The Ultimate Warrior (1975)

Pretty good movie overall. First half was nothing special but it got better as it went along.

Great example of an old-fashioned, pure-at-heart escapist event movie that doesn't pretend to be anything that it's not and has boat loads of fun being its own ludicrous self.

This movie feels like it was made purely to piss off people who want good shows

The film never slows down or bores, plunging from one harrowing sequence to the next.

As a former warrior, I would say that the scene where he chops his own hand off, well, a smarter man would have chopped the other guys hand off instead.Though Yul Is Cool! (in a sense that just transcends generations)...What I mean is in the scene at the end, where he is lashed to another man and they are battling to the death and he throws the other man down some hole or other (been like 29 years since I saw this) And then takes a hatchet and lifts the other man up then wacks off his own hand at the wrist... I would have wacked off the other guys hand instead. Of course this would mean either lifting him higher, which after combat one might not have the stamina/strength to do, or just hacking away at the other guys wrist... Gruesome, surely, but effective and necessary.

Because I was on a kick for some post-apocalyptic goodness and the cast included old favorites, I watched this flick. The result is mildly disappointing but might still be worth it for some. One thing that must be taken into account is that we are talking about a 1975 movie. This excuse its clunkiness and the lack of scope somewhat, although not completely.The basic plot is rather vague, all over the place. The writing is crude and ridiculous at times, yet there are worthwhile ideas to explore. The story takes place in a post-apoc New-York circa 2012. The usual staples of the genre are there. Lawlessness in a barren city, return to a semi-primitive life and lots of scavenging. Some survivors form bands. This flick focuses on two such rival groups, one of which, in the pure Hollywood tradition is the "good guys" and the other "the bad guys".Yul Brynner, for a man in his 50s, is surprisingly in shape and exudes action hero charisma. He is effective here as Carson, a super-tough survivor who responds to the (very lame, plot-wise) "good guy's offer" to protect them in exchange for a clean room, triple food rations and most importantly to him... cigars (I kid you not). Max Von Sydow's aura is equally perceptible but as in many, many of his 70s/80s movies, he's simply collecting the paycheck here. You'll appreciate his natural screen presence but do not expect to be blown away. He's the leader of the "good band" here but is not use to best effect. His character is very one-dimensional. While the one-dimensionality of Carson works, we expect more emotion from the peripheral characters. William Smith plays Carrot, your usual psychotic main villain and leader of the "bad clan". Surprisingly, he gives the best performance of the entire film by far, even if that's not saying much. The rest of the actors are extremely weak and their characters are flat and/or undeveloped.The main flaw of this movie is a failure to establish much motivations. The way leader Baron (Sydow) "recruits" Carson at the start of the movie is beyond ridiculous. The whole setup is just so unbelievable that we expect there is more to it than Carson just standing there in the middle of the city. The two clans are at war but it's difficult to comprehend why exactly. Sure, we get that it's a typical conflict but we never swallow it. But wait, you say. Why does it matter if the characters are fleshed out or not? Isn't this an action flick? There's the problem. There is a real attempt here at telling a story because there is NOT much action. It's just that there is no real story, unfortunately. We spend a lot of time with Baron's bunch. Learning about various characters and the tensions caused by the lack of food but it's all underdeveloped. You get the impression there are directorial comments here about "communal lifestyle" but they aren't clear. There's also a surprising lack of romance here or other kitsch elements. The final act of the flick is a drawn out chase in the subways that is anything but exciting. The final confrontation has nice ideas but again, falls flat.At its heart, I think Ultimate Warrior wanted to highlight the differences and more importantly the similarities between "peaceful hippies" and "hardened men" such as Carson and how the two react when facing obstacles in a lawless environment. Unfortunately, it fails. Everything this movie does, the Mad Max trilogy does way better. Except I'd rather watch Max Von Sydow than Tina Turner.Big fans of post-apoc films, Sydow, Brynner or cheesy 70s flick will want to give this one one viewing and that's it. Others are better off passing.

