User reviews

So how many of those post apocalyptic movies did they make, its felt a bit like the running man for the first 20 minutes of the movie then it got into the usual mutant like looking 5 against 50 fights.

All in all it was an ok movie.

This was not as bad I expected...

The first half of this film is very boring and it is suitable to use the fast forwarding on your remote, because the last half is so much better. You can see easily that the budget for this film has been very low, but the action scenes actually work rather well. The post-WW3 vehicles are creatively constructed from existing cars and motorbikes. The car with no doors is my favorite. I wonder where they get all the gas and spare parts for those things in a destroyed world?

The acting isn't so bad. The telepath girl looks good and carries her role very well. The only scene of her I laughed out loud was that where a telepath makes a big stone floating up. You can easily spot the wire holding the styrofoam-stone in the air, it's just so goofy.

I gave this 5/10.

Okay, this mix of "Escape from New York" and "Le prix du danger" could have been better, especially if they chose a better actor as the "hero" But. there is the typical appeal of Italian B-movie and the physical presence of George Eastman. Michele Soavi plays a doctor at the end. Saw this in France when I was young (!) and again at the Paris cinémathèque, though some bits of film were missing. Not as good as Sergio Martino's "2019 Dopo la caputa di New York", but worth a look.

In the year 2025, a nuclear holocaust has left New York City ruined, inhabited by persecuted telepathic mutants. Keeping the people pacified is the reality television program Endgame, where a new hero must save a group of people and fight to the death.

Directed by Joe D'Amato (under the pseudonym Steven Benson) Endgame (Bronx lotta finale) is one of the better executed Italian post apocalyptic B-films. The action seems endless especially in the closing act as scavenger packs and telepathic mutants fight it out with hunters, gladiators and military elite. There's an unnecessary rape scene, this aside the majority of D'Amato's Max Road Warrior meets Beneath the Planet of the Apes is very watchable especially if you enjoy the likes of Rats: Night of Terror, Warriors of the Wasteland and Bronx Warriors.

The locations and costumes deserve a mention. Carlo Maria Cordio's music working best when it's borrowing cues from Vangelis' Blade Runner score.

Interestingly, the TV game concept (even though not fully explored) predates The Running Man a good four years before Arnold Schwarzenegger's scifi romp and was made around the same time Stephen King's pseudonym book was published.

Overall, not too shabby at all.

I really don't like using the word "cheesy", but it seems to be the one that applies best here. "Endgame" is likely to be picked up only by post-apocalyptic fantasy fans, or Joe D'Amato completists. So what do they have to look forward to? Some good ideas (the hero at one point acknowledges that men like him, living by their fists and guns are "the past"), some cliched ideas (the hunting game that's the most popular show on TV, the "Magnificent Seven"-type enlisting of the hero's sidekicks), and some weird ideas about telepathy: apparently the hero is not telepathic, and he can't read people's minds, yet he can communicate telepathically with a "gifted" woman. Get it? (*1/2)

A grizzled veteran of a futuristic battle game who is undefeated for 22 matches, is hired by a group of telepathic humans to take them to a safer location out of New York where they won't be persecuted. He gets together a band of five skilled warriors to act as their bodyguards, and they set out on the trail. Along the way, they have various encounters with perverted mutants and blind warriors, along with a army general and his platoon who is determined to find out just what the hell is going on. Can anyone save these poor bedraggled creatures from a life in a laboratory? Their saviour may yet turn out to be (surprise, surprise) a five year old boy with an extraordinary talent.

You can either take 'Endgame' one of two ways: as a reasonably effective post-nuke thriller with passable action scenes and a half-decent plot, or as a laugh a minute B-movie filled to the brim with laughable dialogue and bad special effects. Either way, it works. Me? I sit somewhere in the middle, there were some moments where I got quite involved in the action, and others where I could have almost slapped my forehead at the cheesiness of the whole affair. (Best moment: Our hero says goodbye to his sort-of girlfriend at the end with a true howler of a line: "Lillith, look inside me. You are the future, I am the past!" YUCK! Suddenly he doesn't seem to tough..) It certainly isn't a masterpiece but if you take the film for what it is I'll bet you'll find it quite enjoyable. There is just one thing that confuses me though..

