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The Bronx Warriors Movie Review
Posted by:In 1990, the Bronx was officially declared a "High Risk Area".
The authorities' failure to restore law and order turned it into the Riders' kingdom. The wealthy heiress to the huge Manhattan Corporation, in an attemp to escape the trappings of high society, runs away to the Bronx, an area inhabited by various gangs, and where violence and death is a way of life. Menaced by a pack of roller skating, hockey stick weilding thugs, Ann(the heiress) is saved by Trash(who looks like a young Gene Simmons without makeup), the leader of bikie gang the Riders. What is the Manhattan Corporation to do? Send in the last resort, "extreme method" man known as the Hammer to get her back, before 11 o'clock the next day, when she is set to take over the corporation on her eighteenth birthday. Hammer attempts to play the Riders off against the most powerful gang in the the Bronx, the Tigers, in hopes they will destroy each other. Ann is kidnapped by the Zombies(the roller skating gang). Trash, against protestations from his lieutenant, Hans, decides to ask Ogre, boss of the Tigers, for help to unite all the gangs against the Manhattan Corporation. To do this, he must make a dangerous journey through various rival gang territories. Meanwhile, Hans, who has ambitions of taking Trash's place as leader, makes a deal with Hammer. He will deliver the girl to Hammer, and in return, Hammer will get rid of Trash(or, to use a very bad pun, "take out the Trash"). Trash informs Ogre of Hammers presence in the Bronx, so Trash, Ogre and Ogres woman, the whip cracking Witch, head off to speak with Golem, leader of the Zombies and loyal subject to Ogre. Golem refuses to hand Ann over and a fight breaks out. Of course, the three of them, Trash, Ogre and Witch, manage to take on all the Zombies and escape with the girl. Back at the Tiger's fortress, celebrations are in place to honour the union between the Riders and the Tigers. Hammer, now in charge of a heavily armed assualt force, attacks the fortress. All hell breaks loose, everyone dies except Trash, who harpoons Hammer and drags him through the Bronx tied to the back of his motorcycle.
If some if this sounds familiar, you're right. 1990: The Bronx Warriors is basically Escape From New York meets The Warriors, Italian style. Now, that is either going to sound great to some, or very bad to others, but that's the type of movie this is, your either gonna love it or hate it. Before viewing though, be warned, do not expect to see anything to the calibre of the aforementioned films. The acting is bad, but hey, it's not like this movie requires a great deal of depth. The fight choreography is bad, everyone falls into routine place, and you can occasionaly see a guy blocking way before the strike. The costumes and makeup are bad, although this is early eighties we're talking, so they're not that bad considering. The score is highly derivative of Escape From New York, but so is half the film. Yet, like a flower growing from a pile of manure, something enjoyable comes together out of all that badness.
As Blurr pointed out in his Demons reviews, you can't have an Italian film without some unexplained weirdness, so here's some things that make me wonder. Near the beginning, the Riders gather at the edge of a river where they found a dead comrade, there is a guy playing drums on the shore, for no other reason it would seem but to provide a live drum solo track. When travelling to the Tiger fortress there is a part where Trash and a couple of his buddies drop into the sewer, only to be attacked by the gang of Scavengers. We don't see why they have to go underground, it looks just as easy to stay topside, but then we'de miss out on the fight's I guess. And in one truely weird moment, on the return journey to rescue Ann from the Zombies, the trio come across the chained body of Blade, one of Trash's closest friends, who had ventured into the sewer to warn Trash about Hans deception, and been caught by the Scavengers. Trash cradles him in a very homo-erotic way, and gives looks like he's lost a lover. But again, these are the things that make Bronx Warriors what it is. One other thing you may notice, to remind us that this is NYC, every opportunity is taken to put a shot of the city in the background.
