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A few weeks ago, I was inspired by this post on the Post Apocalyptic Movie Mania blog to move Glen and Randa a little higher up on my Netflix queue. It took a few weeks for me to get to it, but it finally arrived, and I watched it tonight.

Aside from a few mentions of nudity, I had really no idea what the movie was about. It turns out that it does start with our two main characters (yup, you guessed it, Glen and Randa) stark naked for the first ten minutes. (And boy, is Randa hot in a 70s all natural top and bottom kind of way.) But after that, there’s not much that I would consider even R-rated, so I’m not sure where the idea of it being porn came from. Maybe they were just more prudish back then. (Edit: Huh, my bad, apparently it really was rated X when it was originally released in 1971)

But even though Randa remained mostly fully clothed for the rest of the movie, I still really liked it. It’s basically the story of Glen and Randa traveling across a post-apocalyptic countryside in search of a mostly-mythical city. The trailer says “20 years after the bomb” but they must have been whoppers because there’s now an ocean in Idaho.

This is not a mohawked-motorcycle-mauraders kind of movie. In fact, there are no mauraders, or even any violence, at all (unless you count the clubbing deaths of a few innocent fish). The point of the movie isn’t their physical fight to survive, it’s more about the innocence and naivete of the characters and how they live in this time.

Wow, I just took a look at IMDB, and it’s running a 2.1 (out of 10) rating. I would have given it something more in the 5-6 range, maybe even a 7. Overall, I liked it, and I’m glad I watched it, but I wouldn’t buy the DVD, and I probably won’t ever watch it again (unless it miraculously shows up on Blu-Ray, then I’d have to add it to my collection.)

But if you’re reading this, then you’re most likely a fan of the genre, so if you can handle a more thoughtful post-apocalypse, then check this one out. If you don’t want to buy it, it’s worth a queue-add.

Final bit of trivia: The stars of the movie, Steven Curry and Shelley Plimpton, first worked together in the original Broadway production of the rock musical Hair, so I guess they were already used to running around naked in front of an audience.

Update: I take back what I said about never watching it again. I bought the DVD, just to have it as part of my collection. It’s a worthwhile addition.

I was listening to episode 22 of the Destructomundo Podcast, Anarchy, the other day, and they made reference to a post-apocalyptic movie I had never heard of before, The Ultimate Warrior. I did some checking, and even though it is available on DVD (as a combo disk with Battle Beneath the Earth) it’s not on Netflx or the torrents. So I shelled out the cash to buy it on Ebay, and it arrived today.

Released in 1975 and starring Yul Brynner, The Ultimate Warrior is the earliest example I can recall of a PA scenario with a traveling hero figure who is enlisted to protect a group of survivors, a la Mad Max 2 from several years later.

The film takes place in New York City, just about 30 years after a series of plagues and crop diseases reduces civilization to scattered communities, each struggling to resist succumbing to hunger, and/or the groups of marauders intent on getting hold of their resources. One such commune hires Carson, Brynner’s character, to serve as their fighter and drive off any attacks.

I was surprised at how violent the movie was; not that the times it portrays would be less dangerous, on the contrary of course, but the body count just kept piling up. There were more stabbings than I could count, multiple throat cuttings, a garroting, one mob murder, a few heads bashed with rocks, two men purposefully thrown off buildings, one face pressed into a cooking fire, etc.

On the whole, I enjoyed it, and am glad I spent the money to be able to see it. It doesn’t rise to the level of the more well known 70s PA entries (Omega Man, Planet of the Apes, Soylent Green, Logan’s Run) but I did like it more than I liked A Boy and His Dog. (Though I do have to wonder why every film maker from the 70s assumes that bell-bottoms and hippie hair-dos will remain the prevailing fashion through the collapse of the world as we know it.)

If you’re reading this, you’re obviously a fan of the post-apocalypse, so if this one drops into your lap, it’s well worth the time it takes to watch it.

O-bi, O-ba – Koniec cywilizacji is one of those foreign language post-apocalyptic films I discovered on the IMDB list of post-apocalytic media.  (I think it’s Polish, but I’m not sure.) I couldn’t download it, so I picked up a copy of the DVD on Ebay.  It cost less than $10 delivered, so I’m not sorry I bought it, but the movie was just ok.

It takes place one year after a nuclear war forces approximately 2000 survivors into a series of undergound bunkers, protected by some kind of dome that keeps out the fallout and nuclear winter.  To give the people hope, those in charge spread the story of the Ark, a space ship kind of thing that will come and take everyone off of Earth to safety.

The look and feel of the film was great; the bunker they lived in was totally believable.  There was lots of concrete and brick, and dripping exposed pipe.  But overall the movie was just too strange for me.  All of the characters were more or less insane, and the fact that everyone was looking forward to being rescued by the Ark, and going to live in space wasn’t very believable.

So if you happen to acquire a copy of it, it’s watchable, but I woudn’t spend the time looking for it.