Rush (1983)

User Rating:

3.8/10   

Director:

Tonino Ricci

Writers:

Tito Carpi (screenplay)
Tito Carpi (story)

Release Date:

October 1984 (USA)

Genre:

Adventure | Sci-Fi

Tagline:

A one man army to save the world! [Video Australia]

Plot:

In a post-nuclear holocaust world, a survivor roams the desert, fighting bandits and the forces of an evil warlord. |

Plot Keywords:

Post Apocalyptic | Post Nuclear War

Cast

Bruno Minniti	...	Rush (as Conrad Nichols)
Gordon Mitchell	...	Yor
Laura Trotter	...	Carol
Rita Furlan
Bridgit Pelz
Riccardo Pizzuti		(as Richard Pizzuti)
Osiride Pevarello	...	Homer
Paolo Celli
Luigi Lodoli		(as Luigi Filippo Lodoli)
Daniele Stroppa

Also Known As:

Blood Rush (Australia) (video title)
Rush: The Assassin (USA)

Runtime:

77 min

Country:

Italy

Language:

Italian

Color:

Color

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Norway:16 (video premiere) | Australia:M (video rating) | UK:18

Company:

Biro Cinematografica

Trivia:

The film's musical score is not original, but re-used music tracks from several of Francesco De Masi's previous films, namely Lo Squartartore de New York (1982) and Fuga dal Bronx (1984) (which was made before but released after this film).

I think I managed to endure it with minimal brain damage...

...or not. This is one of Italy's worst post-nuke flicks, even worse than EXTERMINATORS OF THE YEAR 3000. Charisma-free hero Conrad Nichols prances around the desert killing and killing and killing gas mask wearing soldiers without end. In the end, his climactic battle with Gordon Mitchell (TEN COMMANDMENTS) atop an oil refinery is made laughable because Mitchell stunt double doesn't even attempt to hide his true identity! All this to the tune of Francesco De Masi's great music, which was shamelessly plundered from ESCAPE FROM THE BRONX and THE NEW YORK RIPPER. Plotless, pointless, boring... lots of action but it's all done quite badly, I doubt if Tonino Ricci ever actually showed up to any of the filming days, or if he did, he just gave his crew free reign. Giovanni Bergamini's camerawork is pretty good and Vincenzo Tomassi's editing is top-notch (as usual), but there's nothing to hold it all together aside from Tito Carpi's quickie script. A truly lame movie that won't do much for you unless you're a hard-core fan of Italian post-nuke action, though here it's even more cheesy and pointless than usual. See ESCAPE FROM THE BRONX or AFTER THE FALL OF NEW YORK instead.

Conrad Nichols became the leading man in almost every subsequent film directed by Ricci, probably just because he had more than a stunning resemblance to more famous musclehead Italian action star Mark Gregory (who last I heard works in a pizza restaraunt in Rome). Lord only knows where Nichols is now... (probably a night-stocker at K-mart)