One battalion of mutants that accost our protagonists on their way deserves further discussion. To all intents and purposes, they look the same as any other bunch of freaks: tattered clothing, old-fashioned weapons, inability to speak proper English. But check this out: mounted on their leader's tank like a couple of war trophies is TWO TOPLESS GIRLS. Now, usually this wouldn't be a problem, I love a bit of random nudity. But these ladies are UGLY. The kind that originated the phrase Coyote Ugly. (You know, when you'd chew your own leg off to get out of bed with them..) You'd think being the boss of these mutants he would have his pick out of a million pretty ladies, and he chooses those two trollops. Unbelievable. The radiation from his mutation must have fried his brain. Anyway, just thought I'd get that off my chest.

What? You're wondering why I bothered wasting a whole paragraph on that? Listen sister, this is my review, and if I wanted to discuss the Stock Exchange while discussing the finer points of E.T, it's my decision. SO THERE! *Blows raspberry at invisible critic and walks off in a huff* 5/10

Wow, this is italian exploitation flicks at it's best. Guess this one came because of the post-apocalyptic hype after "Escape from New York" and "Mad Max", and got stuff like "Rollerball" also in it. Of course it's an awful movie full of missing links. But here is simply no need for explanations, this question would be stupid. It's the full atmosphere of 80ies italo exploitation thrash: good explosions (gas!gas!gas! - nothing digital! I reminisce in nostalgica), crazy overacted characters, some bare breasts, a setting full of cheap dirt. Those movies are so honest in their cheasiness and roughness, I love 'em. - And the eighties were best! Italy full ahead! A pitty the video-market got down and what is left is filled by the majors with hollywood-cheapos exploiting themselves with their own cheap ripp-offs which have no life of it's own; a pity, no good exploitation-scene nowadays...

And hey, wow, this one has them all in it: Joe d'Amato, Al Cliver, Laura Gemser, Michele Soavi and George Eastmen. - A Fest! Gets a nerdish 7 out of 10!

Avoid this movie at all costs. It is one of those movies you sit through in the anticipation that something good comes up, and you sit there and hope until it says the end on the screen! The plot summary kind of gives a good impression on the quality of this flick and its all true! the danish magazine M! has made it one of its worst movie pick of the month.

Dont go see it!

Based on the reputation of director Joe D'Amato, who's primarily known for an endless number of pornography movies and perverted exploitation flicks, and a shallow first look at the VHS cover and stills, I was expecting "Endgame" to be an extremely low-keyed and virtually worthless piece of Italian 80's trash but I'm glad to announce that it actually is a pleasantly engaging Post-Apocalyptically themed Sci-Fi experience. It's a piece of 80's trash nevertheless, of course, but one of the most enjoyable kinds. "Endgame" belongs in the extended category of Italian produced "Escape from NY" knockoffs and it can easily compete with the most successful and notorious accomplishments in there, like Sergio Martino's "After the Fall of New York", Ruggero Deodato's "The Atlantis Interceptors", Lucio Fulci's "The Fighting Centurions" and Enzo G. Castellari's "The New Barbarians". These titles probably don't mean anything to 'normal' film lovers, but to true fans of Italian exploitation cinema they form an excellent source of comparison. The main story lines are very familiar and D'Amato isn't too ashamed to add in one clichéd plot twist after the other, but the film is extremely fast-paced, spectacular and indescribably violent, so who really cares about originality? Al Cliver plays a terrific Snake Plissken clone, but the show is obviously stolen by the almighty George Eastman as the arch enemy. It's the years 2025 and everybody eagerly awaits the new edition of a popular TV show, called "Endgame", in which a couple of bloodthirsty hunters go after a human prey. Ron Shannon wins the game, but only thanks to the help of the telepathically gifted mutant Lilith (D'Amato muse Laura Gemser). The government systematically exterminates all the mutants, and thus Shannon swears to help Lilith and her other mutant friends flee out of the city. Along with a troop of recruited mercenaries, Shannon guides them out of town but the group successively encounters hugely challenging ordeals like a community of blind cannibalistic monks (a splendid homage to "The Omega Man" perhaps?), an army of bewildered mutants and Nazi-like government soldiers. "Endgame" is glorious and priceless 80's entertainment like they just don't make it anymore. The battling sequences are extended and body count is enormous, with literally hundreds of bad guys and the occasional good guy dying left and right and in highly imaginative ways. In spite of the obviously low-budgeted production values, D'Amato managed to gather together some excellently apt set pieces and flamboyant vehicles and even the make-up effects are far above average. Director Joe D'Amato stated that this is his own personal favorite of all the movies he directed, and he's probably right although I personally have even bigger soft spots for "Anthropophagus" and "Beyond the Darkness". This is somewhat also a very atypical D'Amato film and that's a positive comment. For once, he could keep his viewers alert and fascinated with actually content instead of through showing nudity and sleaze. I mean, Laura Gemser stars in this film and she barely takes her clothes off! George Eastman also stars and he doesn't even attempt to rape a woman! This is just a perfectly entertaining Italian post-apocalyptic Sci-Fi movie with all the necessary ingredients: action, bloodshed, gimmicks, costumes, silliness and a terrific freeze-frame end shot.

