Search - Fight for Your Life on DVD

MPAA Rating: NR Content Advisory: Violence, Adult Situations, Rape & Sexual Abuse, Adult Language, Children in Peril Movie Release: 1977 DVD Release: 02/24/2004 Format: DVD - Enhanced Wide Screen Letterbox for 16x9 TV SwapaDVD Credits: 1 Number of Discs: 1 Run Time: 1 hrs 26 mins Studio: Blue Underground Members Wishing: 9 Genres: Thriller, Crime Thriller

This outrageous sleazefest released by exploitation maven William Mishkin may be the least politically correct film ever seen in American theaters. Thug William Sanderson (of TV's Newhart) and two of his flunkies shoot a number of people and go on the lam to upstate New York. They hide out at the home of a black minister and his family, whom they torture, rape, and intimidate for much of the film. Sanderson's dialogue is amazingly racist, and one wonders if it caused any riots at the inner-city grindhouses where this film played. Any examples would be unprintable, and this is definitely not a film for sensitive viewers. Not only does Sanderson manage to shock with epithets, but he makes the minister dance a jig and refers to his elderly mother as "Aunt Jemima." If that wasn't enough, a small white boy has his head beaten to a pulp with a stone in a rather graphic scene cut from some prints. Director Robert A. Endelson also includes a gang rape and some anti-Hispanic sentiment. This film is for extreme tastes only, though some may find the sheer exuberance of Sanderson's performance good for a few laughs. Writer Straw Weisman also penned the Troma comedy When Nature Calls before directing Dead Mate. ~ Robert Firsching, All Movie Guide

Robert Judd
Catherine Peppers
Lela Small
Yvonne Ross
Reggie Rock Bythewood

A cinematic endurance test that's sure to test the nerves of even the most jaded exploitation junkie, Robert A. Endelson's Fight for Your Life arrives on DVD thanks to the efforts of William Lustig and Blue Underground. For such an obscure movie, Blue Underground must certainly be praised for its treatment of this harrowing grind-house revenge flick. Presented in 1.85:1 anamorphic widescreen, the image is remarkable clear given the film's age. Colors are bright and solid, skin tones even, and there appears to be little, if any, evidence of distracting edge enhancement. The audio is crisp and clear with little background distortion or hiss to speak of. Blue Underground's top-shelf treatment of such obscure titles was well established by the time this title hit the streets, and its release of Fight for Your Life is certainly no exception. Beginning with an audio commentary track by writer Straw Weisman and cinematographer Lloyd Freidus (and mediated by Lustig himself), it's obvious that Blue Underground has gone the distance in terms of extra features. Weisman and Freidus are both more than willing to openly discuss their involvement with the controversial film, with Weisman, in particular, going to great lengths to detail the process of creating a truly despicable trio of villains. Theatrical trailers are curious in that -- like the TV spots which are also included -- they are presented in both "black" and "white" versions, each cut for maximum appeal to the target audience (read: race). A poster and still gallery rounds things out nicely by offering a nice collection of promotional materials from around the world. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide