Enzo G. Castellari's "1990: Guerrieri Del Bronx" aka. "1990: The Bronx Warriors" is a trashy end time action flick that was mainly produced to cash in on the success of two prior post-apocalyptic cult flicks, Walter Hill's "The Warriors" of 1979 John Carpenter's "Escape From New York" of 1981. I have utmost respect for director Castellari for movies such as the great late Spaghetti Western "Keoma" with Franco Nero in the lead, but it "Bronx Warriors" is certainly not one of the highlights of his career. Although "The Bronx Warriors" is overall a silly film that lacks in many departments, it has some qualities and is fun to watch if you're a fan of apocalyptic 80s trash. The exploitation factor makes it worthwhile, although it could have been higher, since there's no nudity, and not nearly as much violence as i hoped for.
In the future (the year 1990) The Bronx is entirely in the hand of criminal gangs. The fight against crime has become so hopeless that the state has decided to keep out of the Bronx and declared this territory no man's land and people have to kill in order to stay alive in this godforsaken place ruled by hostile gangs. One of these gangs, a biker gang called the 'Raiders' are lead by a young guy called Trash (Mark Gregory), who falls in love with Ann (Stefania Girolami Goodwin, daughter of director Castellari) a girl who has fled to the Bronx from Manhattan...
The main reason to watch "Bronx Warriors" is the great blaxploitation star and badass Fred Williamson, who is once again the epitome of coolness as 'The Ogre', the self-proclaimed King of the Bronx. Another cool role is that of Vic Morrow, who plays a professional gun called Hammer. Other than Willamson and Morrow, and Victor Conelly, who has a smaller role, the performances are pretty forgettable, especially Mark Gregory is rather terrible in the role of Trash. I also found it quite questionable, why the huge, badass bikers with their tattoos and full beards would accept baby faced Trash, who looks like he's 15 years old as their leader. Some (unintentionally?) hilarious aspects of this film are the ridiculous-looking rival gangs, like "The Zombies", a gang whose members come on roller skates and armed with hockey sticks, another gang who look like Neanderthals, and another 'fearsome' gang of rouged guys who look like ballet dancing drag-queens.
The great Fred Williamson is responsible for almost all the cool moments in this film, which is otherwise quite forgettable. Nevertheless, the exploitation and trash factor make "Bronx Warriors" worthwhile if you're a fan of this kind of trashy end-time cinema. Don't set your expectations too high, and you might have an entertaining time, if only due to Williamson and several bloody fights. Mildly recommended to lovers of trashy 80s stuff.
