The ULTIMATE WARRIOR

   Film (1975). Warner Bros. Written/dir Robert Clouse, starring Yul Brynner, Max von Sydow, Joanna Miles, William Smith. 92 mins. Colour.

   New York in AD2022 is in an advanced state of decay after a man-made biological catastrophe that occurred decades earlier. The leader of a group who have barricaded a street against gangs of thugs roaming outside hires the services of a super-Samurai (Brynner). This was promoted as the first Kung Fu sf movie, following, as it does, the basic formula of the Kung Fu genre (two camps each with their own champion fight it out to thedeath in the final reel) and it was produced by Fred Weintraub and Paul Heller, who had made Bruce Lee's Enter the Dragon (1973), also dir Clouse.But, surprisingly, it is well scripted and unpretentious, though cynical. TUW was a forerunner of the post- HOLOCAUST action-movie boom represented by MAD MAX (1979) and its many sequels and imitations, including ESCAPE FROM NEW YORK (1981).

   JB/PN