2019, After the Fall of New York

Last updated
2019, After the Fall of New York
2019-after-the-fall-of-new-york.jpg
Theatrical release poster by Renato Casaro
Directed by Sergio Martino [1]
Written by Ernesto Gastaldi
Sergio Martino
Gabriel Rossini
Produced by Luciano Martino
Starring Michael Sopkiw
Valentine Monnier
Anna Kanakis
George Eastman
Cinematography Giancarlo Ferrando
Edited by Eugenio Alabiso
Music by Guido & Maurizio De Angelis
Release date
  • 1983 (1983)
Running time
91 minutes
CountriesItaly
France
LanguagesItalian
English

2019, After the Fall of New York, also known simply as After the Fall of New York (Italian : 2019 - Dopo la caduta di New York) is a 1983 Italian science fiction film directed by Sergio Martino in both English and Italian. The film belongs to the post-apocalyptic Italian genre similar to the films 1990 The Bronx Warriors and Endgame . It is set in 2019, after a nuclear apocalypse, and stars a mercenary out to rescue the last fertile woman on Earth. The film starred Michael Sopkiw, Valentine Monnier, Anna Kanakis, and B-movie regular George Eastman.

Contents

The film was influenced by John Carpenter's Escape from New York [2] and George Miller's Mad Max 2 . [3]

The story's premise bears some similarities with Alfonso Cuarón's 2006 film Children of Men . [3] Besides the idea of the lack of fertile women in Earth, both films include a scene with Picasso's Guernica used as a backdrop.

Plot

In 1999, a war between the Pan-American Confederacy and the Eurac Monarchy (comprising Europe, Africa, and Asia) resulted in a nuclear holocaust. 20 years later, radiation has rendered all remaining humans sterile, and the victorious Euracs have occupied Manhattan and hunt survivors for genetic experiments. 

After winning a motorized deathmatch in Nevada, an ex-Confederate soldier named Parsifal is abducted and taken to the Confederacy's secret base in Alaska. The President of the Confederacy tells him there is a fertile woman somewhere in New York City. He offers Parsifal a place on a Confederate rocketship bound for Alpha Centauri if he can infiltrate the city and retrieve her; otherwise, he will be killed. When Parsifal proposes sending in a cyborg instead, the President reveals the Confederacy eliminated all its cyborgs.

Parsifal is accompanied by two Confederate agents, Bronx and Ratchet. After entering Manhattan through the sewers, they are attacked by the Harlem Hunters, a street gang. They escape and come upon the Needle People, a group of scavengers led by the Rat Eater King, preparing to kill a dwarf named Shorty. Parsifal intervenes, and the three agents are captured. Eurac troops raid the scavengers’ hideout and bring Parsifal, Bronx, and Ratchet to their base along with a scavenger girl, Giara.

Parsifal escapes and rescues Bronx and Giara. Bronx stays behind and is killed, while Parsifal and Giara are saved by Ratchet. The three escape into the sewers and find refuge in a subterranean dwarf colony with Shorty, who claims to know the location of the fertile woman. The colony is attacked by Euracs using sonic weapons, and Parsifal, Giara, Ratchet, and Shorty flee. They are saved by a group of ape-like mutants, led by Big Ape. When Parsifal explains their mission, Big Ape reveals he is also fertile. That night, Parsifal protects Giara from one of Big Ape's mutants, and they have sex.

Shorty leads them to an underground vault, where they find a deceased professor and a life support chamber containing Melissa, the professor's daughter, who entered hibernation before the bombs fell and thus remained fertile. They also find a station wagon to escape through the Lincoln Tunnel. Big Ape and Giara stay with Melissa while Shorty, Parsifal, and Ratchet leave to find armor plating for the car. Big Ape then knocks Giara unconscious and impregnates Melissa.

At a junkyard, Shorty distracts the Euracs and sacrifices himself to buy Parsifal and Ratchet time to salvage. They return, collect Melissa, and drive through a cave wall into the tunnel. Parsifal manages to navigate the armored car past several minefields and barricades to freedom, but Big Ape is killed by a laser trap. While driving through the desert to their rendezvous, Parsifal deduces that Ratchet is actually a cyborg. Ratchet attacks him and stabs Giara before Parsifal kills him. Giara begs Parsifal to ensure humanity's survival as she dies in his arms.

Back at the Confederacy's headquarters, the President reveals that he is terminally ill, and gives Parsifal his place on the rocketship, which is revealed to be the base itself. As the ship blasts off, Parsifal watches Melissa finally awaken.

