So..the Landmaster in the movie was a huge hit with me and my buddies as well. When the United States detects incoming nuclear missiles from the Soviet Union, Tanner and Denton launch part of the retaliatory strike. I did cheat when watching this movie. Damnation Alley looked lousy and confusing on VHS. A Star Wars follow-up it was not. This pushed the release date from December 1976 to March 1977, and then again to June 1977. He and the remaining others set out in two Air Force "Landmasters," giant, gas guzzling, 12-wheeled armored personnel carriers capable of climbing 60-degree inclines and operating in water. Major Denton (George Peppard) and Tanner (Jan-Michael Vincent) are two air force officers working at the missile silo and are the ones who must turn the keys to launch the missiles when the attack that starts the film comes. Damnation Alley was a film that 20th Century Fox had high hopes for. Damnation Alley looked lousy and confusing on VHS. Reviewed in the United Kingdom on February 26, 2015. I only saw this movie once in its entirety way back when it hit the theatres. Originally planned as a large budget film for winter 1976, problems with the post-production effects instigated a … Not released on video. It's new to DVD and Blu-ray. Two years later, Earth has been tilted off its axis by the nuclear detonations of World War III; radiation has mutated giant scorpions, the planet is wracked by massive storms, and the sky is in a perpetual aurora borealis-like state. Based on the book of the same name, Damnation Alley starts off just before a nuclear war at a US Air Force missile silo. And it was expected to be the box office winner! This is a movie which starts with a nuclear holocaust and then all the adventures amongst the survivors, while the climate of the earth is dangerous unstable and by mutations some dangerous insects are living But in the end all come to a very good end. It only seemed logical that these two very different concepts would combine to create the subgenre we know … And in a rather odd footnote to history, 20th Century Fox had more confidence in "Damnation Alley" than it did in "Star Wars" - a movie I've yet to see. Zelazny was quite pleased with the first script by Lukas Heller and expected it to be the shooting script. If you don't believe me, try Googling Academy and see what you come up with. Damnation Alley opened in September 1977 in Japan, one year after it was filmed. damnation alley - Rent Movies and TV Shows on DVD and Blu-ray. The original music score was composed by Jerry Goldsmith and the cinematography was by Harry Stradling Jr. First Lieutenant Jake Tanner (Jan-Michael Vincent) shares ICBM silo duty at an American Air Force missile base in the Californian desert with Major Eugene "Sam" Denton (George Peppard), who is requesting not to work with him. About to executed by the forces of the Antichrist, fundamentalist Christian guerrilla David is rescued by Connie, an Antichrist agent pretending to be a double agent for the Believers' Underground. Damnation Alley (1977) The world is devastated by a nuclear holocaust, causing the Earth to tilt on its axis and bringing vast meteorological chaos. George Peppard, Jan-Michael Vincent, and Paul Winfield keep a straight face throughout this post-apocalyptic disaster movie. Because of that, the studio went back to re-edit Damnation Alley and, apparently, cut out a couple of key-scenes. It may be the cheapest-looking expensive movie ever made. [8] ($1.4 million in 2010 dollars)[9]. The network premiere was a ratings success, finishing second in the Nielsen Ratings for the week. Damnation Alley (Blu-ray) - Blu-ray (1977) for $24.60 from OLDIES.com Sci-Fi / Fantasy - Order by Phone 1-800-336-4627 Damnation Alley (Blu-ray) (1977) - Shout Factory Theatr | OLDIES.com COVID-19: Because of processes designed to ensure the safety of our employees, you may experience a delay in the shipping of your order. Unable to add item to List. One piece of trivia. Because of this, and the last-minute decision to add "radioactive skies" in special effects, Damnation Alley was in post-production well past the intended release date of December 1976 due to the difficult process of superimposing optical effects on the sky in about 300 shots (which was not planned for during filming, resulting in poor execution of the effect). Using the Landmaster's amphibious capability, they reach land. Great lines like the PLCA-99. The next 'Star Wars'! Murray Hamilton was featured