Monday, April 27, 2009
Endgame (1983)
Full Movie
Directed by Joe D'Amato.
Starring Al Cliver, Laura Gemser, George Eastman and Gordon Mitchell.
IMDB
More Mad Max inspired madness from Italy. The wildly prolific D'Amato (Antropophagus, Buio Omega) helmed this one and he brought back favourite George Eastman and Lucio Fulci regular Al Cliver (Zombie, The Beyond, The Black Cat).
Also look for spaghetti western and peplum star Gordon Mitchell.
This is not the best example of the genre - nods would go out to Enzo G. Castellari's "1990: Bronx Warriors" and Sergio Martino's "2019: After The Fall Of New York", but it's a great little diversion and at least on par with Fulci's similar "The New Gladiators".
My Letterboxd Review:
I can think of at least 5 Italian post-apocalyptic films that are better than Endgame, but the genre is so inherently entertaining and crazy that even the mediocre ones are worth seeing. All you need to see on the screen are a good rock quarry location, eyepatches, steel-plated shinpads, fingerless gloves, George Eastman and plenty of mannequins thrown under cars. Endgame has all of this and the eternally depressing Al Cliver in a rare leading role. Average for the genre but the pre-Running Man scenario is fun and the dubbing is typically hilarious, especially for Eastman's character.
Is it me, or do a lot of these Road Warrior rip-offs actually look more plausible than The Road Warrior itself? Not better, just more plausible -- though standards may vary. Thanks for posting these trailers.
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