mrb1980 "Damnation Alley" didn't win any Academy Awards and it's not on any list of the greatest movies, but it is a gritty tale of survival in a post-nuclear war world and has several good scenes.Lt. Tanner (Jan-Michael Vincent), Keegan (Paul Winfield) and Maj. Denton (George Peppard) are Air Force personnel who survive a nuclear war in their California bunker. The nuclear explosions have tilted the earth's axis, causing the sky to change colors and flash bright lights. The group receives transmissions from Albany, New York so they take off through dangerous "Damnation Alley" in a futuristic vehicle (a so- called Landmaster) to reach civilization. Along the way they pick up an obnoxious teenager (Jackie Earle Haley) and a young woman (Dominique Sanda). Keegan is unconvincingly killed by mutant cockroaches and the group battles hillbilly survivalists along the way. Eventually the four survivors reach Albany and safety.The film's producers should have spent more money on the special effects, because they're pretty bad in places. Giant scorpions and cockroaches are almost laughable, and the models of the Landmaster just aren't very well done. Still, this is a pretty good film if you forget about its shortcomings. Peppard was at a career low when he made the film but is good anyway, and Jan-Michael Vincent does his "young rebel" routine quite well. The film suffered because it was released in the shadow of "Star Wars", and was quickly forgotten but I think it's very watchable.

Red-Barracuda Damnation Alley was quite an unlucky movie seemingly, it was put out with the idea that it would be another profitable sci-fi b-movie but unfortunately for it, a few weeks before it was released a movie called Star Wars was released which changed the rules for sci-fi forever more. To be honest though, I kind of like this one. It has its own significant factors too, for instance it's quite early in the cycle of post-apocalypse movies - the Mad Max series certainly seems to have borrowed some of its ideas – and so I think it's fair to say that its core look and feel went on to be used in quite a few similar movies in the 80's. Its story starts with a nuclear war devastating the world, leaving a small band of survivors in a desert outpost. After a while they are forced to set off on a journey to try and find other survivors in an all-terrain vehicle.This one has a plot that boils down to a succession of set-pieces strung together along a hazardous trek. It's essentially a road movie...without a road. Along the way our heroes battle giant scorpions, swarms of flesh-eating cockroaches, mutant feral humans and they endure an electrical storm. They also pick up a woman and an incredibly annoying teenage boy. The film is chock full of corny dialogue and charmingly poor special effects but it remains entertaining nevertheless with good pacing and enough variety of events to ensure things remain interesting. It has to be admitted though that it does end with a very poorly conceived conclusion that felt like it was tagged on because the original idea was too expensive. But on the whole, I found this to be good fun mainly, certainly a fair bit better than its poor reputation suggests.

StuOz The end of the world is here and some guys travel around in a fancy bus-type vehicle.Jerry Goldsmith did the music and the above plot sounds great...so this should be a classic...but it is not! What went wrong? The following year Goldsmith did great scores for The Swarm and Capricorn One, this is the sort of music that was needed for this movie, so where is it Goldsmith??The plot is interesting but the cast don't hold the movie together. A short-lived 1976 TV series, Ark 11, did this whole plot-line a lot better with more pleasing actors/music/costumes.But anyway, Damnation Alley is still worth watching as I love road movies, but you will be shaking your head saying "this could have been so much better".

Leofwine_draca This cheap but effective sci-fi yarn acts as a precursor to the wave of post-apocalyptic movies that would sweep the world in the early '80s as a result of the success of MAD MAX 2, and this film is indeed ahead of its time. There are many similarities between this film and the ones that came later, but the most obvious is the custom-designed all-terrain vehicle in which our heroes travel across the deserted nuclear wastes; such vehicles would become a staple of the post-apocalyptic genre in later years.DAMNATION ALLEY is one of those films in which our heroes embark on a perilous journey and encounter many obstacles and dangers in their path. This kind of story harks back to the classic tales of Homer and his hero Odysseus battling the Sirens and the Cyclops, and has been a staple of the genre since cinema began and those silent adventurers took part in A TRIP TO THE MOON. DAMNATION ALLEY is certainly no classic film, and there are definite pacing problems in the second half, but there is enough excitement and danger to make it worthwhile viewing.The initial advent of nuclear war is portrayed in a tense, frightening way, even if all you see is some old stock footage of mushroom clouds. Once our heroes embark on their journey in their armoured truck, the fun begins, and the film is solid entertainment for about forty minutes. At around this time, the pacing does flag a little, but events are wrapped up neatly for an upbeat ending. The special effects used are limited but they still work. For instance, the images of skies glowing blue, green and red are crude yet colourful, and impressive due to their consistency.The acting is fine for a B-movie like this; not brilliant but passable. George Peppard is fun as the older, leading man, to whom everybody else looks up; he has just the right balance of authority, pomposity and charisma. In comparison, Jan-Michael Vincent has the young, handsome square-jawed hero type role and fits the bill well: his acting may be poor but he's a likable screen presence here. Dominique Sanda lends a bit of sophistication and is a pretty face to have on board, while Paul Winfield (THE TERMINATOR) shows up as the token black guy. The only miscasting, in my mind, is that of the young boy who joins our travellers; future star Jackie Earle Haley is one of the most irritating, snotty child performers I've ever seen.The perils our heroes encounter are numerous and varied. Things start off with some cheesy giant scorpions which are actually real scorpions, just enlarged. In the film's best scene, our heroes arrive in a deserted ghost town where they discover rusting cars and skeletons that have been picked clean; this scene offers up a real sense of fear and foreboding, something that runs throughout the film but is strongest here. Eventually it turns out that the town is infested by flesh-eating killer cockroaches which proceed to devour one of our heroes in a spectacularly gruesome scene (turns out that this was only a PG film, but they were definitely pushing the boundaries of the rating with the brief bloody scenes on display here). Later, they must face freak storms, a sudden flood and a gang of diseased rapists while on their way to Albany. These things make DAMNATION ALLEY a lot of fun to watch, and recommended to anyone with an interest in these types of pictures.