Post Apocalyptia Italianino: 2019: After the Fall of New York

Welcome back one and all to Day 2 of Post Apocalyptia Italianio. Hopefully we will have less scoring with hinted sodomy this time around. Again yesterday's bad touch addition was amazingly enough not a stripped girl being ganged on. Progress! Today's cinematic creation hails from exploitation/horror/sci-fi/giallo and sexploitation director Sergio Martino (Blade of the Ripper, Torso, High School Girl, Sex with a Smile, A Man Called Blade, The Mountain of the Cannibal God, Screamers and Craving Desire) bringing a post-doom-laden destruction of New York City after the nuclear war brought to us by writer Ernesto Gastaldi (The Case of the Bloody Iris, My Name is Nobody, A Genius, Two Friends and a Idiot,The Great Alligator, Casablanca Express and Top Model 2). This is 2019, After the Fall of New York a.k.a. New York- 2019 a.k.a. The Fall of New York and After the Fall of New York.

My God, the scale of devastation must be, about 1/16 I think.

With the terrifying devastation of scale-model New York we see the remains of the once proud city with blacken husks of skyscrapers and yet Lady Liberty not even marred. The narration explains it has been 20 years since the fallout and the world is divided into two major factions the United European Forces or Eurak and a fledgling rebellion called Federation. Thanks to the destruction, radiation in the air, soil and water there have been no children born and is looking as though humanity is finally over.

We find our would-be hero Parsifal (Michael Sopkiw of 2019: After the Fall of New York, Blastfighter, Devil Fish, Massacre in Dinosaur Valley and Bad Dog and Superhero) engaged in a death race in his armored 67 Chevy Malibu with another car of which he defeats. Hey he is the hero so that is just going to happen.  Dressed like NPC Companion Ian via Fallout, he deals with the baddies easily enough and goes to claim his prize. The prize? No, not the Highlander prize. He gets a girl Flower (Siriana Hernadez of 2019: After the Fall of New York) like he is on Fallout: Gor Edition who calls him Master. Our boy just sets her free to live a life that doesn't involve making the love to a guy she doesn't know. No sooner that good deed, Parsifal is zapped by a cheesy light ray effect and abducted to meet with...the Dean from Pieces? Yes the president of the Pan American Confederacy (Edmund Purdom of Sword of Freedom, Herod the Great, The Night Child, Deep Thoughts, Pieces, Ator, the Fighting Eagle, Verdi, Amok and Killer vs Killers) chats up Parsifal like he is Commissioner Haug chewing the fat with Snake Plissken and brother he is no Lee Van Cleef.

Sorry Plissken, no one Escapes From Cleveland.

Enlisting our roguishly handsome hero to find the one lone female Giara (Valentine Monnier of The Telephone Bar, Elle voit des nains partout!, 2019: After the Fall of New York and Devil Fish) that is not sterile, they plan to make use of her eggs after they leave the planet heading to Alpha Centauri... yeah I didn't just throw that together. So before the space race booty fest can occur, Parsifal has to sneak into the Eurak controlled region of New York but he won't be going alone. With the aid of Bronx (Paolo Maria Scalondro of The Blue-Eyed Bandit, Monsignor, Nucleo zero, Vendetta, An Eyewitness Account and Sleepless) a battered cyborg with a map of Manhattan and all its burroughs tucked away in his noggin and Rachet (Romano Puppo of Death Rides a Horse, The Great Alligator, The Commander, Secret of the Sahara, Ghoulies II and Zombi 4: After Death) the Confederate's strongest man, they will infilterate and break out Giara from her hiding place for the good of humanity. Clank was on back order. Maybe next time.

Sir? My helm just blurs my vision. You?

Oh boy, our old buddy George Eastman of New Barbarians makes an appearance as slightly mutated fellow, name of Big Ape. With the Ape Men vs the Rat Eaters, these gangs are kinda goofy. Didn't recognize him, he wasn't wearing his bad touch sodomy pants this time.  Anna Kanakis formerly Alma from New Barbarians as well is a Eurak Officer...named Ania, a power hungry, sexually aggressive woman with a lust for power and probably Parsifal.

Once again we have laser weapons but no stormtrooper blast tech armor to soak up the rays. Funny that Parsifal is packing the same blaster the Templars of New Barbarians were. I love the Confederacy have those chrome blasters from Barbarella. No seriously, I swear it looks identical to the one Jane Fonda was carrying. The mercs are dressed like Ring Wraiths at a BDSM club so not sure where the costume designer was going there. Composers Maurizio De Angelis and Guido De Angelis give some eerie organ music, electro punk and some funk going that would please George Clinton and his Parliment Funkadelic buuuuUuuuut... the score has been lifted from Yor, the Hunter from the Future. Whiskey Tango Foxtrot!?! Granted the same composers here but man, not even the same director, production company or even distribution. You would think heads would roll for that. Other incidental music sounds like it was used for Zombi 4: After Death much later.

