a_chinn The year is 2012. The world has been devastated by nuclear war and plague. The few surviving humans living in New York City have formed into two warring gangs, scavenging off the remnants of the old world in order to survive. My all-time favorite character actor, William Smith, plays Carrot, the evil red-headed leader of one gang. Max von Sydow plays the kind and thoughtful leader of the good but weak gang who want to restore some semblance of civilization. In walks the titular Ultimate Warrior in the form of Yul Brynner, in one of his final film appearances, and helps Sydow fend off the villainous Carrot (the least menacing of name for a villain of all-time) and his savage gang. Directed by Robert Clouse, who will always be remembered as the man who brought Bruce Lee to American audiences when he directed "Enter the Dragon," fills the film with plenty of hand-to-hand combat, but nothing close to Lee's amazing moves. A fellow Hong Kong martial artist, the great Gordon Liu, was originally set to star in "The Ultimate Warrior," but that sadly fell through, although a 55-year old Brynner does an credible job, even if he doesn't have the acrobatic skill of Liu. The film co-stars many familiar faces with Joanna Miles, Stephen McHattie, Richard Kelton, and Darrell Zwerling, and also features an interesting eerie score by Gil Melle. Post-apocalyptic films have been around for a long time, but it wasn't until films like "A Boy and His Dog," "The Omega Man," and "Damnation Alley" where we started to see truly destroyed worlds that hinted at the wastelands we'd later get with the endlessly imitated Max Max films. Of all the post-apocalyptic films prior to "The Road Warrior," I believe this one was closest to presenting a similar warriors-of-the- wasteland type of setting, although 1979's "Ravagers" is pretty close as well. Also of note on this film, without revealing any spoilers, the final showdown between Brynner and Smith has a quite memorable and intense climax. Overall, this is an underrated bit of 1970s sci-fi that well worth watching for fans of this era's downbeat science fiction.

mark.waltz The movie opens with a shot of downtown Manhattan with the original World Trade Centers standing in the background and Yul Brynnur standing still like a bald Stonewall Jackson. He only comes alive when Max Von Sydow promise him a room (with no rats, lucky him...), two meals a day (there's a food shortage you know, and Soylent Green is being rationed) but he has to find his own extra-curricular activities. (Von Sydow's that detailed). The population is down to almost nothing (the tourist season must be over) but gangs run rampant and Brynnur is the one to keep them in their place. There's lots of shots of the half-naked Brynnur fighting the gangs for Von Sydow and rescuing the poor and starving folk who live in his 8 floor walk up (presumably with rats as roommates).This is a bleak look at society at the end of the Mayan calendar, taking you way inside the bowls of the City. Seeing the Trade Centers standing a decade after the historical catastrophe may be disconcerting for some viewers. The ending makes you wonder if Brynnur and his gal-pal Joanna Miles will run into Charleton Heston galloping up the East River with a mute young lady while being chased by talking apes. Oh, wait, no...the statue of Liberty was seen standing, so that's not possible.Or is it?

dbdumonteil I felt like watching that because I had seen the names of Yul Brynner and Max Von Sydow.It was a big disappointment.First of all the script is inept,abysmal and terribly (for 1975) derivative :it borrows many of his "ideas" from other movies for the subject was very trendy in the seventies:you will think of 'the omega man" " Solyent green" and even "silent running" ;as for the ending it apes 'planet of the apes" (1968)without a wrist but with a short view of the statue of Liberty.The undergrounds evoke " beneath the planet of the apes". In a way ,it nevertheless predates the "Mad Max" series.-Shall I save first your (pregnant) daughter or the seeds? -The seeds!

Woodyanders 2012 A.D.: Plague epidemics have wiped out a fair share of the populace and reduced society to a hellish, feral, survival of the fittest kill or be killed barbaric shambles with lethal hordes of Cro-Magnon thugs running amuck on the streets of every major city. In New York a peaceful, barricaded compound led by the wise, kindly Baron (a beautifully understated Max Von Sydow), assisted by the resourceful Cal the Gardener (a marvelously mellow Richard Kelton) and his feisty pregnant daughter Melinda (excellently played by Joanna Miles), try to rebuild civilization by creating seeds that are resistant to the various diseases that have ravaged the planet and turned it into a barren wasteland. However, the compound's fragile security is steadily eroding to the point were it can be overrun by the calculatingly malevolent Carrot (the always fantastic William Smith at his tremendously terrifying, hard-hearted best) and his gang of grimy, vicious brutes. Enlisting the aid of laconic, resilient, stoical, but essentially humane mercenary and street fighter supreme Carson (a terrific Yul Brynner in a very ideal piece of casting), the Baron has Carson with the seeds and Melinda in tow make a desperate effort to escape by traveling through the dusty, cobwebby, rat-infested subway tunnels to safety.Unarguably the unjustly overlooked and undervalued prototype for the many 80's post-apocalyptic sci-fi/action features that followed in its influential wake ("Escape from New York" in particular immediately springs to mind; ditto the "Mad Max" films), "The Ultimate Warrior" ranks as a potently grungy, gut-kickingly savage and visceral dilly. Directed in blunt, unflashy, right-to-the-point fashion by Robert ("Enter the Dragon") Clouse (who also wrote the gritty, tough-minded script), expertly pushed along by Gerald Hirshfeld's active, agile, polished cinematography and Gil Melle's earthy, primal, slightly dissonant and highly percussive score, this strong poke-your-eyes-out-with-a-rusty-nail fierce flick really delivers the rousing back-against-the-wall hand-to-hand combat action: brawny, fast on his feet, fluidly whipping hither and tither supersharp knife wielder Brynner makes bloody hash out of the scumbags with his deadly blade in a series of first-rate ferocious confrontations, concluding with a tense, harrowing and extremely exciting subterranean face-off with Smith and his greasy flunkies which finally comes down to an incredible white knuckle anything-goes fight between Smith and Brynner.Moreover, Brynner makes the most of his part, adding some surprising sensitivity to his rugged character while Smith hits an all-time nasty peak as the mean, but bright and charismatic villain. The sober, uncompromisingly harsh tone, done with no traces whatsoever of silly camp humor, but several welcome moments of genuine warmth and compassion and Clouse's stark, unflinchingly grim depiction of the ugly, upsetting savagery which permeates the post-holocaust milieu (for instance, Smith's gang captures a baby from Sydow's compound and use it as bait to lure Brynner outside), give the film an extra stinging edge. These two significant factors furthermore bring a certain bleak conviction to the frighteningly violent and totally amoral world shown herein, thereby elevating "The Ultimate Warrior" to the respectable status of a truly outstanding and unheralded winner.