For me, Bronx Warriors falls into the so bad it's good category. I like my trash to be that way because it is trash, not because it was a poorly made film attempting to be more than it could be. Bronx Warriors doesn't pretend to be anything but a trashy ripoff, and that's a plus
The authorities' failure to restore law and order turned it into the Riders' kingdom. The wealthy heiress to the huge Manhattan Corporation, in an attemp to escape the trappings of high society, runs away to the Bronx, an area inhabited by various gangs, and where violence and death is a way of life. Menaced by a pack of roller skating, hockey stick weilding thugs, Ann(the heiress) is saved by Trash(who looks like a young Gene Simmons without makeup), the leader of bikie gang the Riders. What is the Manhattan Corporation to do? Send in the last resort, "extreme method" man known as the Hammer to get her back, before 11 o'clock the next day, when she is set to take over the corporation on her eighteenth birthday. Hammer attempts to play the Riders off against the most powerful gang in the the Bronx, the Tigers, in hopes they will destroy each other. Ann is kidnapped by the Zombies(the roller skating gang). Trash, against protestations from his lieutenant, Hans, decides to ask Ogre, boss of the Tigers, for help to unite all the gangs against the Manhattan Corporation. To do this, he must make a dangerous journey through various rival gang territories. Meanwhile, Hans, who has ambitions of taking Trash's place as leader, makes a deal with Hammer. He will deliver the girl to Hammer, and in return, Hammer will get rid of Trash(or, to use a very bad pun, "take out the Trash"). Trash informs Ogre of Hammers presence in the Bronx, so Trash, Ogre and Ogres woman, the whip cracking Witch, head off to speak with Golem, leader of the Zombies and loyal subject to Ogre. Golem refuses to hand Ann over and a fight breaks out. Of course, the three of them, Trash, Ogre and Witch, manage to take on all the Zombies and escape with the girl. Back at the Tiger's fortress, celebrations are in place to honour the union between the Riders and the Tigers. Hammer, now in charge of a heavily armed assualt force, attacks the fortress. All hell breaks loose, everyone dies except Trash, who harpoons Hammer and drags him through the Bronx tied to the back of his motorcycle.
If some if this sounds familiar, you're right. 1990: The Bronx Warriors is basically Escape From New York meets The Warriors, Italian style. Now, that is either going to sound great to some, or very bad to others, but that's the type of movie this is, your either gonna love it or hate it. Before viewing though, be warned, do not expect to see anything to the calibre of the aforementioned films. The acting is bad, but hey, it's not like this movie requires a great deal of depth. The fight choreography is bad, everyone falls into routine place, and you can occasionaly see a guy blocking way before the strike. The costumes and makeup are bad, although this is early eighties we're talking, so they're not that bad considering. The score is highly derivative of Escape From New York, but so is half the film. Yet, like a flower growing from a pile of manure, something enjoyable comes together out of all that badness.
As Blurr pointed out in his Demons reviews, you can't have an Italian film without some unexplained weirdness, so here's some things that make me wonder. Near the beginning, the Riders gather at the edge of a river where they found a dead comrade, there is a guy playing drums on the shore, for no other reason it would seem but to provide a live drum solo track. When travelling to the Tiger fortress there is a part where Trash and a couple of his buddies drop into the sewer, only to be attacked by the gang of Scavengers. We don't see why they have to go underground, it looks just as easy to stay topside, but then we'de miss out on the fight's I guess. And in one truely weird moment, on the return journey to rescue Ann from the Zombies, the trio come across the chained body of Blade, one of Trash's closest friends, who had ventured into the sewer to warn Trash about Hans deception, and been caught by the Scavengers. Trash cradles him in a very homo-erotic way, and gives looks like he's lost a lover. But again, these are the things that make Bronx Warriors what it is. One other thing you may notice, to remind us that this is NYC, every opportunity is taken to put a shot of the city in the background.
For me, Bronx Warriors falls into the so bad it's good category. I like my trash to be that way because it is trash, not because it was a poorly made film attempting to be more than it could be. Bronx Warriors doesn't pretend to be anything but a trashy ripoff, and that's a plus
Review by Retro, MoviesOnline
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