New York ne répond plus

This relatively obscure film is, it has to be said, under-rated. There's the usual fine performance from Max von Sydow as the 'Baron' while an old-looking Yul Brynner does well as Carson, the Ultimate Warrior.

The future looks bleak. In 2012 New York is a city devastated, with rival gangs living in communes. By appearance alone, you might be forgiven for thinking that this is a western - with von Sydow, particularly, looking like he's going to burst into a saloon bar, guns blazing. He plays the leader of one of these communes, desperate to secure a better life for his pregnant daughter Melinda (Miles) and enlists Brynner to this end.

Clouse manages to build up the tension nicely as Brynner & Miles race along the derelict New York subway to get to a fabled island, chased by a gang of nasties. The end, however, is abrupt, to say the least and you may feel cheated as about ten minutes before the end the movie seems actually quite good.

As I said before, this is an obscure film that will have a definite novelty value for fans of Sydow and Brynner. Viewers today will see the irony in the opening sequence of a supposedly devastated NY, with the Twin Towers promenantly still standing in the background.

7/10

I saw this when I was a kid around the same time I saw Planet of The Apes, Logan's Run and The Omega Man. I love this kind of stuff. Yul Brynner was always a cool actor and he's very cool in this piece of dystopian sci-fi. It also has Max Von Sydow in it who's always good value for money.

The amazing thing about this film (well ok it's not that amazing, more sort of interesting) is how the plot is so similar to Mad Max. There really was a preponderance of this sort of movie in the early seventies, enough to cover the writing of thesis me thinks.

Anyway if you have a spare evening and no idea what to watch why not check Yul in full flow.

...He just might pop them out of your head. The almighty B movie legend plays the antagonist "Carrot" in this reasonably enjoyable post-apocalyptic sci-fi thriller from Robert Clouse, director of "Enter the Dragon".

An intense Yul Brynner stars as Carson, a loner hired as muscle by a peaceable group struggling to survive in the NYC of the year 2012. This group needs somebody like Carson to protect them from the aggressive forces led by Carrot. Leading the good guys is the Baron (a highly engaging Max von Sydow), and one other thing that they have on their side is their botanist Cal (Richard Kelton), who's developed seeds that are immune to the plague. Eventually Carson must make a trek for freedom accompanied by the Barons' pregnant daughter Melinda (Joanna Miles), with Carrot and his gang in hot pursuit.

"The Ultimate Warrior" is good fun, if unfortunately not having quite enough "oomph" to make it something truly special. The script, by director Clouse, is on the routine side, and it never does flesh out the characters too much. That said, the actors are still able to make an impression. Both Brynner and von Sydow have commanding presences and Smith, as could be expected, is a very effective bad guy. Among the supporting cast is reliable veteran character actor Stephen McHattie as Robert, one of the Barons' men. Production design, art direction, and set decoration are all heavy assets; the viewer will have a lot to take in while looking at these run down, forlorn "future" locales. Talents behind the camera include cinematographer Gerald Hirschfeld, editor Michael Kahn, and composer Gil Melle, whose score helps to drive the movie forward. What *is* great is the ultimate showdown between Brynner and Smith, which is well worth waiting for; Brynner proves to be in real fighting shape.

A very grim and gritty tale, this movie doesn't pull its punches and portrays a hard scrabble existence in a straightforward manner. It deserves to be more popular, especially considering the subsequent productions such as "Mad Max" and "Escape from New York" that it surely must have influenced.

Seven out of 10.

Hiring a warrior to protect your leaky compound after a worldwide plague can be an iffy proposition. Having to fight off a menacing gang lead by a man named Carrot is also a dangerous endeavor. Yul Brynner is ably cast as "The Ultimate Warrior." He wields a knife with the precision of a rabbi. The film's final reel will confirm this. And Max von Sydow is always fun to watch as he wrestles with the dialog and the ultimate fate of the barricaded parish. I admire the fellow who tends the garden on the roof. A movie like this needs a ray of hope cracking through the grim reality taking place. Stephen McHattie, who played James Dean in the break out role that didn't pan out, has the thankless role of a father who is desperate to feed his family. The film's climax takes place in the city's subway tunnels and is honestly brutal in its resolution. Bravo to the director for his use of still photos at the end. He releases the frame briefly for a burst of light--and coastal bliss. Lastly, my "summary" can be rendered mute if the towers are rebuilt before the date established by the makers of the film. Lets go!

"Not as bad as you'd think" is not a very convincing way to start a review, I admit, but this is a movie that had a lot going for it. A lot of potential, but not completely wasted. The scrip, including dialog, is rather intelligent. And the smartest thing the film's creators did was cast Brynner, von Sydow, and Smith (who is one of the most underrated bad guys in Hollywood. I wish Tarantino would rediscover him the way he did Travolta, Keaton, Forster--and just about half the main characters of most of his films, in fact). Perhaps, though, the stars' salaries left little money for sets and costumes, which are pathetic. The lighting is about as atmospheric as a dogfood commercial. Sadly, director Clouse's usual flair for fight scenes is, with the exception of a couple of nice touches here and there, absent.

Interestingly, "Day of the Dead" borrows heavily from this film, from the basic storyline (handful of survivors of apocalypse fighting against one another as a handful of them plot escape) right down to the cauterization-with-torch scene and the island-as-escape-from-wordly-chaos theme.