Plot
In 2012, following devastating plagues that wiped out the world’s food supply, a grim and gritty New York City is populated by lawless gangs fighting over scarce remaining resources. Against this desolate backdrop, a small, relatively civilized group led by the charismatic “Baron” have developed seeds that are immune to the plague and are trying to rebuild some sort of safe society from the rubble of a collapsed world.
However, it becomes increasingly clear to the Baron that achieving his noble pursuits is impossible in Manhattan, and he decides to hire a stoic warrior to lead his pregnant daughter, her botanist husband, and the last remaining plague-resistant seeds to a safe location far from the ravages of the doomed city.
The escape proves more difficult than anticipated…
It's interesting what becomes valuable to us when most everything is taken away.
Critique
4.5The first part of the film focuses on a sedate depiction of a world enveloped in layers of barbarism and the Baron’s vain efforts to restore a semblance of social and ethical order. After that, the movie takes a comic-book turn, focusing on Carson’s heroic mission. He’s the sometimes-shirtless warrior hired to escort the future of humanity (symbolized by the mother-to-be as much as the hard-to-come-by seeds) to better, safer shores.
The film doesn’t hold up well – seen through today’s eyes, it’s not very compelling, even dull at times. Still, Robert Clouse deserves some credit for having contributed – along with works such as “No Blade of Grass” (1970)” – to establishing some of the basic themes for the wave of “post-apocalyptic” films that would inundate the sci-fi genre in the coming decade.
The cast is brimming with prominent names, even though they’re basically wasted here: Max von Sydow isn’t terribly credible as the diligent fan of democracy, while Yul Brynner falls somewhere between being a traditional western “white hat” and a replicant from “Westworld” (1973). In fact, he comes across more like a new android model from that latter film.
More Info
- Novelization: "The Ultimate Warrior" (1975) by Bill S. Ballinger
Quotes
- It's interesting what becomes valuable to us when most everything is taken away.
Products
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