Sorry, this movie sucks

A Disappointing Continuation

Story: It's very simple but honestly that is fine.

One of the worst ways to make a cult movie is to set out to make a cult movie.

Based on a much better novel by Roger Zelazny, this is one of the worst damn science fiction movies ever made. I'll repeat that - ONE OF THE WORST SCIENCE FICTION MOVIES EVER MADE. The only damn thing worth seeing in this is the vehicle, the Landmaster. Other than that, Peppard seems to walk through his role, Jan-Michael Vincent isn't that great of an actor to start with, and this has virtually no relation to the novel other than the vehicle or the title. It has no science to it at all - oh earth shifts on it's axis and that cures the entire world of the nuclear war that wrecked it in the beginning? Let me also point out that when Paul Winfield's character is eaten by cockroaches - he's not only the only black character - no one even tries to save him. So along with the poor story, bad direction and horrible special effects, there isn't much else to say about this loser of a movie. Again, do yourself a favor and read the book.

"Damnation Alley" didn't win any Academy Awards and it's not on any list of the greatest movies, but it is a gritty tale of survival in a post-nuclear war world and has several good scenes.Lt. Tanner (Jan-Michael Vincent), Keegan (Paul Winfield) and Maj. Denton (George Peppard) are Air Force personnel who survive a nuclear war in their California bunker. The nuclear explosions have tilted the earth's axis, causing the sky to change colors and flash bright lights. The group receives transmissions from Albany, New York so they take off through dangerous "Damnation Alley" in a futuristic vehicle (a so- called Landmaster) to reach civilization. Along the way they pick up an obnoxious teenager (Jackie Earle Haley) and a young woman (Dominique Sanda). Keegan is unconvincingly killed by mutant cockroaches and the group battles hillbilly survivalists along the way. Eventually the four survivors reach Albany and safety.The film's producers should have spent more money on the special effects, because they're pretty bad in places. Giant scorpions and cockroaches are almost laughable, and the models of the Landmaster just aren't very well done. Still, this is a pretty good film if you forget about its shortcomings. Peppard was at a career low when he made the film but is good anyway, and Jan-Michael Vincent does his "young rebel" routine quite well. The film suffered because it was released in the shadow of "Star Wars", and was quickly forgotten but I think it's very watchable.

Before the A-Team, George Peppard starred in this film as a major in what's left of the united states Air Force after a nuclear strike, who goes on a fantasy movie styled journey from Cali to the East Coast with (literally) a band of Misfits, to find what is left of the human race. Along the way, they loose men and gain more as they battle through many adventures on their way.Ofcoure the best adventure was the one that forced Hannibal Smith of the A-team to yell out "The Town is infected with Killer Cockroaches!!".Jan Micheal Vincet from the show Air wolf has a supporting role as a rebel who does not see eye to eye with Peppard as they travel cross country.One of the cooler things bout the movie was the battle tank they used to make the journey. it was a pretty awesome special effect in a sea of really outdated special effects (They used super composing to make scorpion seem gigantic).Overall it was not a bad post-apocalyptic movie at all. It's campy in it's retroness, making ti worth seeing just for fun.

Throughout the beginning of the last half of the 20th century, multiple films have been made that were based off of novels that took place in dystopic wastelands after nuclear fallout. This was all due to the U.S. and Russia being two of the biggest super powers at the time and were currently having a cold war over it. Well this science fiction genre film is no different in that aspect. But everything else about it isn't entertaining at all.Damnation Alley (1977) is a film adaptation of novelist Roger Zelazny's short story of the same name. And honestly, I think Zelazny's work was more enjoyable than this. This whole movie is just one giant traveling expedition. There is no plot. Did the writers bother to even jot down the plot or did they just create dialog for the characters? I mean Lukas Heller, the screenwriter from The Dirty Dozen (1967) was on the crew list! Did he become lazy and decide to let Alan Sharp do all the work? And that's just the plot, let's dive into the characters.The storyline follows Major Eugene Denton played by George Peppard and a small band of misfit characters. That's right, John Hannibal Smith from the original A-Team (1983) stars in this film. Unfortunately, he did not make a wise choice to join this slog of a mess. Along with Peppard is a young Jan-Michael Vincent, who earlier starred in the classic The Mechanic (1972), Paul Winfield who later would play a role in Schwarzenegger's The Terminator (1984) and even Jackie Earle Haley has a part as a homeless kid. Yes! Even the actor who plays Freddy Krueger from the Nightmare on Elm Street (2010) remake and Rorschach from Zack Snyder's Watchmen (2009) plays in this movie.Oh and I have no idea how this girl named Janice (Dominique Sanda) even held her own at Las Vegas inside a gambling building with a bunch of sand. Not to mention but she's just there to be an annoying damsel in distress. Not needed. But enough about her. Here there's barely anything for these characters to expand on. What's made up for lost time, is filler with either traveling through wasteland or trying to survive radioactive storms. Isn't it amazing how well the cast was put together even before half these actors were famous and still this movie couldn't get much of anything right? Truly sad.The writers are really to blame for this film. Every ten minutes it would be a reoccurring plot point. Travel a little, stop a little, and every time they stopped, they'd either run into someone or something. Sometimes it's human, other times they're over-sized killer animals. It's just lame. Oh and let's not forget that every time they stop, Jan- Michael Vincent has to pull out his trusty motorcycle to solve all his problems. He uses it for everything! Not even composer Jerry Goldsmith could save this movie. Never have I heard a score so weird that it I couldn't tell what it was trying to represent. The music sounds like a cross between a video game and real orchestra music. Also it didn't help that for majority of the time, the music was absent. The score is so minimal it is barely even used in any of the important scenes. Even the introduction had me sitting awkward. Nuclear warheads are blowing up the country and there's no music going on at all?! I mean, that's what it would be like in real life but this is a movie! It's supposed to enhance that experience.The only points I do give it, is for having the really cool looking landmaster vehicle and a couple good special effects. The effects were standard but SOME of the way the sky's were constructed. They were rather neat. I was more interested in that than the story or characters. The landmaster was also cool. Twelve wheels, rockets, could even be used in the ocean and an extended cabin? What a fortress. That is definitely a vehicle that could withstand nuclear fallout. Besides this, the film is a wreck unfortunately.This science fiction film adaptation is a boring trek about a story that's not even being told. The whole film is just random events put together.