Fuga dal Bronx

Who was honored at a special "psychotronic" screening at the

Paris cinematheque. This one came second after a fairly decent

war movie. During Q&A, Castellari did not hide the fact that, for the

first movie, Mark Gregory was hired in a Gym in Roma, for his

physique more than his non-existent acting skills, which he proved

in several movies. Castellari stressed the fact that he was

disappointed with Gregory in this one, since he had lost a lot of

muscular weight (maybe that's why he never looses his jacket ?

And no closes-up, hiding his non-existent acting skills) Anyhoo, it

never was an actor to begin with, that is obvious. Anybody knows

what became of him ? (Castellari is a pretty nice and jovial man,

BTW, very open and straightforward during Q&A) I still think this sequel is better than the original, for what it's worth.

Both had huge releases in Europe, with impressive posters, and

made good money. Now, you have the same with 50 mil budgets,

a few MTV stars and special effects galore… Go figure !

Outstripping its predecessor by 3 score and ten this little beauty ranks with Hard Boiled for relentless, brutal action.

Depending on which copy of this film you own it is either "a few" or "ten" years after Bronx Warriors and another sinister corporation (or it may be the same one with a different name as Thomas Moore is the boss again, but he has a different name too) is diddling with the denizens of the Bronx, this time by "burning and gassing the last remnants in order to build the city of the future". Understandably pissed off at this "the murdering warrior gangs unite to defend their homeland sewer by sewer" from the silver suited sadists that are roaming around wielding bombs, machine guns and flamethrowers. Henry Silva is leader of The Disinfestors and when knocking out several squads fails to halt the clean up, Trash and a crusading but hideous reporter Moon, decide to kidnap the GC Corporation president as a bargaining tool. A final assault involving The Disinfestors against everyone else rounds off the show.

Removing the loathsome martial arts from the first flick and also the tiresome expostion this move almost never relents and has an orgasmic final 15 minutes involving so many dead bodies that it defies belief. Trash (unarmed) taking on 3 heavily armed men with a helmet plus the scene where he trips up a couple with a conveniently placed drainpipe are cartoon-like in their energy and ludicrousness.

Mark Gregory has lost the mincing gait this time and looks like he really means it when he offs people (check his expression as he burns Disinfestors).

The only other bona fide returning character from part one is Carla Brait in a cameo as the Iron Men leader although the lack of continuity isn't a big deal as this film was quite clearly meant to stand alone and was only called Bronx Warriors 2 in the UK.

The theme score is cracking and hits home all through the set pieces. It seemed that a loose plot was formuated and Enzo Castellari decided daily to create ever more ambitious set pieces to fill time. The first ambush on a clean-up squad, the hostages rigged with bombs scene, Clark's kidnapping and the final scrap are pure energy.

It's not high art, it's dubbing is shite but it has a good-looking, hard as nails hero, a body count that is in the hundreds and easy-to-hate loathsome villains.

Negative points: The ease with which they kidnap Clark; Little Strike; Trash's high explosive bullets.

Positive points: Everything else

Joy!

(1983) Escape 2000/ Escape From the Bronx/ Fuga dal Bronx DUBBED SCIENCE FICTION ACTION THRILLER

A dystopian movie cross between "Escape In New York" and "The Warriors" with Italian financing depicting the Bronx as a slums area with the mayors and representatives attempting to kill it's citizens off as opposed to re-locating. Co-written and directed by Enzo G. Castellari with Trash (Mark Gregory) on the run while he and others are being pursued by Floyd Wrangler (Henry Silva) and his extermination Disinfestors squad for the purpose of rebuilding the environment. Ordered by the President to eliminate anyone who is infected. Forgettable but very watchable.

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!

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.