Planeta de los buitres

Apparently there are good reasons for this film's obscurity status as well as for the low rating on this wondrous website. Richard Harris doesn't nearly whoop as much butt as I expected in this overall dull and completely unmemorable post-apocalyptic Sci-Fi feature from the late 70's. The one strong point this movie benefices from (set pieces) isn't nearly enough to overlook the massive amount of weaknesses (lack of action, miscast players, no script…), but it has to be said the location spotters and set piece designers pulled off an exquisite job. The story may be non-existent and sadly ruining all its potential, at least all the exteriors look very depressing and the scenery appears to genuinely have lived through a nuclear holocaust. The story, as said, is mundane and hardly worth wasting words on. Falk (Harris) and his wife are two of the last few civilized people left in the world, all the rest is either extinct or joined Ravagers clans. When a gang viciously kills his wife (of screen even, damned!), Falk flees towards … nowhere. On his journey chased by the same scum that killed his wife, Falk encounters an army sergeant who went a little mad due to the loneliness, a community of cave people and the new & highly enlightened leader of mankind Rann. "Ravagers" had copious possibilities and could have become a great film, but nothing justifies the script boredom! Falk doesn't even want to avenge the death of his wife? Bah! There may be some famous names in this American production, but without hesitating I prefer the anonymous but violence & spectacle-packed Italian exploitation efforts instead.

Richard Harris and Alana Stewart (George hamilton's ex, and at the time Mrs. Rod Stewart) plays couple trying to survive the future where earth is pretty much dead. Now there are these normads called the ravagers that roams and kills because they are your typical bad guys. The leader is character actor Anthony James. They even play undressing the manniquin (later stolen by MAD MAX). James and his ravager's attack Harris and Stewart, and kills Stewart leaving Harris for dead. Harris in return comes back and kills James' gay sidekick making James go on a revenge trail. Harris goes on a quest for a better life meeting a messed up old army guy (art Carney), Ann Turkel, Woody Strode and Ernest Borgnine (who takes 70min to appear only to disappear in 81min). Cassel plays a nothing part as a blindman who gets stoned. The film looks real cheap and it looks like it was cut to get a PG rating. The film is very padded, but looks slopply edited near the end. In fact James seems to be gaining more new ravagers which each new scene! It's ironic that this was Hollywood's answer to the apocalypstic theme, as this and DAMNATION ALLEY killed the apocalypitic theme craze, and it took a Aussie film MAD MAX 2 3 years later to get people interested in this genre once again, causing a grut of Italian rip-offs! But nothing beats the cheeziness of the original "Hollywood" incarnation The Ravagers!

In 1991, with the Earth ravaged by the apocalypse, lone wolf Richard Harris tries keeping one step ahead of the Ravagers, a mad band of human-hunters (led by gaunt, crazy-eyed Anthony James) who have already killed Harris' wife. Art Carney is a former Army sergeant who has a hidden surplus of instant food and automatic rifles; Ann Turkel is a street-smart girl (with shiny, shampooed hair) who suddenly goes all weepy when she falls for Harris (he tells her there's no room in his life for her, to which she replies, "I'm good for you! You'll see!"). Together, they attempt to find a safe haven known as the Land of Genesis. Adaptation of Robert Edmond Alter's novel "Path to Savagery" is undone by a sloppy presentation and a disappointing performance by Harris (wrapped up in a scarf like a nomad and addressing everyone with the same condescending elocution). This may be the most substantial role eternal-villain James ever got, but the picture is such a dud that his opportunity here to break out of bit parts isn't worth savoring. *1/2 from ****

Columbia Pictures barely released this end-of-the-world movie, understandably so. It's an extremely cheap movie, using abandoned industrial sections to depict the burnt-out and rusting cities, but mostly shooting on bland Alabama countryside during the off-season. Some locations are even used more than once, sometimes shooting at different angles, but also cutting long scenes into pieces. I got a kick out of how the ravager gang's long march through the countryside through the first third of the movie was obviously originally one five-minute walk through the same rock quarry!

Speaking of editing, that's what the movie suffers a bad case of. We never find out exactly what happened to screw up the earth so bad, we don't know the relationship of the guy Harris kills near the beginning of the movie to James' gang leader character (A brother? Gay lover? A good friend?), and there are garbled moments like the night siege at the abandoned house where what exactly happened to Carney's character is never made clear - especially since he was well-armed and doing well on his own before the movie cuts to an outside shot of the house, then to Harris and Turkel far away! (Well, I admit we DO find out... eventually.) Not to mention how the background of Harris' character and his relationship to the various tribes/gangs in the area seems especially unclear.

But what really kills the movie is how utterly boring it is, with little action, but also scenes that serve no real purpose, like how Seymour Cassel's character is introduced before suddenly being removed. Certainly, seeing people like Richard Harris, Art Carney, and Ernest Borgnine in an end-of-the-world movie is lightly amusing for a few minutes, especially when you see them shooting or beating the crap out of people with the vigor of people half their age! But even that gets old fast. To save you from falling asleep, should you decide to see this movie, think about this: Columbia advertised this 1979 movie taking place in 1991. Yet Harris' character at several points indicates that the whatever-disaster took place when he was a boy. If you figure that one out, let me know!

I recently viewed The Ravagers (1979) on Tubi. The plot unfolds in a post-apocalyptic society, where communities form amidst the chaos, and others aim to ravage them. We follow an older man and his female companion on a quest for a rumored oasis, facing the constant threat of ravagers.

Directed by Richard Compton (Angels Die Hard) and featuring Ernest Borgnine (Marty), Richard Harris (Unforgiven), Ann Turkel (Humanoids from the Deep), Anthony James (Unforgiven), and Alana Stewart (Delivered).

The film effectively establishes the circumstances with well-chosen settings, attire, and props, immersing viewers in the characters' challenges. However, there's a notable lack of significant events until the very end. The focus on survival and dialogue feels prolonged, with the boat segments at the end being a highlight. The boat's atmosphere is well-crafted, and though the Ravagers could have been better portrayed, the final shootout is excellently executed.

In conclusion, while the film has a promising premise and characters, the scarcity of action sequences prevents it from standing out in the genre. I would give it a 5/10 and recommend watching it once.