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New York 1990: Anna (Stefania Girolami) is to inherit the all powerful
Manhattan Corporation on her 18th birthday, which is only a few days away,
but there are certain people who don't want to see her in power and would
rather see her dead - and these people have the means to make this happen.
Which is why Anna makes a daring escape, and of all places to the Bronx.
The Bronx, it has to be noted, has turned into a war zone by 1990 (at
least according to this film) and is populated almost exclusively by gangs
who are hell-bent on fighting and killing each other ... and wouldn't you
know it, right after her arrival in the Bronx, Anna falls into the hands
of the Rollermen, a particularly nasty gang that does all their misdeeds
on rollerskates. Fortunately though, Trash (Mark Gregory) and his biker
gang the Riffs just happen to pass by, and since they are the good guys
(relatively speaking), they free Anna and take her with them - and soon
enough, Trash develops an interest for the girl, and she for him too.
In the meantime back in Manhattan, the bosses of the Manhattan
Corporation decide they want Anna back to properly get rid of her, so they
hire rogue cop Hammer (Vic Morrow) to do their dirty work, and Hammer has
soon enough picked up the trail of the Riffs. Thing is, the Riffs don't
have Anna for very long, soon the Rollermen kidnap her again. To free her,
Trash decides to go and ask the Ogre (Fred Williamson) of the Tigers for
help, a rival (and much more powerful) gangleader who can listen to reason
though.
But while Trash is out, Hawk (Roco Lerro), one of the Riffs, decides to
side with Hammer and in his employ, he persuades the Rollermen to hand
over their captive to the Manhattan Corporation - which Trash and the Ogre
can prevent only in the nick of time, pretty much annihilating the
Rollermen on their own ...
It's Anna's birthday, and the Riffs and the Tigers celebrate this event
as one big family and make an informal but everlasting peace agreement -
which is when Hammer with the entire New York police force attacks, many
of them armed with flamthrowers. the Tigers and the Riffs put up quite
some defense, but ultimately they are erradicated, just like most of the
police force, and even Anna catches a bullet. In the end, only Hammer and
Trash are left standing - and trash simply harpoons Hammer and drags him
through the streets behind his bike ...
Very obviously, this film was inspired by both John Carpenter's Escape
from New York (1981) and Walter Hill's The Warriors (1979), in
fact the film is a rather obvious rip-off of both of these films with a
nod to Stanley Kubrick's Clockwork Orange (1971) thrown into the
mix, just for good measure.
This however is not to say that 1990: The Bronx Warriors is
totally without merit. Sure, it's trashy and derivative and made rather on
the cheap, but it's also fast paced, extremely well edited, features many
perfectly staged action sequences, a few bizarre and inventive ideas (like
the gangs Trash and company meet along the way that range from tapdancers
[!] to zombies), and profits greatly from extensive outside location
shooting in New York.
Sure, it's a no-brain sci-fi actioner, but as such it is extremely
watchable ...
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