In a bleak, post-apocalyptic future, society is controlled by a military force determined to exterminate undesirable under-classes, including a race of peaceful telepaths whose powers pose a potential threat to their totalitarian regime; as the 'security service' (who fittingly wear Nazi-style Stormtrooper helmets emblazoned with an SS logo) carry out their acts of mass slaughter, the general public is kept distracted by Endgame, a violent television show that pits several hunters against a single human prey, of which all-round tough guy Shannon (Al Cliver) is the current undefeated champion.

During the latest edition of Endgame, Shannon is approached by telepath Lilith (Laura Gemser), who offers the warrior a fortune in gold to lead a small group of mutants beyond the confines of the city, where they intend to rendezvous with others of their kind. Shannon accepts the job, recruits a team of double-hard bastards to assist him, and escorts the mutants into the dangerous atomic wastelands, hotly pursued by his chief Endgame rival Karzak (George Eastman) and several gas-mask wearing SS troops.

Endgame's basic premise—The Running Man meets The X-Men, by way of The Ultimate Warrior, Escape From New York and Mad Max—sure sounds like a lot of fun, but as is often the case with these early '80s, Italian, post-apocalyptic rip-offs, the actual film leaves a lot to be desired. Low production values, heavy handed direction from Joe D'amato, poorly choreographed fight scenes, surprisingly listless performances from its seasoned exploitation cast, and a lack of outrageous splatter means that the film is far from the enjoyably cheesy, excessively violent, OTT futuristic romp that the gloriously fetishistic cover—an image of a musclebound gladiator wielding all manner of gore spattered weaponry—leads us to believe it will be.

The movie begins with approximately half an hour of extremely dull Endgame action in which the expressionless Al Cliver, sporting embarrassing Ziggy Stardust-style silver face paint, engages in several lacklustre scenes of combat against the game's hunters; this is followed by an hour or so of repetitive and only-slightly-less-dull larger scale conflict as Shannon and pals battle unconvincingly against the denizens of the wasteland, who include involuted mutants (fish men, monkey men etc.) and hordes of blind scavengers. In order to eke out his limited budget, D'amato uses derelict warehouses and patches of urban wasteland to stand in for his world ravaged by nuclear war, limits his vehicular stunts to a few unspectacular falls from motorcycles and a car crash or two, opts for bargain basement make-up for his mutants, and shells out as few Lira as possible on gore (I want squibs, Goddamit—lots of squibs!).

Admittedly fun moments include the rape of Lilith by a fat, blue, scaly, drooling fish man (yet another opportunity for far-from-shy-and-retiring Gemser to bare her breasts), a telepath receiving an axe in the head (a scene apparently cut from the UK release by those nice people at the BBFC), and the chief Nazi blowing his own brains out (forced to do so by a telekinetic kid, one of the supposedly benign mutant clan incapable of hurting others). These 'high points', however, are nowhere near enough to prevent the film as a whole from being an instantly forgettable and relatively worthless experience.