Cast

Reception

Creature Feature gave the movie 2 out of 5 stars. While it found the rubble and sewers to be well done, it states the acting and direction to be lacking. [4] Moria found the movie to be better than other Italian exploitation films, and better than most other Mad Max rip-offs, giving the movie 2 stars. [5] TV Guide gave the movie one out of 5 stars, finding it to be "silly at best, with ludicrous plot full of clichés and holes, bad acting, and laughable special effects." [6]

Release

2019, After the Fall of New York was distributed in the United States in January 1985 with a 95-minute running time. [7] Released for home viewing on DVD, VHS and Blu-Ray [8]

Related Research Articles

<i>Beneath the Planet of the Apes</i> 1970 American science fiction film

Beneath the Planet of the Apes is a 1970 American science fiction film directed by Ted Post from a screenplay by Paul Dehn, based on a story by Dehn and Mort Abrahams. The film is the sequel to Planet of the Apes (1968) and the second installment in the original Planet of the Apes film series. It stars James Franciscus, Kim Hunter, Maurice Evans, and Linda Harrison, and features Charlton Heston in a supporting role. In the film, another spacecraft arrives on the planet ruled by apes, carrying astronaut Brent (Franciscus), who searches for Taylor (Heston).

<i>Scary Movie</i> 2000 film by Keenen Ivory Wayans

Scary Movie is a 2000 American slasher parody film directed by Keenen Ivory Wayans and written by Marlon and Shawn Wayans, alongside Buddy Johnson, Phil Beauman, Jason Friedberg and Aaron Seltzer. Starring Jon Abrahams, Carmen Electra, Shannon Elizabeth, Anna Faris, Kurt Fuller, Regina Hall, Lochlyn Munro, Cheri Oteri, and Dave Sheridan, it follows a group of teenagers who accidentally hit a man with their car, dump his body in a lake, and swear to secrecy. A year later, someone wearing a Ghostface mask and robe begins hunting them one by one.

Michael Sopkiw is an American former actor who starred in four Italian B movies in two years. He was born in 1954 in Connecticut.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hank Henshaw</span> Fictional character

Henry "Hank" Henshaw is a supervillain appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics, and normally goes by the name Cyborg Superman. Created by writer-artist Dan Jurgens, the character originally appeared primarily as an enemy of Superman, however in recent years he has also been an enemy of the Green Lantern Corps.

<i>Planet of the Apes</i> (TV series) 1974 American sci-fi television series

Planet of the Apes is a 1974 American science fiction television series that was broadcast on CBS. The series features Roddy McDowall, Ron Harper, James Naughton, and Mark Lenard. It is based on the 1968 film of the same name and its sequels, which were, in turn, based on the 1963 novel Planet of the Apes by Pierre Boulle.

<i>Flushed Away</i> 2006 animated adventure comedy film

Flushed Away is a 2006 animated adventure comedy film directed by Sam Fell and David Bowers, produced by Cecil Kramer, David Sproxton, and Peter Lord, and written by Dick Clement, Ian La Frenais, Chris Lloyd, Joe Keenan and Will Davies. It was the third and final DreamWorks Animation film co-produced with Aardman Features following Chicken Run (2000) and Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit (2005), and was the first Aardman project mostly made in CGI animation as opposed to starting with their usual stop-motion – this was because using water on plasticine models could damage them, and it was complex to render the effect in another way. The film stars the voices of Hugh Jackman, Kate Winslet, Ian McKellen, Shane Richie, Bill Nighy, Andy Serkis and Jean Reno. In the film, a pampered fancy rat named Roddy St. James (Jackman) is flushed down the toilet in his Kensington apartment by a sewer rat named Sid (Richie), and befriends a scavenger named Rita Malone (Winslet) in order to get back home while evading a sinister toad (McKellen) and his hench-rats.

<i>Hell Comes to Frogtown</i> 1988 film directed by Donald G. Jackson

Hell Comes to Frogtown is a 1988 American science fiction action film directed by Donald G. Jackson and R. J. Kizer, and written by Jackson and Randall Frakes. The film stars professional wrestler Roddy Piper as Sam Hell, one of the last remaining fertile men in a post-apocalyptic world populated by both humans and mutant amphibians. The film's cast also includes Sandahl Bergman, Cec Verrell, William Smith and Rory Calhoun.

<i>Andersonville</i> (film) Movie about andersonville prison

Andersonville is a 1996 American television film directed by John Frankenheimer about a group of Union soldiers during the American Civil War who are captured by the Confederates and sent to an infamous Confederate prison camp.

<i>The New Barbarians</i> 1983 film by Enzo G. Castellari

The New Barbarians is a 1983 Italian post-apocalyptic action film directed by Enzo G. Castellari, written by Castellari and Tito Carpi, and starring Giancarlo Prete and George Eastman. The plot takes place in 2019, following a nuclear holocaust, where two loners among the remains of the starving human race protect a group of pilgrims from a vicious gang bent on genocide.

