I've just posted
my review of the Shout! Factory Blu-ray edition of 1977's post-Apocalyptic actioner,
Damnation Alley, over at my
DVD Late Show website. While it's not fantastic, it's a very respectable presentation.
I generally don't use the adjective "cheesy" when describing vintage genre films; too often it's just a euphemism for "old" used by those with a lack of perspective or appreciation for anything created before their birth. But DAMNATION ALLEY - from its dumbed-down script to its sloppy (even for the time) optical effects work - is a cheesy science fiction film. It's fun - no question - but it's not good. For every moment of genuine character development or attempt at pathos, there's a poorly-conceived action scene or carpet of rubber cockroaches being dragged by strings. I am genuinely thrilled to have it on Blu-ray, but I'm not oblivious to its failings.
Read my full review
HERE.
Sounds like Shout has done a pretty good job on their end. I think the interview with the vehicle designer would be the coolest extra. Thanks for the review!
ReplyDeleteGordon Long
There was a special version of Damnation Alley compiled for NBC in 1983 which included some additional scenes and alternate footage, but I'm guessing this the 1977 theatrical version only.
ReplyDeleteThat's when I saw it, I think, on the NBC broadcast back then in 1983. Remember when it was such a *BIG* deal to watch a network broadcast of a film? I miss those days...
ReplyDeleteGordon Long
I first saw this at an outdoor theater... remember those? Bad sound, bad picture, but the memory has always stuck with me as a fun one! I later saw it on a movie channel or a VHS tape (I honestly don't remember which), but haven't seen it for many years since then.
ReplyDeleteI never (even as a kid) liked the 'happy ending' that seemed so out of place with the rest of the film; I don't mind them getting to their destination, but it felt like the project ran out of money and a quick ending was just stuck onto the film.
But yeah, the Landmaster was--and still is--cool!
Liked the rest of the review; thanks for posting the link. I'd never realized that Jackie Earle Haley played the teenager in the film... in another 1970's link, he supplied the voice of Greg Butler in the Hanna-Barbera cartoon series Valley of the Dinosaurs.
Finally, the stock footage in Damnation Alley showing the underground Air Force base exploding was lifted from an earlier George Peppard film, the WWII action movie Operation Crossbow.
CR
A movie I so wanted to love when it came out - and was so disappointed when it did. I got to visit the Air Force base set after filming had been completed there - the hanger and bunker buildings were still up, but command center had been torn down. The land owner was able to watch a lot of the filming, and he swears it was supposed to be a real woman on the bike with Vincent, and that she was supposed to have been eaten by a scorpion. Apparently a lot changed from filming to screen.
ReplyDelete