2020 Texas Gladiators
2020 Texas Gladiators
| 10 June 1983 (USA)
2020 Texas Gladiators Trailers

In a post-apocalyptic Texas, a band of warriors fight against a fascist regime that is trying to take control of all surviving population.

Reviews
Interesteg What makes it different from others?
Ogosmith Each character in this movie — down to the smallest one — is an individual rather than a type, prone to spontaneous changes of mood and sometimes amusing outbursts of pettiness or ill humor.
Lidia Draper Great example of an old-fashioned, pure-at-heart escapist event movie that doesn't pretend to be anything that it's not and has boat loads of fun being its own ludicrous self.
Edwin The storyline feels a little thin and moth-eaten in parts but this sequel is plenty of fun.
BA_Harrison Just one of many trashy, low-budget Italian flicks to gleefully rip-off George Miller's classic Mad Max movies, 2020 Texas Gladiators is set against a typically barren, post-apocalyptic landscape and sees a brave band of warriors fighting back against the evil fascist regime that has been enslaving their people (with a little help from a gang of dirt-bike-riding, bare-chested punks in S&M gear).Directed with very little style or finesse by Joe D'amato, and featuring a cast clearly chosen for the definition of their pecs or willingness to expose their tits rather than actual talent, the film is low on genuinely gritty exploitational content, the absence of any really nauseating gore or outrageous sleaze—both specialities of the director—being particularly noticeable.Despite the welcome presence of smoking' hot blonde Sabrina Siani, and the inclusion of such blatant silliness as futuristic soldiers armed with electric bullet-proof shields (which have ***important plot point*** massive holes in them!), the derivative nature of the plot, D'amato's lifeless treatment, the lacklustre stunts, and the unremarkable performances (with the notable exception of Donald O'Brien as Black One—that guy is hilarious) all go to make this a frustratingly dull affair as a whole.
Coventry Joe D'Amato, mostly known for his sleazy and downright nauseating horror flicks like "Buried Alive", "Anthropophagus" and "Emanuelle and the Last Cannibals", joins his contemporary Italian colleagues in making over- the-top cheesy and ridiculous post-nuclear Science Fiction movies! The trend started elsewhere, mostly with the Australian "Mad Max" and John Carpenter's "Escape from New York", but the Italians exploited the success of these films shamelessly and endlessly! Lucio Fulci had "The New Gladiators", Sergio Martino had "After the Fall of New York", Ruggero Deodato had "Atlantis Interceptors", Enzo G. Castellari had "The Bronx Warriors" and our good pal Joe D'Amato has both "Endgame" and this "2020 – The Texas Gladiators". It's a deliciously cheesy hodgepodge of semi-processed ideas and blatantly stolen sequences from other movies, and if you're a fan of this sort of trash, you're guaranteed to love it in spite of all the awfulness. The movie starts, as to be expected, as a bunch of chaos! Texas is entirely destroyed by nuclear warfare and hoodlum gangs randomly run amok in the streets. Luckily there's a quintet of courageous beefcake warriors parading around to protect the weaklings. During a fight in a monastery (there's a nun who cuts her own throat … TWICE!), one of them is banished for trying to rape a girl and another one leaves voluntary to marry and live in a community that tries to rebuild civilization. The evil Nazi-inspired Black One violently invades this community, however, and makes a widow out of the warrior's wife. The tree remaining buddies pick up the girl in a sleazy bar and decide to help her in defeating Black One and his evil lieutenant, who's also an old acquaintance of them. Mind you, this is just a very brief and shortened plot description. There's a whole lot more going on in "2020 – Texas Gladiators". Too much to mention, actually, as there are authentic traditional Indians, enslaved mine workers, Russian roulette sequences that are stolen straight from "The Deer Hunter", Nazis with amours of steel and one tremendously cool Asian fighting expert! Unless, of course, you have no idea what the early 80's Italian rip- off/exploitation business is all about, you simply cannot dislike "2020 – Texas Gladiators". Whilst slightly less outrageous and entertaining as "Endgame", this is another over-the-top flamboyant smörgåsbord of sleaze and violence. Donald O'Brien is fantastically stereotypical, in a totally deliberate fashion, and the battle sequences are hysterical. Imagine: hi-tech weapons can't perpetrate through the armor of the Nazi soldiers, but old-fashioned Indians with their primitive arrows and spears wipe them out in a matter of seconds! D'Amato's film is full of similar nonsense like this, and more. A real treat for demented exploitation dorks, like myself.
