My review was written in October 1984 after a screening at Selwyn theater on Manhattan's 42nd St.
"Rush" is a minor, highly derivative action picture in the science fiction genre, which marks the return to theatrical distribution of the 1970s indie Cinema Shares Int'l. The director, Tonino Ricci signs his work Anthony Richmond, but that typically anglicized name will cause confusion with Jaclyn Smith's husband, the British cinematographer-director Anthony Richmond.
The film skimps on story and incident, preferring instead to rely on an Italian hero, whose stage name is Conrad Nichols, decked out to closely resemble Sylvester Stallone in "First Blood". He's Rush, a muscular road warrior who, 10 years after a nuclear war has devastated the world, attempts to free the slave labor ruled by a despot (Gordon Mitchell). Pic is set at an oil refinery plus greenhouse. The basic conflict of people afraid to go back "outside" while Rush is there to inform them that radiation has dissipated and the Earth is becoming fertile again, is never borne out by the visuals (which have the people outside already).
After uneventful opening reels of minor fights and Rush in captivity, our smiling hero escapes, cuing a last half of him being chased through a forest which directly mimics "First Blood". For a futuristic film, "Rush" relies upon uniforms, vehicles and weaponry which seem left over from a World War II opus. Cheap production has poor special effects (puffs of smoke when grenades explode) and very fake fight scenes, likely to invite derision by action film audiences. Silliest touch is having the laborers in ordinary clothes, with pieces of transparent plastic (like raincoats) worn on top for "style".
A sequel has already been made, though the only suspense at the end of "Rush" is whether the perpetually sweaty and oiled-body (he seems ready to pose ina Mr. Universe contest) Nichols will get to take a bath.