Despite the slow-going and uninteresting first half, ENDGAME really picks up when a group of telepaths and mercenaries hired to guard them leave in a caravan to escape the city. The group's adventures in the wasteland are quite entertaining, beginning with an exciting low-budget battle sequence when a huge force of blind cultists with a vast array of odd weapons attack. Naturally, these blind types aren't the best at aim (or tactics) and are summarily mown town in waves much like ZULU or THE ALAMO. However, this scene alone is quite funny and stands out as a reason to see this movie above most of the rest of Post-apocalyptic dirge the Italians flooded out in the early 80's to capitalize off of MAD MAX 2.

Lots of cool shootouts, lots of cheesy gore and makeup, and a lot of silly dialog make this movie a winner for fans of Italian C-movies. On top of that, the cast is hard to beat with an odd assortment of Spaghetti Western, Polizioteschi, and Sexploitation movie veterans not seeming too out of their element wearing goofy costumes and fighting each other in the same abandoned rock quarry. Massacessi, who began and ended his career making smut, had a brief period in the 80's where he really tried hard to make non-lowest-common-denominator-type movies largely on his own under his Filmirage company (of which this film is one of the first and best examples). Eventually though the law of diminishing returns took hold and one of the company's final productions would be the legendarily noxious TROLL 2.

This film is pretty hard to find though, which is a bit of a shame, as with a cleaned up transfer may play a little better than the gritty old VHS tape.

What would a film written & directed by a ten-year old boy look like? That may sound like a cute idea but I assure you it's miserable to suffer through.

Now I've seen yet another Laura Gemser performance but I am not kidding when I say that you'd see more of her in a 30" commercial for dish soap. My girlfriend is less covered up when she's walking around in a below-zero blizzard, and at least I get to see her all day, instead of simply several seconds now & then.

I realize that part of this supposedly features a TV battle game but any such TV show would be canceled after one episode. This whole film appears as though they were attempting to make all characters move as if in a video-game. That may sound like an interesting concept but it is not. If you wish to make things more exciting, you speed things up; you don't slow everything down.

"Futuristic action" No, it is not. "Futuristic" means as if in the future. It does not mean claimed to be set in the future but written & produced by such uncreative slags that it more resembles the distant past, as predicting the future would require imagination, intelligence, and a decent budget. "Hey, Zimbo, they didn't have machine guns or motorcycles in the distant past." But if they had, they wouldn't have gotten off their zippy transportation, dropped their automatic weapons, and fought hand-to-hand with swords. Those moronic nonmutants deserved to die! This was "action" in the sense that jumping off your scooter and engaging in a "battle" dance is, i.e. it was not.

"fun" "romp" -- No character in this film had any fun, and I don't grasp how viewers can. I guess some people enjoy watching hospital soap operas but not me. "Romp" implies fun & humor but I saw none whatsoever. There's a difference between a train wreck and a panel van which slowly gets mired in a puddle of muck. Oh, but we were taught an important lesson about how we should be kinder to the mutants we meet, as they likely have hidden good features to make up for their mutantism? How could Laura Gemser have sunk this low?

Endgame - Bronx lotta finale (1983)

** (out of 4)

Set in a post-apocalyptic world, Ron Shannon (Al Cliver) is a warrior who has won a television show, which puts one strong man against others for a title. He is asked by a group of mutants (led by Laura Gemser) to guard them and transport them to a location where they can live on. Shannon takes the job and recruits some other men but soon it's clear that Col. Morgan (Gordon Mitchell) will stop at nothing to make sure all the mutants die.

ENDGAME - BRONX LOTTA FINALE is another Italian film that rip-offs MAD MAX. Who knows how many of these films were made but this one here comes from cult director Joe D'Amato and for the most part it's mindless entertainment and you should find it somewhat entertaining as long as you don't take it too serious.

In all honesty, the plot it somewhat of a mess and it's probably more complicated than it should have been. The biggest problem with the movie is the fact that the dialogue scenes are so deadly boring that you can't help but wish they had been edited out all together. After all, how many people come to a movie like this to hear any sort of talk? The film's entertainment comes from the non-stop action and this is where people can have some fun. There are all sorts of action scenes with shoot-outs, fights with blind people and more non-sense. The action is pretty fast and furious and makes for a much better time.

