Fight for Your Life

Rating:
Summary: Bill Maher Would Be Proud
Review: "Fight for your Life" may be the most politically incorrect film of all time. The story concerns an escaped trio of convicts, led by a crazed white man, who infiltrate the home of an African-American family. This leads to a series of racist humiliations and other forms of degradation of the family brought on by the morally corrupt men. This late seventies film is impossible to fully describe and still remain within the realm of good taste. Scenes of a very young child having his head bashed in with a rock, gang rape and the aformentioned racist humiliation are but the tip of the iceberg of atrocities. This is obviously a difficult film to watch. Amazingly, just when you think the film is nothing more than old-school Times Square sleaze, some very unexpected plot twists occur. I will not go into what these twists are so as not to ruin the film for those that may view it. An interesting note is that the racist white convict is played by William Sanderson who is best remembered as "Larry" from the "Newhart" t.v. show. This is a film I am sure he keeps of his resume. The DVD by Blue Underground is superb as usual with their products. There is a commentary track as well as a series of trailers labeled as "white" trailers and "black" trailers with very different messages. This is a film that simply could not be made today which may very well be a good thing. While I gave this film four stars, it should be noted that if you are sensetive to blatant racism, you will not want to watch. It is very simply a low grade exploitation picture that is unlike any you will ever see.

Rating:
Summary: YEAH!!!!
Review: Finally a movie that uses every inch of our beloved First Amendment. Believe me, anything you've heard about this film is probably true. To put it in a bullet-shell: It takes Last House on the Left and goes further.

Though there is no David Hess actor here, so the tension is built through great directing and espeically editing. Anyone who claims to have seen it all should watch this. There is a lack of blood and violence which makes the film even more amazing. But don't worry folks, when the action has to go down, it does so in a brutal and unrelenting fashion.

As I said, the film is abetted by excellent acting and directing. The writing is exceptional, and the director really knows how to develop character.

So hey, enjoy this film and shave your head.



Rating:
Summary: not for the squeamish, not for the politically correct
Review: I watched FIGHT FOR YOUR LIFE some years ago on a n-th generation videotape and despite the atrocious picture quality it made an enormous impression on me. Luckily there is now this definite UNCUT edition of this 1977 grindhouse classic available on a great looking DVD from Blue Underground, so I did not hestitate to upgrade.
A word of caution: FIGHT FOR YOUR LIFE is not for easily offended viewers.
The plot has three vicious scumbag criminals - a racist hate-filled white sadist, an Asian American and a Latino - escape, when the prison truck transporting them is involved in a traffic accident. They shoot a prison guard, hijack a pimp's car and flee to the countryside. Needless to say that they commit some violent crimes along the way, until finally they take an African American family hostage. A nightmare of sadism, racist degradation, humilation and rape for the black family begins, and two white friends of the family (a young woman and a boy) visiting are brutally murdered by one of the home invaders. Finally police, led by a tough cop nicknamed "Rulebook" REILLY, siege the family's home. I don't want to give the end away, but the promotional tagline "They took it until they couldn't take any more!" already indicates that it's comeuppance time for the baddies...

Wow! What a sick and sleazy grindhouse movie! It is genuinely shocking, in no small part due to the powerhouse performance delivered by William SANDERSON as ultra-violent racist. He is extremely convincing in his role, calling his victims every name in the book and constantly shouting racist insults and comments (which I am not allowed to quote here). If there was an Academy Award for most abundant use of foul language in a movie, FIGHT FOR YOUR LIFE would undoubtedly win it.
Needless to say it is very violent, particularly in the scene, where the small boy is beaten to death with a stone.
Watch at your own risk!

Some words on the DVD: print quality is great, and there are some nice extra features. There are three trailers (one aimed at a white audience highlighting the crime aspect, another aimed at black audiences with emphasis on the Afro-American family's revenge and a so-called teaser trailer, which strangely consists of a single still). Forget the teaser trailer. The other two are very good, but both give away too much. The trailers are basically a 3 minute version of the movie, so you better don't watch them before the main feature. There are also TV-spots, an audiocommentary (on which I can not comment, since I did not listen to it) and a very nice still gallery, consisting of poster artwork, a newspaper ad, videotape covers and lobby cards of mostly German origin, where FIGHT FOR YOUR LIFE played theatres under the title of AUSBRUCH ZUR HÖLLE (= escape to hell).
A hugely recommended DVD!

Rating:
Summary: Great entertainment, but certainly won't appeal to everyone
Review: If there was ever a movie that could push the audience's buttons, it was Fight for Your Life. During its limited theatrical run, it reportedly caused near riots in theaters wherever it was shown. The movie follows three escaped convicts, led by racist hillbilly psychopath Jesse Cain (William Sanderson), who take an African-American family hostage in their home and torture them. Cain spews vicious racial epithets almost constantly as he and his cohorts (who, ironically enough, are Latino and Asian) subject the family to a host of racial and sexual humiliations. Though it's easy to dismiss as mere exploitation, Fight for Your Life speaks volumes about what America had on its collective mind in the late 1970's, reflecting anxieties about the effects of drugs, violent crime and volatile race relations on the country. Of course, it's also great entertainment. Thanks to a strong script from Straw Weisman and Robert Endelson's smart direction, there's never a dull moment in this film, though it certainly isn't for all viewers.

Four stars out of five.

Rating:
Summary: Great entertainment, but certainly won't appeal to everyone
Review: If there was ever a movie that could push the audience's buttons, it was Fight for Your Life. During its limited theatrical run, it reportedly caused near riots in theaters wherever it was shown. The movie follows three escaped convicts, led by racist hillbilly psychopath Jesse Cain (William Sanderson), who take an African-American family hostage in their home and torture them. Cain spews vicious racial epithets almost constantly as he and his cohorts (who, ironically enough, are Latino and Asian) subject the family to a host of racial and sexual humiliations. Though it's easy to dismiss as mere exploitation, Fight for Your Life speaks volumes about what America had on its collective mind in the late 1970's, reflecting anxieties about the effects of drugs, violent crime and volatile race relations on the country. Of course, it's also great entertainment. Thanks to a strong script from Straw Weisman and Robert Endelson's smart direction, there's never a dull moment in this film, though it certainly isn't for all viewers.

Four stars out of five.

Rating:
Summary: Could You Believe in Heaven...If Heaven Was All You had.
Review: This movie is quite the opposite. It is filled with expoitive obsurdity that is in fact hell throughout. Only one part of the movie makes the rational, nonracist smile before it comes to its' inevitable end. It makes one truly remember...

If you are subjected to one thing over and over, until that is all you know...and one small part of the opposite is let in...it feels so good. "Nothing...I hear nothing at all"...would've never been so powerful without the expoitation used in this film.

It made me realize how true it is that we are of a fine balance, and live a balance. Given too much of one thing, an occurance of the opposite places a large emotional response from the needy balance of our nature.

Digital Transfer is Excellent. Blue Underground films are Highly Recommended as they do a supurb job on converting films to DVD from the original negatives. The only qualm with Blue Underground films is that they do not have original dubs with english subtitles on their foriegn films. Unfotunately, we are left with (sometimes horrible) english dubs over the original foreign language dub.