William Sanderson, Robert Judd. Three escaped cons take a black family hostage and subject them to brutal torture, racial humiliation and sexual violence. 1977/color/86 min/NR/widescreen.

FIGHT FOR YOUR LIFE (DVD MOVIE)

Average Customer Review: ( 10 customer reviews )
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Wow! What a sick and sleazy grindhouse movie! It is genuinely shocking, in no small part due to the powerhouse performance delivered by William SANDERSON as ultra-violent racist. He is extremely convincing in his role, calling his victims every name in the book and constantly shouting racist insults and comments (which I am not allowed to quote here). If there was an Academy Award for most abundant use of foul language in a movie, FIGHT FOR YOUR LIFE would undoubtedly win it.
Needless to say it is very violent, particularly in the scene, where the small boy is beaten to death with a stone.
Watch at your own risk!

Some words on the DVD: print quality is great, and there are some nice extra features. There are three trailers (one aimed at a white audience highlighting the crime aspect, another aimed at black audiences with emphasis on the Afro-American family's revenge and a so-called teaser trailer, which strangely consists of a single still). Forget the teaser trailer. The other two are very good, but both give away too much. The trailers are basically a 3 minute version of the movie, so you better don't watch them before the main feature. There are also TV-spots, an audiocommentary (on which I can not comment, since I did not listen to it) and a very nice still gallery, consisting of poster artwork, a newspaper ad, videotape covers and lobby cards of mostly German origin, where FIGHT FOR YOUR LIFE played theatres under the title of AUSBRUCH ZUR HÖLLE (= escape to hell).
A hugely recommended DVD!

5 of 5 found the following review helpful:

Intense and very gritty 70's exploitation film.Jun 28, 2008
By Puzzle box "smockey_421"
Fight For Your Life is definetely not for those who have a weak stomach or those who are easily offended, this film was a perfect example of Gridhouse cinema in the way that it shows how relentless and viscous the psychotic criminals were and there also quite racists and it was almost like a relief when the black family got their revenge. The film obviously has a strong subject matter as it deals with racism and like another reviewer said it was definitely not PC, I don't think that a film like this would be made nowadays so its quite controversial it was very nasty but still great. If you like exploitation films then your going to love this, Fight For Your Life is a surprisingly well-observed grindhouse classic about three violent prison escapees (led by Jessie, played by William Sanderson) who take an African-American family hostage, submitting them to racial humiliation, rape and murder. The fact that the movie still bothers viewers to this day with its in-your-face racism, violent child murder and over-the-top violence and nastiness makes it some kind of warped classic well worth your time. There is also a scene that is guaranteed to make you cringe which involves the psychotic criminal Jessie scaring a screaming and crying baby by shoving a loaded pistol into it's face and a nice and gory window impalement. Yes the villains were quite despicable but I guess it was meant to be that way, you will definetely feel angered by the behavior of these criminals and this also caused a few riots back in 1977 when it was released. Blue Underground did a great job with the extras and it also has some interesting trailers for the film itself, the anamorphic letterboxed transfer (1.66:1) has a considerable amount of grain during dark scenes but colors are bold and beautiful and most of the scenes have a polished look to them. Some sequences have a very soft look to them with no detail but this is probably due to the original shoestring photography. I highly recommend this to 70's exploitation fans but this will definetely offend some people out there so you have been warned, check it out.

5 of 6 found the following review helpful:

