1990: The Bronx Warriors (1983) UFDC/Action-Sci-Fi RT: 92 minutes Rated R (strong violence, language) Director: Enzo G. Castellari Screenplay: Dardano Sacchetti, Elisa Livia Briganti and Enzo G. Castellari Music: Walter Rizzati Cinematography: Sergio Salvati Release date: April 22, 1983 (US) Cast: Vic Morrow, Christopher Connelly, Fred Williamson, Mark Gregory, Stefania Girolami, Enio Girolami, George Eastman, John Sinclair, Betty Dessy, Rocco Lerro, Massimo Vanni, Angelo Ragusa, Enzo Girolami. Box Office: N/A
Rating: ****
Epics come in all genres and subgenres even Italian post-apocalypse action-sci-fi. That particular movie is 1990: The Bronx Warriors, a deliriously wacky, wonky piece from the master of spaghetti exploitation Enzo G. Castellari (The Inglorious Bastards). He openly rips off The Warriors and Escape from New York with his story of a gang leader, the girl he loves and the psychopathic mercenary that comes between them. Or something like that anyway.
Opening titles about three minutes in inform us that by the year 1990, the Bronx have become a lawless no man’s land ruled by a motorcycle gang called The Riders. This is right before the girl Ann (Stefania Girolami of Great White), a 17YO runaway from Manhattan, is accosted by a roller skating, hockey stick wielding street gang The Zombies who mistake her for a puck. That’s when the gang leader Trash (Gregory) and his Riders come riding to the rescue on their motorcycles. They’re pretty bad ass looking actually. They have glowing skulls mounted on the handlebars and retractable blades on either side, all the better for cutting down fleeing rival gangbangers. After saving her from certain doom, Trash takes the girl under his protection.
Ann is the daughter of the wealthy owner (Lee Van Cleef lookalike Enio Girolami) of an evil outfit called the Manhattan Corporation that she stands to inherit upon turning 18. She doesn’t want it so she flees to the Bronx as a form of rebellion. Dad hires the mercenary Hammer (Morrow, The Bad News Bears) to bring her home. With the help of his driver Hot Dog (Connelly, Peyton Place), he tries to start a gang war between the Riders and Ogre (the real Hammer, Fred Williamson), aka “The King of the Bronx”, a post-apocalyptic pimp whose henchmen look like fugitives from a 70s blaxploitation movie.
Knowing that she’s the cause of all the trouble, Ann goes for a solo ride to clear her head only to be kidnapped by the Zombies and held prisoner at their hideout where treacherous Rider Ice (Sinclair, The Inglorious Bastards) tries to cut a side deal with the leader. Trash and a couple of his guys set off to rescue her. That is, after they stop by Ogre’s place to apprise him of the current Hammer situation. They travel underground through the sewer system where they encounter a couple of kooky gangs along the way. Since I don’t know the one gang’s name, I’ll just call them The Fosses (as in the choreographer Bob) for their matching gold vests, bowlers, canes, glittery face paint, tap shoes and chorus line formation when they’re about to fight. The other gang looks like extras from Billy Idol’s “Dancing with Myself” video. Despite Hammer’s best efforts to turn the two men against each other, Trash and Ogre agree to team up to rescue Ann.
WOW! If I was to sum up my opinion of 1990: The Bronx Warriors, it would be that, WOW! This movie is great! It’s awesomely awful, supremely silly, righteously ridiculous and crazily cool. See how it brings out the alliterative artist in me? There’s so much I love about this movie; it’s hard to know where to begin. Actually, that’s not true. I’d love to know what’s up with the drummer in the scene where Trash and Ogre meet up near the Brooklyn Bridge to discuss the killing of a Rider. What’s that all about? It’s so random. Even weirder, his drum set seems to have mysteriously vanished in the parting long shot. I also love Ogre’s right-hand woman (Dessy), a deadly dame I like to call “Kitten with a Whip” for her weapons of choice, a set of pointed metal claws and a whip. There is some bad ass weaponry in this flick like the switchblade shoe worn by Ice. Then there’s the matter of Ogre’s lair. It looks like it was decorated by Flyguy from I’m Gonna Git You Sucka with the animal skin furs.
It’s ALWAYS great to see Williamson, one of the greats of blaxploitation and the epitome of cool cat. It may be 1990 but Sir Hammer keeps it 70s real with comments like “You think I’m jivin’?” He plays a character not too dissimilar to Isaac Hayes’ Duke in Escape from New York. He’s in command and you don’t want to screw with him. Morrow camps it up mightily as the villain who goes all Gestapo at the end with his black uniform and army of stormtroopers raiding Ogre’s castle on horseback. What can I say about Mark Gregory, an actor that hasn’t been seen or heard from in about 30 years? No fooling, his disappearance is the subject of the documentary short “The Hunt for Trash” included on the Blu-Ray release of the sequel Escape from the Bronx. He’s the perfect blend of macho and androgynous. He can kick ass and ride cycles with the best of them yet he’s tender enough to shed a tear or two over the broken, bloodied body of a brother-in-arms. Is it acting at its finest? You tell me.
There is dopey dialogue aplenty in 1990: The Bronx Warriors but the topper has to be when Trash utters this profundity: “Death is part of life. We live with it and its scent gets on our skin.” It’s a real life-changer, no?
Only the interiors in 1990: The Bronx Warriors were shot in Rome. All of the exteriors were filmed in the Bronx circa ’82. It’s the perfect place to shoot a movie about gangs running rampant in a futuristic hellhole. In another callback to the 70s, a wino loudly and drunkenly calls Hammer a honky. LOL! The idea for the movie came to producer Fabrizio De Angelis when he got off at the wrong stop on the New York subway. Castellari uses the natural locations to full effect. The rock score by Walter Rizzati is just right for the material. The editing and cinematography are better than usual for the subgenre.
With plenty of action and fighting, 1990: The Bronx Warriors is a more than adequate Saturday matinee flick that should please fans of trash movies and movies about people named Trash.
