wrathchild1387 This was a great movie!!!Yul Brynner plays just a bad ass as usual, Max Von Sydow acted real well, and William Smith was cast perfect as the villain. The set was designed to perfection as a post apocalyptic world would be seen. The music was done very well by Gil Melle and still holds today. The costumes fit a lot of people for this type of movie but some just didn't look raggedy enough, but the acting makes up for it as well as the violence. The fight scenes were done well, remember folks this was directed by Robert Clouse of "Enter The Dragon" fame as well for other exploitation films.This is probably his best besides "Enter The Dragon"; just do to it's atmosphere and the way it was filmed. I thought Brynner showed off some cool fighting techniques as well as knife fighting. But yet people complain that there wasn't enough or it wasn't flashy or lots of kicks like Bruce Lee (RIP)would have done it. Remember not all martial arts are flashy or scientific, some are just nitty gritty street fighting techniques or survival, not all are for show. Also remember for movie to be done well, there must be a story and doesn't always has to revolve a guy kicking and showing off his martial arts talent. I thought Brynner was a great fighter, showing a different style of fighter consenting of holds, throws, punches, knees, and slashing. He wasn't trained full time like Bruce but he pulls off the fights with enough charisma. The best thing to remember is that Yul Brynner is not Bruce Lee and Bruce Lee is no Yul Brynner either.The story and fight scenes were balanced just right where one didn't over take the other. But anyways here what the story is about. New York 2012, the world has gone down the crapper and a plague as wiped out the food supply. The Baron (Von Sydow) and a couple of survivors developed seeds that are resistant against the plague. But Carrot (Smith, just a cool baddie) and his boys are causing some havoc of sorts and the Baron enlist the help of "the Ultimate Warrior" Carson (Brynner, in the first minutes of the film is shown standing in front of the library square for two days meditating while standing, very atmospheric) to help transport the seeds to a island of the coast of North Carolina with his pregnant daughter Melinda (Joanna Miles, giving a really good performance). Then this eventually leads to a showdown between Carson and Carrot in the New York Subways. To wrap up this review, this was a great entertaining movie from the 70s that somewhat helped jump start a film genre that still remains today...the post apocalyptic, as well for the martial art post apocalyptic one as well. Rent it then buy it if you like it and hopefully it will be out on DVD in widescreen and with goodies. Also try to find the novelization of this movie, it is one of the better novelization of a movie and goes into detail as well for emotions, fights, the city in general and the nitty gritty. Before I start rambling on again just watch this underrated classic!Peace!I also recommend Mad Max Trilogy, Steel Dawn, Cyborg, Escape from NY and LA

Raegan Butcher This is the movie that virtually set the template for all post-holocaust action films. Yul Brynner, pushing sixty at the time of filming(!)has enough old school movie star charisma to more than make up for the rather pedestrian fight scenes. It is a shame he died when he did because he is loaded with charm and presence and he could have made a much better action movie hero than the lame wanna-be's who followed in the 80's. And how often does one get to see an actor of Max Von Sydow's caliber in films like this? He brings an air of dignity and authority to the film. If one could quibble with anything it would be the sheer cleanliness of everyone--they all look like they just got their freshly laundered clothes from Wardrobe--but this is small potatoes. Take the cool story, cool post-apocalyptic sets and Brynner's and VonSydow's presence and add b-movie legend WILLIAM SMITH as the heavy and you have a rather enjoyable way to spend 90 minutes. One final note,the cinematography by Gerald Hirschfield is quite lovely, contrary to my memories of earlier viewings, where I thought the lighting flat and TV movie-like; not at all; Hirshfields cinematography creates an eerie, diffuse beauty out of the images of a decayed, empty metropolis.

Paul Kotta "Not as bad as you'd think" is not a very convincing way to start a review, I admit, but this is a movie that had a lot going for it. A lot of potential, but not completely wasted. The scrip, including dialog, is rather intelligent. And the smartest thing the film's creators did was cast Brynner, von Sydow, and Smith (who is one of the most underrated bad guys in Hollywood. I wish Tarantino would rediscover him the way he did Travolta, Keaton, Forster--and just about half the main characters of most of his films, in fact). Perhaps, though, the stars' salaries left little money for sets and costumes, which are pathetic. The lighting is about as atmospheric as a dogfood commercial. Sadly, director Clouse's usual flair for fight scenes is, with the exception of a couple of nice touches here and there, absent.Interestingly, "Day of the Dead" borrows heavily from this film, from the basic storyline (handful of survivors of apocalypse fighting against one another as a handful of them plot escape) right down to the cauterization-with-torch scene and the island-as-escape-from-wordly-chaos theme.

Gyrobot I saw this when I was a kid around the same time I saw Planet of The Apes, Logan's Run and The Omega Man. I love this kind of stuff. Yul Brynner was always a cool actor and he's very cool in this piece of dystopian sci-fi. It also has Max Von Sydow in it who's always good value for money.The amazing thing about this film (well ok it's not that amazing, more sort of interesting) is how the plot is so similar to Mad Max. There really was a preponderance of this sort of movie in the early seventies, enough to cover the writing of thesis me thinks.Anyway if you have a spare evening and no idea what to watch why not check Yul in full flow.