Los últimos guerreros del Bronx

In the year 2025, a nuclear holocaust has left New York City ruined, inhabited by persecuted telepathic mutants. Keeping the people pacified is the reality television program Endgame, where a new hero must save a group of people and fight to the death.

Directed by Joe D'Amato (under the pseudonym Steven Benson) Endgame (Bronx lotta finale) is one of the better executed Italian post apocalyptic B-films. The action seems endless especially in the closing act as scavenger packs and telepathic mutants fight it out with hunters, gladiators and military elite. There's an unnecessary rape scene, this aside the majority of D'Amato's Max Road Warrior meets Beneath the Planet of the Apes is very watchable especially if you enjoy the likes of Rats: Night of Terror, Warriors of the Wasteland and Bronx Warriors.

The locations and costumes deserve a mention. Carlo Maria Cordio's music working best when it's borrowing cues from Vangelis' Blade Runner score.

Interestingly, the TV game concept (even though not fully explored) predates The Running Man a good four years before Arnold Schwarzenegger's scifi romp and was made around the same time Stephen King's pseudonym book was published.

Overall, not too shabby at all.

Endgame - Bronx lotta finale (1983)

** (out of 4)

Set in a post-apocalyptic world, Ron Shannon (Al Cliver) is a warrior who has won a television show, which puts one strong man against others for a title. He is asked by a group of mutants (led by Laura Gemser) to guard them and transport them to a location where they can live on. Shannon takes the job and recruits some other men but soon it's clear that Col. Morgan (Gordon Mitchell) will stop at nothing to make sure all the mutants die.

ENDGAME - BRONX LOTTA FINALE is another Italian film that rip-offs MAD MAX. Who knows how many of these films were made but this one here comes from cult director Joe D'Amato and for the most part it's mindless entertainment and you should find it somewhat entertaining as long as you don't take it too serious.

In all honesty, the plot it somewhat of a mess and it's probably more complicated than it should have been. The biggest problem with the movie is the fact that the dialogue scenes are so deadly boring that you can't help but wish they had been edited out all together. After all, how many people come to a movie like this to hear any sort of talk? The film's entertainment comes from the non-stop action and this is where people can have some fun. There are all sorts of action scenes with shoot-outs, fights with blind people and more non-sense. The action is pretty fast and furious and makes for a much better time.

Genre fans will certainly enjoy the cast that they have lined up even though the dubbing, as you'd expect, was pretty bad. Cliver might always be remembered for his role in Lucio Fulci's ZOMBIE but he's always fun to watch. Gemser had already made several film with D'Amato but she really isn't given too much to do here and yes boys, she keeps her clothes on throughout the film. George Eastman also appears in a small role and when you add in Mitchell you've got four likable actors.

D'Amato does a pretty good job in the director's chair and in fact I was surprised to see how well he handled the action scenes. These scenes are what makes the film so ENDGAME - BRONX LOTTA FINALE will appeal to fans of the genre.

My review was written in January 1986 after watching the movie on Cinemax.

"Endgame" is a rather weak entry in the crowded post-WW III series of Italian action films made circa 1983. Emanating from the Helen Sarlui pic stable (though she does not take a screen credit), item was mulled for a while as a New Line theatrical release but went instead to pay-tv and home video.

Misleading opening reel establishes a tv game in the year 2012 called "Endgame", quite similar to Robert Sheckley's concept used in the classic "The Tenth Victim" (and recently updated in another Italian pic, "The Final Executioner"). Al Cliver toplines as a successful warrior in the killing game who is recruited by a telepathic mutant Lilith (Laura Gemser) to help her band of mutants leave the city (where they are subject to extermination by storm trooper-styled soldiers) to set up a new community.

The tv game is over in 20 minutes, with the remainder of the film given over to fights en route to delivering the mutants. Action scenes are perfunctory, with none of the thrills to the model for this genre, "The Road Warrior".

Given the poor dubbing of these pictures, "Endgame" benefits from its telepathy gimmick, which allows many dialog scenes to have staring faces with no lips moving as the thoughts are voiced-over on the soundtrack. Acting is stilted, with the ubiquitous husband-and-wife team of Laura Gemser and Gabriele Tinti both credited with different "real" names, Moira Chen and Gus Stone, respectively. Freeze-frame non-ending is poor.

This was not as bad I expected...

The first half of this film is very boring and it is suitable to use the fast forwarding on your remote, because the last half is so much better. You can see easily that the budget for this film has been very low, but the action scenes actually work rather well. The post-WW3 vehicles are creatively constructed from existing cars and motorbikes. The car with no doors is my favorite. I wonder where they get all the gas and spare parts for those things in a destroyed world?

The acting isn't so bad. The telepath girl looks good and carries her role very well. The only scene of her I laughed out loud was that where a telepath makes a big stone floating up. You can easily spot the wire holding the styrofoam-stone in the air, it's just so goofy.

I gave this 5/10.

So how many of those post apocalyptic movies did they make, its felt a bit like the running man for the first 20 minutes of the movie then it got into the usual mutant like looking 5 against 50 fights.

All in all it was an ok movie.