Fight for Your Life (1977)

everything you have heard about this movie is true.

I enjoyed watching this film and would recommend other to give it a try , (as I am) but this movie, although enjoyable to watch due to the better than average acting fails to add anything new to its storyline that is all too familiar to these types of movies.

All of these films share one commonality, that being a kind of emotional center that humanizes a cast of monsters.

Blistering performances.

It's easy to see why "Fight For Your Life" would provoke certain viewers into a fury. The chief bad guy of the movie is an extreme racist, and over and over he subjects the black family that he holds hostage to various kinds of humiliation and degradation. However, while the movie does have some shocking moments, I wasn't as offended as I thought I would be. There is a touch of an absurd (and comic) tone in the background of the movie throughout. This has the movie frequently going over the top, and thus it's often hard to take things completely seriously. Also, the performance of William Sanderson is one that's of the right note. Although you'll hate his character's guts, he is so energetic and playful that at the same time you'll find him entertaining.But this movie is DEFINITELY not for everyone. If you haven't been offended by other notorious extreme exploitation movies like "Last House On The Left" and "I Spit On Your Grave", then it's probably safe to give this movie a look. If you are very politically correct and/or easily offended, stay away.

In Fight For Your Life, a delightfully trashy and very un-PC piece of 70s exploitation littered with racist language, three vicious criminals on the lam (a 'honky', a 'spic' and a 'chink') hold a family of bible-thumping 'black-assed coons' hostage and submit them to a day of torture. Eventually, the 'jungle bunnies' get the upper hand, decide not to turn the other cheek, and smite down their oppressors. An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth, sayeth the good book.In the UK, this now infamous movie was added to the Video Nasties list (where it has remained ever since); some nasty murders and a gang rape no doubt have something to do with that, but it is probably the film's endless array of racial slurs (see first paragraph for examples) delivered by bad-guy Jessie Lee Kane (William Sanderson) that keep this film from being released in 'good old Blighty'!Of course, it is not the film that is racist, rather than the character portrayed within the film, but our moral defenders here in the UK rarely take the time to consider the facts, preferring to take no chances by stopping us from seeing such things altogether. Any sane person can see that the movie just uses racism to shock the audience (a great example of true exploitation). In fact, the black family who are victimised are presented as a morally upstanding bunch and are the 'heroes' of the film.The film does suffer at times from some unnecessary and rather talky scenes, and Kane's verbal abuse becomes tiresome towards the end, but there are plenty of other moments that make this film worthwhile if you dig grindhouse cinema: a baby has a gun pointed at its head; a young boy has his head smashed in with a rock; a man is impaled on a huge shard of glass; and a woman is chased through some woods, her clothes come off, and she is pushed over a waterfall.And when the family does get revenge, even the dog joins in by taking a leak on one of the criminals. Now that's entertainment!

"Fight For Your Life" is terrific ' 70s grindhouse entertainment from director Robert A. Endelson.Wild-eyed William ("Deadwood", "Blade Runner") Sanderson plays the racist on-the-run killer who winds up at the home of black minister Robert Judd. Things turn predictably nasty for Judd and his family as Sanderson and his psychotic pals start to entertain themselves.Still banned in the UK due to its racist themes and unpleasantness, this is a gritty movie but its heart is in the right place. Most of the performances are okay and the dialogue's not bad either. There are a few surprises and shocks along the way and the film never loses its pace. 82 minutes fly by watching this exploitation classic.The funky soundtrack by Jeff Slevin is splendid.It's something of a mystery that director Endelson and composer Slevin didn't move on to bigger and better things. There's a lot of talent visible in this low-budget gem.8 out of 10 on the Grindhouse score-o-meter.

I enjoy movies. They just have to be entertaining. This movie might be shocking to you if the only movies you've seen were after-school specials. The scenes are not that vile or outrageous either, which is both shocking and sad for this kind of movie. As I watched, I waited for something interesting to happen, only to see the most predictable scenes acted out by the worst possible actors. Dialog, plot, acting, isn't really B movie material, its just shoddy. After a while of watching you realize this is all there is and you can't help but feel a little cheated. It might have helped they made an attempt at a plot that made sense, or better yet actually did something with the characters. I saw this movie expecting a revenge film and got some director's attempt at trying out his camera angles. I could probably watch two cows chewing grass for an hour and half, and came back with more than this gunk.