Genre fans will certainly enjoy the cast that they have lined up even though the dubbing, as you'd expect, was pretty bad. Cliver might always be remembered for his role in Lucio Fulci's ZOMBIE but he's always fun to watch. Gemser had already made several film with D'Amato but she really isn't given too much to do here and yes boys, she keeps her clothes on throughout the film. George Eastman also appears in a small role and when you add in Mitchell you've got four likable actors.

D'Amato does a pretty good job in the director's chair and in fact I was surprised to see how well he handled the action scenes. These scenes are what makes the film so ENDGAME - BRONX LOTTA FINALE will appeal to fans of the genre.

Stop me if you've heard this premise before. A telepathic mutant summons up two celebrity gladiator type butt kickers to lead her and her telepathic friends out of the city and into a safe place away from the corrupt government. Endgame actually is about as enjoyable as Z-grade Italian rip offs get, my three star rating then is meant solely for those who know what they're getting since nobody else would rent this in the first place. Endgame actually is true guilty pleasure because it's just so weird and loopy, there are fights against blind monks, a kung fu expert named "Ninja" who helps our hero and weird vehicles and costumes. This is a movie that they just don't make any more and is based on taking Mad Max and adding so many ideas and weird touches that it becomes somewhat enjoyable. The twist ending truly must be seen to be believed and I mean what can I say, I liked it.

* * * out of 4-(Good)

Al Cliver plays a road warrior type who battles three other warriors in an urban hellhole to see whose the best. These battles have no rules and are to the death.

Cliver takes out two out of three. The third is played by big (and I mean BIG) George Eastman. These two seemed to respect each other still.

I never saw Cliver as an action star, but he did well here. That tired look of his worked in his favor. And Eastman had the steel stare. They shake hands in the beginning and Eastman just looks at him and says 'I'm gonna kill you.'

Laura Gemser (Goddess) plays a street person named Lilith and in a rarity, keeps her clothes on.

It ripped off the road warrior shamelessly, but I still liked it. Call it recommended.

Like, i went in with zero in mind and this movie was a well made sci fi post apocalypse b movie. For little budget they had they still created very nice scenery and environments.

It's still the 80s b feeling it it but this was like way better then the 5 people give it here.

(1983) Endgame/ Bronx lotta finale DUBBED SCIENCE-FICTION ACTION

Inspired by apocalyptic movies such as "Mad Max" movies, "Rollerball" and "Escape From New York" to name a few "Endgame" is a name of a dangerous futuristic game show televised live of "The Most Dangerous Game" with Al Cliver as Ron Shannon as being the one who is hunted by 5 different professional hunters and killers. Ron Shannon also happens to be the star as he is also being pursued for his professional experiences of guiding a group of people out of the apocalyptic city since they are being hunted down and are ordered to be shot for the purpose of a cover up, some who are mutants with telekinetic powers, particularly the young boy and the woman named Lillith (Laura Gemser) who has the ability to talk with another individul to whom she may please, an could also read minds.

My review was written in January 1986 after watching the movie on Cinemax.

"Endgame" is a rather weak entry in the crowded post-WW III series of Italian action films made circa 1983. Emanating from the Helen Sarlui pic stable (though she does not take a screen credit), item was mulled for a while as a New Line theatrical release but went instead to pay-tv and home video.

Misleading opening reel establishes a tv game in the year 2012 called "Endgame", quite similar to Robert Sheckley's concept used in the classic "The Tenth Victim" (and recently updated in another Italian pic, "The Final Executioner"). Al Cliver toplines as a successful warrior in the killing game who is recruited by a telepathic mutant Lilith (Laura Gemser) to help her band of mutants leave the city (where they are subject to extermination by storm trooper-styled soldiers) to set up a new community.

The tv game is over in 20 minutes, with the remainder of the film given over to fights en route to delivering the mutants. Action scenes are perfunctory, with none of the thrills to the model for this genre, "The Road Warrior".

Given the poor dubbing of these pictures, "Endgame" benefits from its telepathy gimmick, which allows many dialog scenes to have staring faces with no lips moving as the thoughts are voiced-over on the soundtrack. Acting is stilted, with the ubiquitous husband-and-wife team of Laura Gemser and Gabriele Tinti both credited with different "real" names, Moira Chen and Gus Stone, respectively. Freeze-frame non-ending is poor.

