How well I remember The Ultimate Warrior when he was a big draw in Vince McMahon's WWF back in the day. With him in mind I thought I would get a titanically built warrior along the lines of Arnold Schwarzeneggar. Instead I got Yul Brynner looking very uncomfortable in a role for which a Schwarzeneggar was required to make it believable.
The Ultimate Warrior the movie is set in an apocalyptic New York in the year of 2012. A plague has descended on the land and the world's food supply has been pretty wiped out. Manhattan island has descended into gangs that have formed tribes. One of the more civilized tribes is headed by Max Von Sydow who is a scientist and whose son-in-law Richard Kelton has developed some vegetable seeds that are immune to the plague virus. But he and his pregnant wife, Joanna Miles have to escape to the country and give these seeds a chance to grow.
Which is where Yul Brynner comes in, The Ultimate Warrior, an ultimate fighting machine who makes hash out of an invading tribe headed by William Smith. Can Von Sydow and Brynner keep civilization alive.
Brynner was never a man exactly out of shape, but he was 55 and looking it when he did this film. Fifteen years earlier he might have been believable, but not now. Von Sydow was all right though as the voice of dying civilization.
One thing though in that last hand to hand fight with William Smith if Schwarzeneggar had been cast he would never have had to make the sacrifice he did. You'll have to see the movie to know what I'm talking about.
Only for Yul Brynner's fans and even they should approach this one with a caution.
The Ultimate Warrior the movie is set in an apocalyptic New York in the year of 2012. A plague has descended on the land and the world's food supply has been pretty wiped out. Manhattan island has descended into gangs that have formed tribes. One of the more civilized tribes is headed by Max Von Sydow who is a scientist and whose son-in-law Richard Kelton has developed some vegetable seeds that are immune to the plague virus. But he and his pregnant wife, Joanna Miles have to escape to the country and give these seeds a chance to grow.
Which is where Yul Brynner comes in, The Ultimate Warrior, an ultimate fighting machine who makes hash out of an invading tribe headed by William Smith. Can Von Sydow and Brynner keep civilization alive.
Brynner was never a man exactly out of shape, but he was 55 and looking it when he did this film. Fifteen years earlier he might have been believable, but not now. Von Sydow was all right though as the voice of dying civilization.
One thing though in that last hand to hand fight with William Smith if Schwarzeneggar had been cast he would never have had to make the sacrifice he did. You'll have to see the movie to know what I'm talking about.
Only for Yul Brynner's fans and even they should approach this one with a caution.