Runtime:
91 minutes
Directed
by: Jack Smight
Starring:
Jan-Michael Vincent, George Peppard, Dominique Sanda, Paul Winfield,
Jackie Earle Haley
From:
20th Century Fox
This was another case of me having a Blu for a long while before actually watching the movie on the disc in full. Damnation Alley will forever be known for its unfavorable comparison to Star Wars; what I mean is that this was also from 20th Century Fox. It came out a few months after A New Hope and before May of 1977, Fox thought that the adventures of Luke Skywalker and gang would be the movie that would flop at the box office while this could possibly be a nonpareil success. Yeah, even back then movie studios could be kind of clueless.
The apocalypse happens and the few that survived it at an Air Force missile base end up in a bitchin' armored vehicle known as the Landmaster, off to Albany, New York... surely the only time that has ever been the main destination in a motion picture. World War III really F'ed up Earth, to the point the axis was off-kilter and thus you get bad weather, giant mutated bugs (those with a phobia for such things as cockroaches, a segment of the film is devoted to giant versions of those critters), and amusingly 70's techniques that made the skies many different colors.
Admittedly the movie is on the goofy side and is uneven at times. That said, I can still say this was fine, at least for me. I can't complain about the cast nor their performances. I was never bored with the story; a lot of time is spent with the characters interacting with each other and the various people they encounter on the journey. All that was decent. Jerry Goldsmith did an interesting electronic-influenced score, and I was charmed by all the practical effects that created the Technicolor skies, or the giant scorpions, or the various action bits.
The cheese factor is undeniable with this movie; for some that'll be the best way to view the film. For me, I can say this is decent and fine as a time-waster on a random afternoon or evening. Plenty think of it less but I was not bored by Damnation Alley.
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