What's the verdict? Well with the genocide, gore, nudity and random sex euphemism; it actually has a decent enough coherent story, we do get some character development and even backstory. It's a bit goofy and there is no real to describe this film other than it is an experience that cannot truly be fashioned into words. It is neither a good film nor is it a bad film. I think I was entertained somehow. Huh.

Georgia May found dumpster diving again.

Random Picks Week: Beneath the Planet of the Apes

Greetings to Day 1 of Random Picks Week and I have scooped up a sci-fi that is deemed either cult classic or a sequel that need not be with the exception of money grubbing producers.   In spite of the mixed feelings to outright negative reviews still made over $17 million in the box office on a 3 million budget.  Not a bad turn out.   This is Beneath the Planet of Apes.

I'm almost Heston.  How rude.

General Ursus:  What is more dangerous than spoiler, Doctor?
Dr. Zaius: The unknown.






The story follows right after Taylor's discovery of he is on Earth but it is hundreds of years into the future.  Nova (Linda Harrison of Batman, Planet of the Apes, Bracken's World, Airport 1975, Cocoon, Cocoon: Return and Wild Bill) and Taylor proceeded to the Forbidden Zone and Taylor stops the horse to explore a phenomena then simply disappears.  This time around an identical spacecraft that Colonel Taylor (Charlton Heston of Arrowhead,  Ben-Hur, Touch of Evil, The Ten Commandments, Planet of the Apes and The Omega Man) flew crashes in the wasteland desert instead of  following the same trajectory and came through a time vortex as well, Colonel Brent (James Franciscus of Naked City, Mr. Novak, The Cat o' Nine Tails, Hunter, Killer Fish and Nightkill) is the lone survivor of his crew and sees Nova on horseback.  Being slow, mute or a combination of both she tries to communicate with Brent and aid him in finding Taylor.

So it is off to Ape City in beautiful Red Rock Canyon and some sound stage studio time as well.  Sadly Roddie McDowell was not available to reprise his role of Cornelius (David Watson of Rawhide. Never Too Young, Daniel Boone, Paperback Romance, Beyond the Next Mountain, Criminal Ways and My Brother Jack) and Zira (Kim Hunter of Streetcar Named Desire, Lilith, Planet of the Apes, The Swimmer, Ironside and The Edge of Night)  hide Brent and Nova from the Gorillas and the ruling parties so the commander of the military General Ursus (James Gregory of The Lawless Years, The Manchurian Candidate, Barney Miller and The Flight of Dragons) does not have even more to rant about.

I am the Very Model of  a Modern Major-General!!

His speech to force humans out of their valley will not improve the food stock and even slaughtering them all is still going to take a toll on their supplies.  Ursus proposes to trek into the Forbidden Zone and look for vegetation and possible new crops.
His scouts report strange happenings and fire from the sky signifying other life is still on the planet.  An expedition is underway in the hopes to improve their food supply and the ape way of life.  So needed are the potential crops that Dr. Zaius (Maurice Evans of Marry Me, The Path to Glory, Dial M for Murder, Macbeth, Rosemary's Baby and The Red Skelton Hour) puts his full support behind the exploration of a zone no ape dare travel.

With the help of Zira, Brent and Nova escape from the city and follow a deep cavern only to discover the ruins of Queensboro Plaza station in New York City, making him come to the conclusion he is in fact on Earth but many years later.  In the ruins of St. Patrick's Cathedral he finds a gathering of humans that use telepathy and worship a nuclear bomb.

The underground mutants inform Brent that he is not welcome in their society as he is too primitive to appreciate their harmony and they toss him in a cell with Taylor.   Hey, there he is!    Our two heroes must join forces to stop the mutant and ape forces from ending the world.

Just a few comments on the movie at this time.  Due to the smaller budget the extras wore Halloween masks of apes, gorillas and orangutans and boy does it show.  Only lead speaking roles were allowed the make-up and prosthetics  Because of the following expensive blockbuster bombs; Hello, Dolly! Star! and Tora! Tora! Tora! the budget for the film was down to 3 million unlike its predecessor of 5.8 million.

The set of fallout New York was originally used for an episode of Land of the Giants.  Amusingly enough the same set was used in Conquest of the Planet of the Apes as corridors between sections of the Ape Management complex.   Heston was said to have donated his salary to charity.

Crap, it's the hall monitor!