He's A Racist And He Loves His Cream SodaOct 15, 2005
By Stanley Runk "Runkdapunk"
Fight For Your Life a.k.a I Hate Your Guts(a much snappier title) is a trip. It's pure 70s exploitation in the vein of the David Hess classics like Wes Craven's Last House On The Left and Ruggero Deodato's House On The Edge Of The Park. But instead of teenage girls or snooty yuppies, we have a black family instead. Basically we have a trio of convicts who take a black preacher and his family hostage. The promise of "cooperate and no one will get hurt" is thrown right out the window as the leader, Cane, proceeds to call them every racial slur you can think of. Then, he subjects them to humiliating acts that fit into racial stereotypes. And it only gets worse after that. Pretty relentless and brutal actually. Not brutal so much in terms of violence, but because of how awful these s.o.b.s treat this family. Needless to say this film is not endorsed by the NAACP. I'm actually surprised black actors agreed to be in this film and hear these lines, take after take. Sure, it's only a movie, but man! Usually when you have a bigotted character in a film, that's a big part of the overall theme, like in a John Singleton film for example. Here, the bigotry is here for no other reason than to show how rotten this man is. William Sanderson, who you might remember from those old A&W commercials, as well as small comedic parts in films, steps into the David Hess-like role of Cane. His buddies are a latino and an asian man, yet he doesn't seem to have much of a problem with them. Why did I give this film 5 stars? After all, some parts are unintentionally funny, kinda cheesy, the acting isn't always up to snuff(mainly the police), and the low budget definitely shows. I rate this highly because it had an effect on me. Exploitation films almost never have an effect on me outside cheap amusement. Maybe it's coz I have a wife and kid, and seeing the situation this family was in, my rage grew with every passing minute of the film. I don't think I've ever wanted to reach through the tv screen and strangle a film character before this. Sanderson must be a fantastic actor if he could make me hate him so much. I think anyone can guess that the tables eventually turn, and boy does it feel great when they finally do! This film may not play out to be as notorious as it's reputation states, but it was made a long time ago, and we've been desensitized to this kind of stuff over the years. At the time it came out, I'm sure it kicked up a real $!@*storm. Violence? Not too much. At least, nothing that an exploitation fan hasn't seen before. Maybe a little much for the average Michael Bay fan. I'd highly recommend this one. Like I said, it's a trip.

7 of 9 found the following review helpful:

Bill Maher Would Be ProudMar 18, 2004
By Sir Jub-Jub
"Fight for your Life" may be the most politically incorrect film of all time. The story concerns an escaped trio of convicts, led by a crazed white man, who infiltrate the home of an African-American family. This leads to a series of racist humiliations and other forms of degradation of the family brought on by the morally corrupt men. This late seventies film is impossible to fully describe and still remain within the realm of good taste. Scenes of a very young child having his head bashed in with a rock, gang rape and the aformentioned racist humiliation are but the tip of the iceberg of atrocities. This is obviously a difficult film to watch. Amazingly, just when you think the film is nothing more than old-school Times Square sleaze, some very unexpected plot twists occur. I will not go into what these twists are so as not to ruin the film for those that may view it. An interesting note is that the racist white convict is played by William Sanderson who is best remembered as "Larry" from the "Newhart" t.v. show. This is a film I am sure he keeps of his resume. The DVD by Blue Underground is superb as usual with their products. There is a commentary track as well as a series of trailers labeled as "white" trailers and "black" trailers with very different messages. This is a film that simply could not be made today which may very well be a good thing. While I gave this film four stars, it should be noted that if you are sensetive to blatant racism, you will not want to watch. It is very simply a low grade exploitation picture that is unlike any you will ever see.

4 of 5 found the following review helpful:

A good movie - hyped "offensive" content.May 08, 2005
By Mondo Vendo "Mondo Vendo"
This movie is not the big racially tensed extremely "politically incorrect" offender it is hyped up to be. The William Sanderson character constantly uses racial slang insults nothing more. Oh, he makes the preacher sing and dance or he'll shoot him. Big deal.

I watched this movie based on its big reviews of being extreme offensize film. It is not. Not even remotely. I am a big fan of Blue Underground but they are clearly guilty of hyping this on false pretenses.

Still while it did not satisfy my extreme film interest, it was surprisingly enjoyable for other reasons.

I particularly enjoyed when the preacher and his family were forced to sing for the William Sanderson character and turned it around on him by enthusiastically singing "Glory Glory Halleuyah" happily.

It is a good film worth seeing but don't expect the shocks it is advertised to deliver. It works on a much more innocent level. It is not something I want to watch over and over but I do have a fondness for the one scene in particular.

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