This original newspaper ad "slick" for 20th Century Fox's
other big sci-fi release of 1977,
Damnation Alley, certainly promises a lot. "More than a movie," even. Of course, even if it hadn't come out the same year as
Star Wars, I can't imagine it would have been much better received by audiences and critics than it was. As impressive as the "Landmaster" vehicle was, the overall production was just shoddy - even for the pre-Lucas 70s.
Sure, it has a talented cast, and even a premise with a certain amount of potential, but the only way it can truly be enjoyed today (and even in '77) is as "camp"... and I say that as a guy who is
notoriously forgiving when it comes to the era's sci-fi efforts (and yes, who owns the movie on Blu-ray).
While I did find it entertaining, I wish they had stayed a bit closer to Roger Zelazny's original novel. It would've been a better movie.
ReplyDeleteA lot of goofy b-movies went on to become staple viewing of the pre-digital channels era of television - like Starcrash, Battle Beyond the Stars, Escape To Victory - and I think Damnation Alley - ropey fx and all - could have been much more fondly remembered than it was if the tone had been a little less grim so that it could have been shown during daylight hours to the audience that could appreciate it as a campy boys' own action adventure.
ReplyDeleteI mean, it had Hannibal Smith and Stringfellow Hawke in it - that surely wouldn't have been too hard a sell in the mid-80s?
I wouldn't classify it as camp but as 70's light action
ReplyDeleteI think the budget was spent on building the Landmaster. The Landmaster and the Ark II from Ark II (1976-1977) were two of my favorite '70s land vehicles.
ReplyDeleteSGB
Besides being a mediocre movie, the fact that Damnation Alley was released in 1977 between Star Wars and Close Encounters in probably didn't help the reception it got either. I don't even remember being of aware of Damnation Alley until it was shown on network TV (with added footage even) in the early '80s, taking advantage of the nuclear war fervor caused by The Day After.
ReplyDeleteI saw a still of the giant scorpion attack in a sci-fi book as a kid and couldn't wait to see Damnation Alley. It took a long time but I caught up with it eventually, but found it looked like a sci-fi movie from 1971, not 1977, and not in a good way. Of course, if someone was making movies in this style now I'd be very happy to watch them!
ReplyDeleteThe first time I saw this was when it played on TV. I thought it was a made for TV movie, so I was fine with the crappy sfx. I had no idea it was released in theaters!
ReplyDeleteDitto. I always thought it was a TV movie, hence the crap FX. I was shocked when I discovered it had a bigger budget than Star Wars, and was expected to be the big SF movie of the year.
DeleteI'm still surprised Hollywood haven't done a remake based on the original Zelazny novel. That would have made a much better movie.
Anyone that ever played Gamma World loves this movie.
ReplyDeleteI like this movie, it's silly but still a good watch if you like this king of thing
ReplyDeleteI think I was around 8 or 9 years old when I first saw Damnation Alley. I loved it as a kid, since I didn't worry about cheap production values. The price of growing up is losing some of the magic. I agree that this would make a good basis for a reboot that would probably be far superior to the original.
ReplyDeleteAnd of course it got turned into a Judge Dredd comic -- _The Cursed Earth_.
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