Woodyanders In yet another savage, desolate, society-has-gone-completely-down-the-toilet after the Big Nuclear Blast wasteland, only five super-warriors -- the humane, trustworthy Nisus (Al Cliver, acting tough and sturdy with customary earnest conviction), dorky joker Jab (the extremely obnoxious Harrison Mueller), surly Cro-Magnon Catch Dog (sneering Daniel Stephen), quiet, but deadly Asian kung fu specialist Red Wolfe (lithe'n'limber Al Yamanouchi) and rugged survivalist Halakron (the solid Peter Hooten) -- are left to tame the new wild frontier and clean up the repulsive mutated trash making life difficult for all those decent folks attempting to rebuild civilization amid the barren rubble. Catch Dog gets booted from the group after he tries to force himself sexually on the feisty Maida (strongly played by the lovely, willowy blonde Sabrina Siani, who hefts a mean pump shotgun and can kick a** just as well as any dude). Nisus and Maida settle down with a peaceful group who are holed up at an oil refinery. Things are just ducky until a horde of foul, brutish, fascistic motorcycle-riding rape and murder happy Nazi marauders led by the evil, bald, power-crazed Hitler-like despot the Black One (a wonderfully quirky, scenery-gulping slice of ice-cold camp villainy from good ol' "Dr. Butcher" himself, Donal O'Brien), who has the traitorous Catch Dog in his employ as a flunky, come storming into town demanding all of the refinery's fuel. Nisus eats it early on, so it's up to Jab, Red Wolfe, and Halakron to take care of the Black One and his horrible cronies.Reuniting several cast and crew members from the enjoyable, but slightly blah "Endgame" (Michele Soavi even returns to handle assistant director chores again), "2020: Texas Gladiators" rates as a sizable improvement, thanks to more focused, straightforward plotting and punchier pacing. Joe D'Amato's direction is strictly workmanlike, but fortunately still competent enough to create a grimly greasy'n'grungy atmospheric tone and satisfyingly deliver the necessary blood-spraying, butt-pulping, bullets a firing and bodies a falling action goods, with countless extras getting randomly snuffed at pleasingly regular intervals. Alex Carver's crafty script neatly tweaks standard raucous, rowdy, rollicking Western movie conventions, cleverly updating the plot of "The Magnificent Seven" to a gritty, bombed-out "Road Warrior"-style post-nuke sci-fi/action future: This exceedingly coarse, grimy, rough-edged effort features a lively no-holds-barred barroom brawl which comes complete with a fairly tense Russian roulette game that's directly lifted from "The Deer Hunter," plenty of sweaty white-knuckle shoot-outs and stand-offs, clearly drawn black and white distinctions between the good guys and the bad guys (the heavies are mean, dirty, heartless barbarians who cackle, leer and snarl a lot while the protagonists are true blue salt of the earth types with a firm, unyieldingly faithful moral code and a courageous willingness to sacrifice their own lives so that the beleaguered many who can't fend for themselves will prevail), and a tribe of noble bow-and-arrow wielding Native Americans astride charging horses leading the rousing attack on the Black One's army at the exciting conclusion. All in all, this one sizes up as a really good and thrilling little item.
Tom Yes you heard right! One UPS Delivery Truck ...full of neo Nazis led by the "black one" (or as I like to call him "the bald one").After an "atomic war" was shattered civilization, rouge gangs of bikers, green mutants and one brown UPS Delivery truck full of neo Nazis aim to take over the world... well not exactly the world, just the state of Texas. It is a good thing Dubya hasn't seen this movie, or he might declare war on the UPS corporation for harboring neo Nazis terrorists in their delivery vans! This movie is simply unimaginable! How any of the actors kept a straight face during filming is beyond me! Most everything in the previous comments about this movie's plot is accurate and there isn't much I can add. The plot, if there is one, is void of anything - other than the countless rape scenes (that left me sick to my stomach), a lot of cheesy gun battles and the "black one's" sinister laugh is to die for! Even more funny is how the lowly Texians are trapped in their makeshift fort fending off a highly trained army...kinda reminded me of the Alamo Battle! And don't forget the brilliant portray of the American Indian, priceless ...or maybe not.What is even more ironic about this movie is how violent it is! When I was 13 years old - I rented this movie! Yes - I walked into a video store and rented the movie with no questions asked! I recently obtained a copy of the movie off Ebay.com - simply to add to my collection of Cold War/End of the World movies.I rate this movie a 5 out of 10 ...only because the UPS Delivery like truck full of neo Nazis and the "black one's" sinister laugh will have you laughing your butt off until doomsday does us all in!