DAMNATION ALLEY (1977) *1/2 Some cool actors, and a decent theory towards a B-movie. Few in the history of Hollywood have been able to so effortlessly personify the “cool” as Jan-Michael Vincent. The problem is that unlike most of his peers in this regard, he isn't able to generate drama all by himself, so he needs some sort of reasonable, or reasonably silly, framework to hang it on. They don't give him one, resulting in a film in which he's never quite able to smile it all away. Paul Winfield is a cool sidekick, too. He actually does more towards generating interest in the action, until they prematurely do him in with armor-plated cockroaches. No, that's not a spoiler, films like this you need reasons to watch. Jackie Earle Haley is another one, but apparently none of the other characters saw him pitch in the Bad News Bears flicks, so they're all surprised to be beaned by rocks. That's another reason to watch. It's not very good, in fact-like this review-it takes an amateurish approach to the road story format (move characters in and out, and that's the plot--here pasted on an apocalyptic post-WWIII mat) and expects you to settle for that.
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