That was an excellent one.

It's an amazing and heartbreaking story.

If you like to be scared, if you like to laugh, and if you like to learn a thing or two at the movies, this absolutely cannot be missed.

The acting in this movie is really good.

The year is 2012. The world has been devastated by nuclear war and plague. The few surviving humans living in New York City have formed into two warring gangs, scavenging off the remnants of the old world in order to survive. My all-time favorite character actor, William Smith, plays Carrot, the evil red-headed leader of one gang. Max von Sydow plays the kind and thoughtful leader of the good but weak gang who want to restore some semblance of civilization. In walks the titular Ultimate Warrior in the form of Yul Brynner, in one of his final film appearances, and helps Sydow fend off the villainous Carrot (the least menacing of name for a villain of all-time) and his savage gang. Directed by Robert Clouse, who will always be remembered as the man who brought Bruce Lee to American audiences when he directed "Enter the Dragon," fills the film with plenty of hand-to-hand combat, but nothing close to Lee's amazing moves. A fellow Hong Kong martial artist, the great Gordon Liu, was originally set to star in "The Ultimate Warrior," but that sadly fell through, although a 55-year old Brynner does an credible job, even if he doesn't have the acrobatic skill of Liu. The film co-stars many familiar faces with Joanna Miles, Stephen McHattie, Richard Kelton, and Darrell Zwerling, and also features an interesting eerie score by Gil Melle. Post-apocalyptic films have been around for a long time, but it wasn't until films like "A Boy and His Dog," "The Omega Man," and "Damnation Alley" where we started to see truly destroyed worlds that hinted at the wastelands we'd later get with the endlessly imitated Max Max films. Of all the post-apocalyptic films prior to "The Road Warrior," I believe this one was closest to presenting a similar warriors-of-the- wasteland type of setting, although 1979's "Ravagers" is pretty close as well. Also of note on this film, without revealing any spoilers, the final showdown between Brynner and Smith has a quite memorable and intense climax. Overall, this is an underrated bit of 1970s sci-fi that well worth watching for fans of this era's downbeat science fiction.

For starters, "The Ultimate Warrior" only confirmed what I already knew for multiple years, and that is that Yul Brunner represents pure manliness to the fullest! This actor, and several other ones from his generation like Charles Bronson and Steve McQueen, was testosterone personified. Especially during the opening sequences, when Brunner's character just stands shirtless on a rooftop with his eyes closed, waiting for villagers from a nearby community to approach him; it doesn't get any more robust or macho than this. I hate to sound like an old and whiny critic, but actors like Brunner simply don't exist anymore nowadays. Even the toughest action heroes nowadays, like Vin Diesel or Jason Statham, can't hold a candle to Brunner and company. Secondly, for your sake, I sincerely hope that you're not going into "The Ultimate Warrior" expecting an extravagant post-nuclear Sci-Fi/thriller in the vein of "Mad Max: Road Warrior", "Escape from New York" or one of their countless Italian rip-offs. The title and Brunner's portrait on the film poster may suggest an exhilarating spectacle, but this is actually a very sober, intellectual and atmosphere-driven "after-the- apocalypse" tale. Being released in 1975, the film falls somewhat in between of the pioneers ("Silent Running", "The Omega Man", "Soylent Green") and the action-packed blockbusters. The story takes place in the outskirts of New York City, in the year 2012. The depressing images during the opening credits already say it all, in fact. Streets and boulevards that used to be crowded with people are now completely deserted and shrouded in an uncomfortable silence. There are ruins and waste everywhere. The relatively few survivors live in communities in secured fortresses and attempt to protect themselves from organized criminal gangs living on the streets. Via the leader of such a community, The Baron, we slowly learn that our planet fell victim to epidemics that eradicated all vegetation and animal life. The Baron begs for the help of lone fighter Carson, supposedly to help protect his fortress and followers against the increasing number of attacks of street gangs led by the relentless Carrot. Once recruited, Carson discovers that the Baron wants him for a secret mission to transport rare and vulnerable vegetable seeds towards an island where perhaps they may grow. The first half of "The Ultimate Warrior" is extremely powerful and intensively grim, but unfortunately all this diminishes and the second half of the film suffers too much from tedious moments and repetitive subject matter. The Baron's disciples demonstrate that they are just as barbaric and selfish as Carrot's troops, while greed and distrust destroy the last remnants of civilization. The fighting sequences come across as somewhat tame and dated by today's standards, and personally I think the film could have benefited from a bit of firepower. "The Ultimate Warrior" was written and directed by the extremely underrated Robert Clouse. The Kung-Fu movies that he made with Bruce Lee ("Enter the Dragon", "Game of Death") are successful enough, but Clouse also made a handful of really good horror/thriller movies that sadly nobody still mentions. "The Ultimate Warrior" is one of them, but also "The Pack", "The Amsterdam Kill" and "Deadly Eyes" are recommendable genre films. The DVD-version that I own of this film is a cool French release with an awesome alternative title ("New York doesn't respond anymore...") and several interesting extras.

...He just might pop them out of your head. The almighty B movie legend plays the antagonist "Carrot" in this reasonably enjoyable post-apocalyptic sci-fi thriller from Robert Clouse, director of "Enter the Dragon".An intense Yul Brynner stars as Carson, a loner hired as muscle by a peaceable group struggling to survive in the NYC of the year 2012. This group needs somebody like Carson to protect them from the aggressive forces led by Carrot. Leading the good guys is the Baron (a highly engaging Max von Sydow), and one other thing that they have on their side is their botanist Cal (Richard Kelton), who's developed seeds that are immune to the plague. Eventually Carson must make a trek for freedom accompanied by the Barons' pregnant daughter Melinda (Joanna Miles), with Carrot and his gang in hot pursuit."The Ultimate Warrior" is good fun, if unfortunately not having quite enough "oomph" to make it something truly special. The script, by director Clouse, is on the routine side, and it never does flesh out the characters too much. That said, the actors are still able to make an impression. Both Brynner and von Sydow have commanding presences and Smith, as could be expected, is a very effective bad guy. Among the supporting cast is reliable veteran character actor Stephen McHattie as Robert, one of the Barons' men. Production design, art direction, and set decoration are all heavy assets; the viewer will have a lot to take in while looking at these run down, forlorn "future" locales. Talents behind the camera include cinematographer Gerald Hirschfeld, editor Michael Kahn, and composer Gil Melle, whose score helps to drive the movie forward. What *is* great is the ultimate showdown between Brynner and Smith, which is well worth waiting for; Brynner proves to be in real fighting shape.A very grim and gritty tale, this movie doesn't pull its punches and portrays a hard scrabble existence in a straightforward manner. It deserves to be more popular, especially considering the subsequent productions such as "Mad Max" and "Escape from New York" that it surely must have influenced.Seven out of 10.

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.