Here's one of the numerous Mad Max inspired outings to spring forth from Italy in the early 1980's following the enormous success of that movie and more especially its sequel.
Now at this point I have to be honest and state quite plainly that against seeming general public opinion, I absolutely loath the Mad Max trilogy (and there's a fourth entry on the way!) I found the latter two movies especially to be utterly interminable piles of crap.
Why then, you might ask, would I view a Mad Max clone? Well the answer is quite simple the Italian clones are so much more fun!
An example of this is the film being reviewed here, which interestingly, though filmed back in 1983 and set in the 31st century, bears a stark warning spookily topical in today's world ..the depletion of the Ozone layer and subsequent global warming.
In this nightmarish future, with the seas having dried up and the earth having become a parched desert, water has become an incredibly precious commodity.
The story centres around one group of survivors search for a supposed water supply and that armed with a trusty map, they venture to send out a party to retrieve it.
However, in this new world gangs of vicious bandits roam the wastelands pillaging and killing as they scavenge for water of their own and it is just one such gang that ambush and brutally murder the search party whilst on route.
Only a small boy survives the slaughter (oh and his pet hamster!) to trek on alone.
Fortuitously, as our young lad ambles on, he comes across the films hero; well I say hero, but in fact the character is a complete immoral sleazebag! Initially he cons the poor kid out half of his water before buggering off and leaving him! (and all this after the kid actually saved his life to!!!)
Still, the lad needs help and in such a desperate situation apparently even a selfish git is better than nothing so he determines to follow the selfish oath.
Help from this uncharitable soul is somewhat less than forthcoming however, that is until the boy relays to him that he has knowledge of where a water supply awaits them.
Suddenly intrigued our hero opts to aid the lad, but his intentions are far from altruistic for his real aim is to covert all the water for himself and then to sell it to the highest bidder thus becoming rich in the process. But wait ..this is a bit of a plot inconsistency is it not? For we are clearly told that water itself is the most precious thing on the planet now therefore, what the hell is our hero wanting in return for it? More water?! Money certainly has no value anymore. Perhaps dehydration caused delirium in the selfish swine.
Anyway, back to the story ..
Needless to say, perils are faced along the way in the form of the same gang that ambushed the initial party subsequently terrorising our protagonists and wouldn't you know it, the leader of the aforementioned gang has a personal grudge against our hero for stealing his beloved souped up car what a coincidence eh?
Throw in some more characters including the always fun to watch Luciano Pigozzi as an ex astronaut and mechanic, a few more plot contrivances such as that our young lad is revealed to possess a bio-mechanical arm and finally in the closing shots an occurrence that can only be described as amounting to a miracle (!!!) and you have a satisfying hour and a half or so of entertainment.
This is a rare film nowadays but is well worth tracking down a copy if you can get hold of it.
Now at this point I have to be honest and state quite plainly that against seeming general public opinion, I absolutely loath the Mad Max trilogy (and there's a fourth entry on the way!) I found the latter two movies especially to be utterly interminable piles of crap.
Why then, you might ask, would I view a Mad Max clone? Well the answer is quite simple the Italian clones are so much more fun!
An example of this is the film being reviewed here, which interestingly, though filmed back in 1983 and set in the 31st century, bears a stark warning spookily topical in today's world ..the depletion of the Ozone layer and subsequent global warming.
In this nightmarish future, with the seas having dried up and the earth having become a parched desert, water has become an incredibly precious commodity.
The story centres around one group of survivors search for a supposed water supply and that armed with a trusty map, they venture to send out a party to retrieve it.
However, in this new world gangs of vicious bandits roam the wastelands pillaging and killing as they scavenge for water of their own and it is just one such gang that ambush and brutally murder the search party whilst on route.
Only a small boy survives the slaughter (oh and his pet hamster!) to trek on alone.
Fortuitously, as our young lad ambles on, he comes across the films hero; well I say hero, but in fact the character is a complete immoral sleazebag! Initially he cons the poor kid out half of his water before buggering off and leaving him! (and all this after the kid actually saved his life to!!!)
Still, the lad needs help and in such a desperate situation apparently even a selfish git is better than nothing so he determines to follow the selfish oath.
Help from this uncharitable soul is somewhat less than forthcoming however, that is until the boy relays to him that he has knowledge of where a water supply awaits them.
Suddenly intrigued our hero opts to aid the lad, but his intentions are far from altruistic for his real aim is to covert all the water for himself and then to sell it to the highest bidder thus becoming rich in the process. But wait ..this is a bit of a plot inconsistency is it not? For we are clearly told that water itself is the most precious thing on the planet now therefore, what the hell is our hero wanting in return for it? More water?! Money certainly has no value anymore. Perhaps dehydration caused delirium in the selfish swine.
Anyway, back to the story ..
Needless to say, perils are faced along the way in the form of the same gang that ambushed the initial party subsequently terrorising our protagonists and wouldn't you know it, the leader of the aforementioned gang has a personal grudge against our hero for stealing his beloved souped up car what a coincidence eh?
Throw in some more characters including the always fun to watch Luciano Pigozzi as an ex astronaut and mechanic, a few more plot contrivances such as that our young lad is revealed to possess a bio-mechanical arm and finally in the closing shots an occurrence that can only be described as amounting to a miracle (!!!) and you have a satisfying hour and a half or so of entertainment.
This is a rare film nowadays but is well worth tracking down a copy if you can get hold of it.