Endgame is a film directed by the notorious Joe D'amato (Anthropophagus, Emmanuelle in America) and written by Joe D'amato and George Eastman. It is a post-apocalyptic movie in a similar vein to Madmax. The setting is post World War 3 and a game being aired on TV is the new thing. The game is called "Endgame" and it is very similar to that of an idea Stephen King came up with. Contestants are set loose in a grubby city and must kill each other until one remains. Two of the contestants are stars "George Eastman" and "Al Cliver". The first half of the movie is the "Endgame" battle. The second half is when Al Cliver runs into a telepath played by "Laura Gemser". She asks him if he could help her and a group of other telepaths to escape from the city. Apparently, escaping from the city isn't easy do to a dictator like government. So, Al Cliver gets together a band of hardcore warriors to set out and get these telepaths out of the city.

I must say that Endgame was quite a fun movie. Packed with enough action to keep any Schwartzenneger fan at bay, Endgame truly delivers. We have action about every 5 to 10 minutes and they are long, drawn out action sequences. We have a few moments of gore, but only a few. Laura Gemser even shows off her breast in one scene (what a surprise). Al Cliver is no leading man but is definitely enjoyable in this movie is you like the things he has been in (Zombie 2, Demonia). George Eastman is always an awesome presence and is a good foe for Al Cliver. All in all, Endgame is a fun movie and if you like action check it out. 7/10

Kick arse! Big Al Cliver and even bigger George Eastman go head to head (sometimes) or join up to go head to head with others (sometimes) in a film that's like the film Running Man for the first half hour before they get a squad together and take on the visually impaired! Both George and Al are contestants in Endgame, a TV s how where Hunters hunt the prey (usually a Hunter that's volunteered to be the Prey). This time, champion Shannon (Cliver) is the prey and he's got three hunters on his tail. One seems to be a member of Kiss, one is Bobby Rhodes from Demons, and the other is twelve foot tall childhood friend George Eastman. Shannon runs around kicking everyone's head in while it's filmed for TV, but things get complicated when on the set (which is the post-nuclear wasteland of New York – forgot to mention that), Shannon meets Laura Gesmer, a psychic mutant who needs a guide to help her and her son and some other mutants escape the city and the Nazi-style army led by the aged but still pretty ugly George Mitchell.

After sparing Eastman's life and bolting from the gameshow which seems to involve him 'dissapearing' back to his caravan where everyone should know where he is, Shannon gets together a crew to help out, including an eye-patch guy, Al Yamanouchi, who kills a guy with his bare hands for no real reason, a guy who looks like a Viking and the guy whose name I can never remember even though he's in about 50% of the Italian films I own (like Mad Dog and Arizona Colt). They set off into the wilderness and almost immediately get into a massive battle with loads of blinds monks, whom you might have guessed can see via a poor telepath they have tied up somewhere.

That's what I loved about this film. Gameshow aside, whenever there's a battle there's always about eight billion (give or take) extras willing to be shot, blown up, speared, or knocked off of motorcycles. I also loved how Shannon and co would wait until the enemy had surrounded them before launching an attack. Every battle seems to turn into all out war. That's what post apocalyptic films need more of: the good old fashioned Pagga.

As this is an Italian film, you've got mutant fish men drooling on Laura Gesmer, Michelle Soavi turning up in a cameo, and a freaky scene at the end with flying rocks, fire, and one character being forced to blow his own brains out. The soundtrack to this also at time sounds really similar to the soundtrack of Blade Runner while being no where near as depressing as Blade Runner.

Some say this is the best of the Italian post-apocalypse films, and I wouldn't argue with those who say that, but I think that Raiders of Atlantis, New Barbarians, Bronx Warriors 1 & 2, 2019: After the Fall of New York are all just as good (and mostly have George Eastman in them). These films are so much fun from start to finish. I can't wait till these films become reality, because I'll be there on my talking motorbike with my hermaphrodite ape man sidekick and a Mohican, ready to wander the wastelands.