2019: After the Fall of New York (1983)

"Mankind will prevail if it can survive the year 2019 ..."
After the horrific end results of World War III and its devasting use of nuclear missiles, the few surviving inhabitants are to be divided into two different camps, the evil Euraks and the good natured rebel Federation. While they seem to have little in common with each other, both parties do share one thing and that is the desperately need for the most wanted prize on the planet, the last fertile woman who will help carry on the human race. However, humanity's last hope for survival lies now somewhere deep in the ruins of New York city and the only one who is brave enough to enter, is the mysterious mercenary known as Parsifal (Michael Sopkiw).

Gotta love the italian Mad Max post-apocalyptic rip-offs which seemed to have its "heydays" during the early 1980s and which would include endless of dry desert wastelands, futuristic cities lying in ruins, bad guys with medieval armor, laser guns, an up-beat synth score, lots of bloodthirsty mutants and cyborgs, big breasted amazon women with little or no clothes, rock'n roll/heavy metal hairstyles and of course the classic anti-hero/loner who speaks very little and who has to save the day along with a small bunch of weird outcasts at his side.

Ok, so we are not talking about some great cinematic masterpieces here, still I have always had a soft spot for these kind of movies. They aim to entertain, and while most of them come with very impressive or cool sets and use of locations, also some splendid and truly badass movie posters. Very few of them could be said to be any good, or beyond that.
Anyway, last week I picked up a 2017 DVD copy of the italian/american post-apocalyptic Mad Max 2 rip-off Stryker (1983), which sadly was to be a big disappointment as it had the look and feel of a promising title, hell it even featured lots of hot and sexy amazon warriors with huge, uhm, special talents but sadly it does not work when the film have a terrible lead along with a incredible boring snoorefest of a plot, and the pace was slow as it could come and even with only 83 minutes of runtime, I began to realize that it was gonna be long movie after the first few minutes in.

Not long ago, I saw once more one of my favorite post-apocalyptic 80s titles in Escape From New York (1981), and while a lot of italian/american post-apocalyptic/sci-fi films of that era seemed to try to replicate or most likely cash in on the Mad Max success, there were those who sought out to go for something not that unfamiliar with John Carpenter's cult-classic, and while most of them failed miserably, one man named Sergio Martino would attempt to make his version of it, Dopo la caduta di New York  aka 2019: After the Fall of New York.
It really is a fun ride to behold, and one that has a fast paced plot, entertaining characters and a lead that is not acutally all that bad, or at least compared to the usual low-budget post-apocalyptic productions of that period.
Beside Michal Sopkiw in the lead, of course a very similar in look and attitude to Snake Plissken, we also get to meet up with George Eastman as Big Ape, who rules the mutant gang of New York city, and also one who seeks the big "prize" all for himself.
Along the way, we have some nice surprises here and there and also the fighting scenes are not too badly done.

If one can "stomach" these kind of italian b-movies, and have not seen 2019: After the Fall of New York, I really do recommend to do so, as it is one of the "best" of the bunch. It has been given several DVD releases over the last years, I own 2 or three of them, and I guess it have found its way on Blu-ray also. 
Director Sergio Martino went on an made another sci-fi/post-apocalyptic adventure with Hands of Steel (1986), which is not that good but still enjoyable for those that like that kind of movies.