Young Warriors

If you`re not old enough to remember Yoram Globus and Menahem Golan here`s the rundown : They`re a couple of film producers and finaciers from Israel who set up the Cannon film company in the early 1980s . The only Israeli to get a worse press than these two was Menachim Begin . Begin probably deserved the bad press but Globus and Golan were a god send to film makers because no matter how bad your script was they`d happily fund your movie and would normally employ directors who couldn`t direct and actors who couldn`t act . In fact you often got the impression that people would just walk up to Yoram and Menahem ask them for some money and they`d oblige without seeing the film maker`s resume . If only producers nowadays were so trusting.

THE YOUNG WARRIORS isn`t a Cannon film but Globus and Golan did finance it and it has their signature all over it . It`s badly directed , badly acted , badly edited but it`s the script that jumps out and attacks you with its awfulness . It starts with a bunch of high school jocks getting involved in all sorts of zany pranks , in fact the first 20 minutes of the movie plays out like a sex comedy and it`s something of a shock when THE YOUNG WARRIORS turns into a vigilante movie . But it`s not just any type of vigilante movie like EXTERMINATOR 2 or DEATH WISH 3 ( Notice a connection ? They`re both sequels and they`re both vigilante movies made by Cannon films ) , no siree this is a laughably bad vigilante movie about pretty boy high school jocks and their poodle going on a mission to wipe out scumbags . This film is proof that Globus and Golan were giving money to people regardless of their film making abilities and you have to worry about people who seem to spend their entire reserves on making movies set entirely around vigilantes

It begins with a couple of disgusting sex-comedy gags, but soon it reveals its true colors: it wants to be a "Death Wish" clone. I say "wants to" because the script gets so increasingly laughable by the minute that it ends up looking like an absurdist "Death Wish" spoof! From a love scene in a room inexplicably filled with candles, to "heroes" who dress up as commandoes and wave their machine guns because they don't want to attract attention to themselves(!), to bad guys who drive around the city in a black van long after it has been recognized as their vehicle, this film has too many ludicrous points to fit in a list. The other major problem is that you can't tell most of the characters apart; of course, you know who Borgnine and Roundtree and even James Van Patten are, but all the other roles could have been played by different actors in various scenes, and you wouldn't know the difference. (*1/2)

Trying to have the time of your life, only to have tragedy to ruin it. That happened when a group of punks attacked a young couple, killing the boyfriend, and the girl getting gang raped. That causes the brother and his friends since high school to take action against crime. Angry with all the "red tape", the group became vigilantes. Since they couldn't wait to get justice for his sister murder, the quad-squad go on a manhunt to find the murderers, only to become murderers themselves. During a robbery at a liquor store, they kill the culprits which one of them is a girl who was carrying a toy gun. It was a tragedy, but she was hanging out with the wrong people, and look what it got her. Standing up to crime is good, but going too far has its consequences. Another 80's cheese, and enjoyed it very much. Has Ernest Borgnine, "Shaft" star, Richard Roundtree, Tom Reilly who was fresh off from "CHiPs", and the star, James Van Patten of the Van Patten family. Good for a rainy day. 2 out of 5 stars.

Where do I begin as I really don't know. I came out of this film as blindly as I went into it.

First we have comedy (I think that's what it was meant to be), then we have heinous crimes, then we have love and then vigilanteism. As I haven't a clue as to what genre this is really meant to be I've had to refer to the film page here to tell me. It says it's a crime/action. OK, crime I can go with as it was a crime to release it but where is the action? I've seen more action in a documentary about pot plants!

The fact that this sorry tale enlisted the help of Ernest Borgnine and Richard Roundtree made it even more painful to watch and knowing they were in it was the only reason I looked at it to start with. I came out of it almost bereft and spent the whole time looking for some decent acting.

Someone ought to tell the scriptwriter that you cannot put horrendous crime, no matter how badly acted, into what can only be classed as a farcical romp into the world of crime-fighting by young guys who fancy themselves as Charles Bronson wannabes.

My lasting impression on this will be my own disbelief at how I managed to sit through this. (1/10)

This movie was just average. Some scenes were good and some were just plain stupid! A well supported cast though and some good action. The best actor in this movie is definetely Anne Lockhart from the T.V. series "Battlestar Galactica." Cast also features "Mission: Impossible's" Lynda Day George, Mike Norris (Chuck's brother) and a supporting role by cult actress Linnea Quigley as Ginger(lookin' good!), who only appears in a few, but good scenes. There's also a one violent rape scene by a vicious gang which was well done! Savage Streets did a movie like this a year later (which also featured Quigley, but the role was bigger and better), except it was alot better than this movie! Some of the scene's in this movie was filmed in my hometown.