The Riffs II - Flucht aus der Bronx

Enzo G. Castellari definitely is a gifted director of Westerns (such as "Keoma"), Poliziotteschi (such as "Street Law", "Racket") or War cinema ("Deadly Mission"). His extremely trashy 'Bronx' films are definitely no highlights of his career, but they're nevertheless highly entertaining pieces of postapocalyptic exploitation cinema."Fuga Dal Bronx" aka. "Escape From The Bronx" of 1983 is the even trashier sequel to the, already very trashy "1990: The Bronx Warriors" (1982), which was only made to cash in on the success of films like "Escape from NY" or "The Warriors. This is, on the one hand, even sillier than its successor, but on the other hand even more action-packed and entertaining, and a film that Italian Trash enthusiasts should not miss.

10 years after the events in "1990: The Bronx Warriors", the owner of a company is planning to tear down the hellish gangland of the Bronx, in order to build a new Utopian center of New York. Officially, the inhabitants are offered houses in New Mexico, but they are really forced out of their neighborhood by extermination squads lead by the unscrupulous Floyd Wrangler (the great Henry Silva), who has ordered to kill everybody who refuses to leave. Tough biker and former gang leader Trash (Mark Gregory, who played the same role in the first film), decides to fight back...

The story is even more forgettable than in "Bronx Warriors", but the constant violent action in "Fuga dal Bronx" makes up for the moronic plot. It's an enormous number of explosions and violent killings as well as the wonderful trash-feeling that makes this film worthwhile. Although this film was made only 1 year after its successor, Mark Gregory fits in his role quite well now. I didn't like him in the first film, since he still looked like a teenager, and even though the guy is not much of an actor, he fits in the role of Trash quite well now. In exchange for the true stars of the first film, Fred Williamson and Vic Morrorw, "Escape From The Bronx" features one of the greatest icons of Italian genre cinema, Henry Silva, as the villain. All things considered, "Fuga dal Bronx" is certainly no masterpiece, but it is definitely worthwhile for my fellow fans of dystopian exploitation flicks.

This is one of the most entertaining flicks I've seen in a long time. If the cool explosions, slow motion, pyrotechnics, music, and funny dialogue don't satisfy you, then I don't know what will. More deaths than a Verhoeven flick, more slow motion than a John Woo flick, what more could you want? Does not retain the same atmosphere that 1990 THE BRONX WARRIORS had, but is almost never boring. I'm not giving anything away, but watch for the great scene when three rebels are gunned down fleeing a man rigged with a bomb. I've seen the movie a dozen times and it still tickles me!

My review was written in January 1985 after a screening at Cine 42 on Manhattan's 42nd St.

"Escape from the Bronx" is a thinly plotted followup by the same Italian filmmakers who made one of Vic Morrow's last features, "1990: The Bronx Warriors". Prospects are quite limited at the nation's action houses.

Mark Gregory returns, circa the year 2000, as Trash, one of the survivors of gang warfare in the sci-fi extrapolation of New York City's problems. Story, heavily indebted to John Carpenter's "Escape from New York", has the General Construction Corp. Hiring Wangler (Henry Silva) to exterminate the residents of the Bronx, while manipulating the press and public into believing that the populace is being relocated to new housing in New Mexico. Scheme is to raze the Bronx and build luxury housing there.

A crusading reporter, Moon (Valeria D'Obici, star of Ettore Scola's "Passione D'Amore") tries to help the Bronx denizens, coming up with the idea of kidnapping G. C. Corp.'s president as a bargaining chip. Master thief Strike (Timothe Brent) is recruited to pull off the caper, but the dull second half of the picture consists largely of nihilistic shootouts in place of plot twists.

Director Enzo G. Castellari's action style is overly heavy on slow motion balletics in place of the exciting chases which made "The Road Warrior" and latterly "The Terminator" hits in this genre. Cast, including a cute son to help out Strike, is merely functional, but pic is aided by acceptable post-synching of English-articulated dialog.

Back in the 80s, several producers in Italy decided to copy whatever was popular in the rest of the world and create some low-tech, low-budget, and low-expectation knockoffs. This is one of those films with a title, plot and characters that have counterparts in "Escape From New York". But overall, its kinda cool.

Mark Gregory returns as Trash who is living the smooth life of being a thung in the slums. But the evil General Construction Corporation have decided that the Bronx needs to rebuilt and decide to save money and time by simply killing everyone who didn't take them up on their offer to move to New Mexico(what's so bad about moving to New Mexico anyway?). The GCC hires an expelled prison warden who loves death(played by Rat Packer Henry Silva) to lead a bunch of "disinfesters" who are guys in silver jumpsuits & bike helmets that carry semi-auotmatics and a bunch of astronauts with flame throwers. Trash is their target and they pursue him and his friends on a long chase sequence under the Bronx.

Worth checking out in its original form or the Mystery Science Theater 3000 version.

This post-apocalyptic film is a barrage of non-stop action and cheese. A ruthless corporation decides to exterminate inhabitants of the Bronx. In the future. In the year 2000. The said inhabitants from the future, strangely resemble every conceivable type of pop star from the early 1980's; from synth pop futurists to New Wave cheesemongers to heavy metal poodle-permers. Funnily enough, it only appears to be 'the future' in the Bronx - on the streets of Manhattan it clearly seems to be 1983. Confused? You should be; this is after all an 80's Italian sci-fi actioner.

Bronx Warriors 2 is full of action and stupidity. It's a lot of fun. It's chock-full of silly characters. The star Mark Gregory makes for a ridiculous hero. Antonio Sabato is hilariously OTT as a character inexplicably called Toblerone. Henry Silva phones in a performance of a man shouting on a phone.

You can never truthfully be bored with this movie. It's action from start to finish. And there are some hilarious details to enjoy. For instance, the model of the redeveloped city - in it, not only have they went to the trouble of hilariously depicting the Bronx buildings in crumbling detail but if this is true to scale then the Bronx is only three blocks big! This film would make a great double-bill alongside Bruno Mattei's equally trashy post-apocalyptic movie, Rats (1984). That would be a good night of fun for the Italian Z-Movie aficionado. Ciao!