<i>Cyborg 2</i> 1993 American science fiction action film

Cyborg 2 is a 1993 American science fiction action film directed by Michael Schroeder. It was produced by Alan Silver and Raju Patel. Schroeder, Mark Geldman and Ron Yanover wrote the screenplay. The film is a direct sequel to 1989's Cyborg, starring Jean Claude Van Damme, and the second film in the Cyborg film series.

<i>Maximum Overdrive</i> 1986 film by Stephen King

Maximum Overdrive is a 1986 American horror film written and directed by Stephen King. The film stars Emilio Estevez, Pat Hingle, Laura Harrington, and Yeardley Smith. The screenplay was inspired by and loosely based on King's short story "Trucks", which was included in the author's first collection of short stories, Night Shift, and follows the events after all machines become sentient when Earth crosses the tail of a comet, initiating a world-wide killing spree.

<i>Ratchet & Clank</i> Series of platform video games

Ratchet & Clank is a series of action-adventure platform and third-person shooter video games created and developed by Insomniac Games and published by Sony Interactive Entertainment for PlayStation consoles, such as PlayStation 2, PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4, and PlayStation 5, with the exception of Size Matters and Secret Agent Clank, both of which were developed by High Impact Games for the PlayStation Portable. The series was exclusive to Sony platforms until Rift Apart received a Windows port in 2023. An animated feature film adaptation was released in 2016.

<i>China Girl</i> (1942 film) 1942 film by Henry Hathaway

China Girl is a 1942 drama film which follows the exploits of an American newsreel photographer in China and Burma against the backdrop of World War II. The film stars Gene Tierney, George Montgomery, Lynn Bari and Victor McLaglen, and was directed by Henry Hathaway. It is also known as A Yank In China, Burma Road and Over The Burma Road.

<i>1990: The Bronx Warriors</i> 1982 film by Enzo G. Castellari

1990: The Bronx Warriors is a 1982 Italian action-science fiction film directed by Enzo G. Castellari.

<i>Escape from the Bronx</i> 1983 Italian film

Escape from the Bronx, also known as Bronx Warriors 2 in the United Kingdom and Escape 2000, is a 1983 Italian action film directed by Enzo G. Castellari. It was featured on Mystery Science Theater 3000 under its Escape 2000 name. It is a sequel to 1990: The Bronx Warriors.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Shorty Hamilton</span>

Shorty Hamilton was an American actor and silent film comedian who appeared in more than 80 films, mostly westerns, from 1909 to 1925. His birth name was William John Schroeder, and he was also known as "Jack Hamilton." He had served in the United States Cavalry for several years and worked as a cowboy in Montana and Texas. He was best known for the "Adventures of Shorty" series of two-reel silent films that were released from 1912 to 1917.

<i>009 Re:Cyborg</i> 2012 film by Kenji Kamiyama

009 Re:Cyborg is a 2012 Japanese anime film by Kenji Kamiyama. The film takes place in Cyborg 009's future timeline. The 2016 anime film trilogy Cyborg 009: Call of Justice is a sequel with Kenji Kamiyama once again serving as Chief Director.

<i>War for the Planet of the Apes</i> 2017 film by Matt Reeves

War for the Planet of the Apes is a 2017 American science fiction action film directed by Matt Reeves, who co-wrote it with Mark Bomback. The sequel to Dawn of the Planet of the Apes (2014), it is the third installment in the Planet of the Apes reboot film series and the ninth film overall. It stars Andy Serkis as Caesar, alongside Woody Harrelson and Steve Zahn. The film takes place two years after the events of Dawn and follows the conflict between apes and humans as it has escalated into full war, while Caesar sets out to avenge those he has lost.

References

  1. Whalen, Andrew (3 January 2019). "Dystopian sci-fi dominates movies set in 2019, could you survive 'The Running Man'?". Newsweek. Retrieved 11 February 2019.
  2. Conrich, Ian; Woods, David. (2004). The Cinema of John Carpenter: The Technique of Terror. Wallflower Press. p. 158
  3. 1 2 "2019: After the Fall of New York (Sergio Martino, 1983)". Offscreen.com. May 21, 2018.
  4. Stanley, J. Creature Feature:3rd Edition (2000)
  5. "2019: After the Fall of New York (1983)". 16 April 2015.
  6. "After the Fall of New York".
  7. Klain, Jane, ed. (1989). International Motion Picture Almanac for 1989 (60 ed.). Quigley Publishing Company, Inc. p. 408. ISBN   0-900610-40-9.
  8. "2019 - After the Fall of New York". Amazon. 25 February 2003.