prominently in several scenes which were cut, as the now-despondent and alcoholic General in charge of the base (which rendered his character literally "mute" in the final film, with no lines of dialogue). Landmaster picture from its recent showing. The film was also released on DVD in the United Kingdom in 2011. Factory released the film (on DVD and Blu-ray) on July 12, 2011 in the United States. You will notice a huge crater in the background. Filming wrapped on August 13, 1976. While the effects were underway, the completion funds were diverted to Star Wars, which eliminated several important effects scenes which had not yet been created, including the Minuteman III missile launch sequences, the base explosion, and importantly, the storm and tsunami in the last act. Canadian releases only show the INTERPOL warning. Opening & Closing to Dirty Deeds (2002) 2003 VHS (Australia) List of Walt Disney and Buena Vista Home Video's VHS Australia Releases; Opening to The Cisco Kid (1994) 1994 VHS (UK) (rental) Opening and Closing to Damnation Alley (1977) 1982 VHS (Australia) Opening and Closing to The Sand Pebbles (1966) 1982 VHS (Australia) By the time the film hit VHS, Hamilton was down to his silent cameo. Where Star Wars is an $11 million movie that looks like a $40 million one, Damnation Alley, which cost $17 million - $6 million more than Star Wars - strongly resembles the $1-3 million exploitation films companies like AIP and New World were cranking out for the drive-in market. Smight was already involved with another project during this time, so Fox took over the re-editing. Connie hopes to trick David into leading her to the dissidents' hidden base. According to IMDB Damnation Alley was 20th Century-Fox's big-budget science fiction project in 1976 while Star Wars (1977) was a little-publicized modest film in production for the studio at the same time 2007 San Francisco Rod, Custom and Motorcycle Show Event Guide, "Search for releases | British Board of Film Classification", https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Damnation_Alley_(film)&oldid=1020201089, Articles with unsourced statements from April 2012, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License, This page was last edited on 27 April 2021, at 19:24. Yes this movie was campy, but there are many of us who love these old campy movies. The scene where Tanner and Billy are wrestling, that is when they first spot Billy, and Tanner chases after him. Jan-Michael Vincent, George Peppard, Dominique Sanda, Paul Winfield, Jackie Earle Haley, Bobby Roberts, Hal Landers, Jerome M. Zeitman, Maury M. Cohen, Reviewed in the United States on March 14, 2019. These cuts amounted to 44 minutes of footage, and included a major subplot of a love triangle between Tanner, Denton and Janice. The film underwent several name changes during this period, from the original Damnation Alley to Salvation Road and then to Survival Run up until shortly before the release, when it was again renamed Damnation Alley. This was expressed in the movies of the day, such as Mad Max, Xanadau, Damnation Alley, Roller Boogie, The Bronx Warriors, Skatetown U.S.A., etc., etc. [5], Production was rife with problems — the devastated landscapes and giant mutated insects proved to be nearly impossible to create, despite the large budget. the portrayal of characters and settings is good in places but all too often a bit sketchy. Along the way he encounters such mutants as giant Gila Monsters, spiders, bats, butterflies, and snakes. The 70’s was when Winnebagos hit the highways in huge numbers. Denton and Tanner also pick up two survivors: a woman in Las Vegas, Janice (Dominique Sanda), and a teenage boy, Billy (Jackie Earle Haley), discovered in an abandoned house. I mainly wanted to watch this movie because it opened on literally the same day as the original Star Wars in 1977. In spite of these major edits, Fox focused more content on the "Landmaster" vehicle, and the special effects, in direct response to Star Wars. In the final scene, they reach a surprisingly intact suburb of Albany, New York and are greeted by its inhabitants. I used the Stretch feature on my HDTV, to give it a anamorphic widescreen picture. Damnation Alley is about a biker named Hell Tanner who has to take some plague serum from LA to Boston, travelling a route called Damnation Alley across the nuclear wasteland that is the United States in a car that might as well be a tank. Denton has been considering going to Albany, New