken to travel the nuclear wastelands and sneak into New York City to find the "prize". Someone who's very being is key for the survival of the human race.

Filled with action and cheesy special effects, After The Fall of New York is a very entertaining sci-fi/action film. Takes one part Escape From New York, one part Mad Max, throw in some Mad Max 2 and a dash of Alien and viola! For fans of 80's Italian b-movies and lovers of bad cinema. Just remember the filmmakers were having fun. Not to be taken seriously folks. "George Eastman" steals the movie in a great guest star appearance (man can he swing some mean hardware!).

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Twenty years after a nuclear holocaust ravaged the Earth, the Euraks and the Pan American Confederacy continue the battle for supremacy. Mercenary Parsifal (Michael Sopkiw) is recruited by the Confederacy to try and locate the only fertile woman on Earth, hidden somewhere in the ruins of Manhattan. He is joined on his quest by warriors Bronx (Paolo Maria Scalondro) and Ratchet (Romano Puppo), pretty blonde Giara (Valentine Monnier), dwarf Shorty (Louis Ecclesia) and hulking half-man/half-monkey mutant Big Ape (George Eastman).

One of many Italian post-apocalyptic action flicks to follow in the wake of Mad Max and Escape From New York, Sergio Martino's 2019: After The Fall Of New York is a wholly unoriginal, shoddily made, poorly acted crap-fest full of really badly choreographed action scenes, lousy special effects, manky props, amusing costumes, and seriously dumb characters. Opening with an unconvincing miniature model of nuked New York and ending with the launch of an equally cruddy model spacecraft, with all manner of cheap-jack nonsense packed in between, one might imagine the film to be hugely entertaining as a result, but Martino's uninspired direction and his cast's abysmal performances suck the life out of even the most silly of scenes.

Possibly just about worth watching for the robot clown with a massive glowing eyeball on its head, Shorty's valiant death ("Bastaaaarrrds!"), Big Ape throwing his sword to decapitate several of his enemy, and the hilarious eye-gouging (seriously, how did he not see that coming?), but don't bank on it. 3.5 out of 10, rounded up to 4 for IMDb.

Yup, 2019: After The Fall Of New York is on of those "so bad its fun' kind of movies.

"Fall" (as I will call it from now on because I don't feel like saying its full name over and over) is a complete rip-off of John Carpenter's "Escape From New York". You know that one. Manhattan Island is now a maximum security prison. The President Of The United States crash lands in it with some highly secret information. Snake Plisskin (one of the greatest names in movie history!) is sent in to this hellhole to get the President out. In "Fall" New York has been nuked. A military police force has taken over what is left and tries to rub out everyone they don't see as fit to live, which is basically everybody since everybody has a some kind of mutation. Oh yeah, everybody is also sterile thanks to the radiation. However there in beautiful, bombed out Manhattan is one woman who was born after the bomb hit, therefore making her fertile and worthy of motherhood. Gladiator fighter Parsifal (Michael Sopkiw) is sent in to get her and bring her out so that the Pan America Confederacy - our current government whose headquarters are located in on a glacier in Alaska (Alaska?) - can start repopulating the world again with fresh, unpolluted humans. Parsifal's reward? He gets to go to one of the areas of Earth that has survived and prospered from the bomb, making it a virtual paradise with sunny beaches and clean air. Or something like that

In Escape, Snake goes up against scores of allies and scores of freaky enemies while trying to achieve his goal. In Fall, Parsifal goes through score of allies and scores of enemies to get his goal as well. In Escape. Snake crosses a bridge to get out. In Fall, Parsifal crosses a tunnel to get out. Get the picture? But goshdang it, Fall sure is a fun ripoff! And wait, there is more! At the movie's beginning our hero fights in Mad Max type gladiator battles in which his reward is a hot chick who will be his sex slave/girlfriend, and these large gold tokens that allow him to buy special privileges. That's two ripoffs, yes two ripoffs (Escape from New York AND Mad Max 2: The Road Warrior) for the price of one. Ohhhh man, you can't beat that!

Like the movie itself, the acting isn't that bad. Its just B-level Italian actors playing cheap sci-fi stereotypes (the brave Little Person, the heroic female sidekick, the friend who turns into a backstabber, and so on) and dubbed with stupid dialogue. The sound effects and special effects are the same type of low budget crap you experience in all those other B-level sci-fi and horror flicks from the 1980's. In fact this was released about a year after Blade Runner, another early 1980's flick that takes place in 2019. What's up with that? Well I guess 2019 was just a great future year for science fiction movies to take place.

But is this movie entertaining? For the most part, yes. Cheesy Italian made stuff - like this - always certified a good time. If you grew up the 1980's, like I did, then you will remember that cheap, B-movie titles like this were in every video store. And they were always a blast to watch with a living room of friends, a large bag of crispy cheese curls, a joint or two, and a bottle of whiskey or a six pack of beer handy.

My rating (from Excellent to Poor) Pretty Good. Yeah it is shoddy, but "2019: After The Fall Of New York" is a fun shoddy.

After the Fall of New York is one of the best of the seemingly endless Italian rip-offs of John Carpenter's Escape From New York that deluged the early 80s. Mind you, I really like these films, so that is not a slam by any means. This flick is certainly one of the most entertaining of the lot. Michael Sopkiw does his best Snake Plisken imitation and is quite good. The story is original: Parcifal (Sopkiw) must journey into the hell hole to retrieve the last fertile woman alive; the key to the survival of the human race! You have all the great exploitation elements: violence, gunfire, brutality, gore… could have used more t&a, but hey, you can't have everything. Creative characters abound like the midget (Shorty, what else!) and George Eastman as Big Ape. Anna Kanakis (wow) is great as the treacherous Eurac officer trying to stop Parcifal at all costs.

If you are not a B-movie lover, stay away. Genre fans, however, will not be disappointed here. Enjoy!

This movie pulls no punches and makes no pretensions. It sets out from the beginning to do a job, and it not only does it, it overkills it. The job you might ask? Why to rip-off every post-apocalyptic, after the bomb, flick that has come before it. Mad Max/Road Warrior, ripped off, Escape From New York, ripped off large, anything that is remotely cool from almost any flick of this genre previous, is exploited. Hell, they even have some Planet of the Apes in there too... Now don't get me wrong. This is not necessarily a bad thing. It's pretty well done 'in that over the top Italian Cinema way'. When I first saw this thing when I was about 15, I ate it right up and it was one of the first 10 videos I owned in my life. And by the time I was done college the tape was worn out. And years and years later when I saw it in a cheap previously viewed video bin for $4, I picked it up again and it was worth every penny.