2012 A.D.: Plague epidemics have wiped out a fair share of the populace and reduced society to a hellish, feral, survival of the fittest kill or be killed barbaric shambles with lethal hordes of Cro-Magnon thugs running amuck on the streets of every major city. In New York a peaceful, barricaded compound led by the wise, kindly Baron (a beautifully understated Max Von Sydow), assisted by the resourceful Cal the Gardener (a marvelously mellow Richard Kelton) and his feisty pregnant daughter Melinda (excellently played by Joanna Miles), try to rebuild civilization by creating seeds that are resistant to the various diseases that have ravaged the planet and turned it into a barren wasteland. However, the compound's fragile security is steadily eroding to the point were it can be overrun by the calculatingly malevolent Carrot (the always fantastic William Smith at his tremendously terrifying, hard-hearted best) and his gang of grimy, vicious brutes. Enlisting the aid of laconic, resilient, stoical, but essentially humane mercenary and street fighter supreme Carson (a terrific Yul Brynner in a very ideal piece of casting), the Baron has Carson with the seeds and Melinda in tow make a desperate effort to escape by traveling through the dusty, cobwebby, rat-infested subway tunnels to safety.Unarguably the unjustly overlooked and undervalued prototype for the many 80's post-apocalyptic sci-fi/action features that followed in its influential wake ("Escape from New York" in particular immediately springs to mind; ditto the "Mad Max" films), "The Ultimate Warrior" ranks as a potently grungy, gut-kickingly savage and visceral dilly. Directed in blunt, unflashy, right-to-the-point fashion by Robert ("Enter the Dragon") Clouse (who also wrote the gritty, tough-minded script), expertly pushed along by Gerald Hirshfeld's active, agile, polished cinematography and Gil Melle's earthy, primal, slightly dissonant and highly percussive score, this strong poke-your-eyes-out-with-a-rusty-nail fierce flick really delivers the rousing back-against-the-wall hand-to-hand combat action: brawny, fast on his feet, fluidly whipping hither and tither supersharp knife wielder Brynner makes bloody hash out of the scumbags with his deadly blade in a series of first-rate ferocious confrontations, concluding with a tense, harrowing and extremely exciting subterranean face-off with Smith and his greasy flunkies which finally comes down to an incredible white knuckle anything-goes fight between Smith and Brynner.Moreover, Brynner makes the most of his part, adding some surprising sensitivity to his rugged character while Smith hits an all-time nasty peak as the mean, but bright and charismatic villain. The sober, uncompromisingly harsh tone, done with no traces whatsoever of silly camp humor, but several welcome moments of genuine warmth and compassion and Clouse's stark, unflinchingly grim depiction of the ugly, upsetting savagery which permeates the post-holocaust milieu (for instance, Smith's gang captures a baby from Sydow's compound and use it as bait to lure Brynner outside), give the film an extra stinging edge. These two significant factors furthermore bring a certain bleak conviction to the frighteningly violent and totally amoral world shown herein, thereby elevating "The Ultimate Warrior" to the respectable status of a truly outstanding and unheralded winner.

This relatively obscure film is, it has to be said, under-rated. There's the usual fine performance from Max von Sydow as the 'Baron' while an old-looking Yul Brynner does well as Carson, the Ultimate Warrior.The future looks bleak. In 2012 New York is a city devastated, with rival gangs living in communes. By appearance alone, you might be forgiven for thinking that this is a western - with von Sydow, particularly, looking like he's going to burst into a saloon bar, guns blazing. He plays the leader of one of these communes, desperate to secure a better life for his pregnant daughter Melinda (Miles) and enlists Brynner to this end.Clouse manages to build up the tension nicely as Brynner & Miles race along the derelict New York subway to get to a fabled island, chased by a gang of nasties. The end, however, is abrupt, to say the least and you may feel cheated as about ten minutes before the end the movie seems actually quite good.As I said before, this is an obscure film that will have a definite novelty value for fans of Sydow and Brynner. Viewers today will see the irony in the opening sequence of a supposedly devastated NY, with the Twin Towers promenantly still standing in the background.7/10