York to find the source of the lone radio transmission that has been aired weekly since the war. Edit source History Talk (0) Share. Shout! Later, an airman falls asleep in a bunk and drops a lit cigarette onto a pile of Playboy magazines, which causes the entire base to catch fire and explode, killing most of its inhabitants, including the base commander, General Lander (Murray Hamilton). Reviewed in the United Kingdom on April 4, 2019, one off the better 80's sci-fi end of world films story a bit thin in places ie how to add female interest [part} effects not bad for year some are stock shots as in blowing up of underground base [{used in Operation Crossbow other than that enjoyable film for all, Reviewed in the United Kingdom on January 30, 2021, brilliant film, many great scenes and a superior sci fi movie, super mutated scorpions are a good example, Reviewed in the United Kingdom on January 7, 2015, another post apocalypse movie. Dismissal of the film was noted, overshadowed by prior apocalypse-themed films like Day the World Ended and On the Beach. In Detroit, they enter a large wrecking yard in search of the needed parts. The Landmaster was sold to a private owner in 2005 and was restored to its original condition as featured in the film. Well, everyone's day but Perry. Another action sequence with giant cockroaches used a combination of live Madagascar hissing cockroaches and large numbers of rubber bugs which looked unconvincing onscreen, as the strings pulling mats covered in fake insects were plainly visible. It was during this delay that 20th Century Fox released their "other" science fiction film for 1977, Star Wars. The Blu-ray is awesome. Find many great new & used options and get the best deals for Damnation Alley (VHS, 1985) at the best online prices at eBay! On this level, Damnation Alley is a weak movie, and one that massively underwhelmed in 1977. Adapted from Roger Zelazny's novel. Turns out that is Meteor Crater in Arizona. ...but it's hilarious that 20th Century Fox once thought this, and held the film back for a year (it was finished in '76) to see how 'Star Wars' performed. It ultimately tanked at the box-office. [6], The original director's cut of the film delivered to the studio by Jack Smight in late-1976 ran 2 hours and 15 minutes. This page is a candidate for speedy deletion. Anyway, buy it and own a piece of cinemagraphic history. He grew up watching Horror on VHS, and still tries to rewind his Blu-rays. "Damnation Alley" has weathered about as well as another fine Doomsday movie, the made-for-TV classic "The Day After", which means that it's still quite a watchable movie. 87m/C VHS, DVD . I last reviewed this in 2008 after watching a pan-and-scan VHS to refresh my … To calculate the overall star rating and percentage breakdown by star, we don’t use a simple average. Zelazny did not realize this until he saw the film in the theater. The story is great, but the decades of topic development has not been kind to this classic. Oh, and Phantasm. Top subscription boxes – right to your door, © 1996-2021, Amazon.com, Inc. or its affiliates. [citation needed] In some theaters during 1977, the film was released as a double feature with Ralph Bakshi's fantasy film Wizards, which was financially successful. Finally this apocalyptic sci-fi adventure gets a proper home video release. Because these scenes were cut, Fox relied on stock footage from other films (and public domain footage of missile launches and nuclear explosions) for those particular shots.[7]. Critically, a physical confrontation between Tanner and Denton after the death of Keegan by "killer cockroaches" was removed (in this scene, Tanner blames Denton for not saving his friend from death). Your recently viewed items and featured recommendations, Select the department you want to search in. It was expected to CRUSH Star Wars, because until then all of then sci-fi movies of the 1970's had been dystopian or post-apocalyptic, and no one believed that a space opera with unknown actors would go on to win the weekend box office, must less become a cultural phenomenon that we are still involved with in 2018! LOL. Jerry Goldsmith's score made good use of the wide stereo separation afforded by Sound 360, particularly in the opening theme, with fanfares emanating from each side of the theater in turn. Only 2.35 widescreen will do any viewing justice. Damnation Alley - DVD (1977) for $18.80 from OLDIES.com Sci-Fi / Fantasy - Order by Phone 1-800-336-4627