Scanialara You won't be disappointed!

Afouotos Although it has its amusing moments, in eneral the plot does not convince.

AshUnow This is a small, humorous movie in some ways, but it has a huge heart. What a nice experience.

Kimball Exactly the movie you think it is, but not the movie you want it to be.

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.

Coventry For starters, "The Ultimate Warrior" only confirmed what I already knew for multiple years, and that is that Yul Brunner represents pure manliness to the fullest! This actor, and several other ones from his generation like Charles Bronson and Steve McQueen, was testosterone personified. Especially during the opening sequences, when Brunner's character just stands shirtless on a rooftop with his eyes closed, waiting for villagers from a nearby community to approach him; it doesn't get any more robust or macho than this. I hate to sound like an old and whiny critic, but actors like Brunner simply don't exist anymore nowadays. Even the toughest action heroes nowadays, like Vin Diesel or Jason Statham, can't hold a candle to Brunner and company. Secondly, for your sake, I sincerely hope that you're not going into "The Ultimate Warrior" expecting an extravagant post-nuclear Sci-Fi/thriller in the vein of "Mad Max: Road Warrior", "Escape from New York" or one of their countless Italian rip-offs. The title and Brunner's portrait on the film poster may suggest an exhilarating spectacle, but this is actually a very sober, intellectual and atmosphere-driven "after-the- apocalypse" tale. Being released in 1975, the film falls somewhat in between of the pioneers ("Silent Running", "The Omega Man", "Soylent Green") and the action-packed blockbusters. The story takes place in the outskirts of New York City, in the year 2012. The depressing images during the opening credits already say it all, in fact. Streets and boulevards that used to be crowded with people are now completely deserted and shrouded in an uncomfortable silence. There are ruins and waste everywhere. The relatively few survivors live in communities in secured fortresses and attempt to protect themselves from organized criminal gangs living on the streets. Via the leader of such a community, The Baron, we slowly learn that our planet fell victim to epidemics that eradicated all vegetation and animal life. The Baron begs for the help of lone fighter Carson, supposedly to help protect his fortress and followers against the increasing number of attacks of street gangs led by the relentless Carrot. Once recruited, Carson discovers that the Baron wants him for a secret mission to transport rare and vulnerable vegetable seeds towards an island where perhaps they may grow. The first half of "The Ultimate Warrior" is extremely powerful and intensively grim, but unfortunately all this diminishes and the second half of the film suffers too much from tedious moments and repetitive subject matter. The Baron's disciples demonstrate that they are just as barbaric and selfish as Carrot's troops, while greed and distrust destroy the last remnants of civilization. The fighting sequences come across as somewhat tame and dated by today's standards, and personally I think the film could have benefited from a bit of firepower. "The Ultimate Warrior" was written and directed by the extremely underrated Robert Clouse. The Kung-Fu movies that he made with Bruce Lee ("Enter the Dragon", "Game of Death") are successful enough, but Clouse also made a handful of really good horror/thriller movies that sadly nobody still mentions. "The Ultimate Warrior" is one of them, but also "The Pack", "The Amsterdam Kill" and "Deadly Eyes" are recommendable genre films. The DVD-version that I own of this film is a cool French release with an awesome alternative title ("New York doesn't respond anymore...") and several interesting extras.

Matt Kracht The plot: In the far future of 2012, a warrior sells his services to the survivors of post-apocalyptic New York.While there are some obvious flaws to this film, it's clearly a forgotten classic of the era. I don't see how you could possibly go wrong with Yul Brynner kicking ass in post-apocalyptic cities. It's been a long time since I saw this (probably cable television in the 1980s), but I can still quite clearly remember several of what have become (to me, at least) iconic scenes of 1970s action/adventure/exploitation. If this film got broadcast regularly (instead of other inexplicable cable TV favorites), I think it could really attract a cult following.For an obvious genre film, the cast is amazing, the writing and directing are better than expected, and the rest of the film is forgivable. Why? Because the flaws pale in the face of a shirtless Yul Brynner standing in the center of a city plaza, waiting for someone to bid for his services. What do action heroes do when they're not fighting bad guys? Why, they just stand there and wait for the plot to catch up to their awesomeness, of course. It's brilliant. If this resonates with you, then you simply must watch this film. If you're going to start asking questions and trying to debate this inescapable logic, then you should probably watch The Shawshank Redemption instead. That's a great film, too, but it doesn't have Yul Brynner knife-fighting with post-apocalyptic gangs.

in1984 That and there's no spaceships or nuclear holocaust involved (contrary to other reviewers who apparently didn't actually bother to watch the film).In current terms, the film is probably closest to a zombie film where the world has gone through a "plague" killing off most of the population and making it impossible (nearly) to grow food. If you can imagine your favorite apocalyptic virus-zombie film combined with Lord of the Flies and produced as more of a 1960s film than a film just a couple years before Star Wars, that's what you get.Yul is convincing in the lead roll more because the population is starving to death than because he looks like or acts much like a warrior, though he's much more convincing than Charlton Heston would be in the same roll or in the Apes roll had he played that.Although the story is strangely insightful in some ways, especially if you've just seen Food, Inc. or The Informant or Winged Migration, there are holes in the plot (set in 2012 being one of them) that leave a lot open and causes the film to not age very well.