Fight for Your Life

Fight for Your Life is a 1977 American grindhouse blaxploitation thriller film directed by Robert A. Endelson and starring William Sanderson and Robert Judd. It was presented at the Quentin Tarantino Film Festival in the QT Six Lineup showing held in October 2005. The story revolves around three criminals (a White, Mexican, and Asian male) who hold a Black family hostage and forces them to fight for their lives.

Fight for Your Life
DVD cover
Directed byRobert A. Endelson
Written byStraw Weisman
Produced byRobert A. Endelson
William Mishkin
StarringWilliam Sanderson
Robert Judd
Yvonne Ross
CinematographyLloyd Freidus
Edited byRobert A. Endelson
Music byJeff Slevin
Distributed byWilliam Mishkin Motion Pictures
Release date
  • November 1977 (1977-11) (New York City)
Running time
82 minutes
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
Budget$35,000[1]

Plot

Sanderson plays Kane, a hate-fuelled racist redneck who absconds from jail with his sidekicks (an Asian and a Mexican). They hole up in the secluded house of Ted Turner, a black minister, and his family, where harsh epithets are exchanged and the minister is forced to take action to defend his family.[2]

Cast
  • William Sanderson – as Jessie Lee Kane
  • Robert Judd – as Ted Turner
  • Cathrine Peppers – as Mrs. Turner
  • Lela Small – as Grandma Turner
  • Yvonne Ross – as Corrie Turner
  • Reggie Rock Bythewood – as Floyd Turner (as Reginald Bythewood)
  • Ramon Saunders – as Val Turner
  • Queenie Endelson – as Dog
  • Daniel Faraldo – Chino
  • Peter Yoshida – Ling
  • Bonnie Martin – Karen
  • David Cargill – Lt. Reilly
  • Richard A. Rubin – Captain Hamilton
  • David Dewlow – Joey
  • Pepe Hern – Navarro
  • Nick Hardin- Tony

Reception

Fight for Your Life has received a negative response from critics. TV Guide called it "a vile low-budget film that couldn't have found a receptive audience even during the height of tough blaxploitation pictures."[3] Allmovie called it an "outrageous sleazefest" and "amazingly racist".[4] Others have defended the film, finding it an objective look at racism at its worst; the film enjoys a cult following among fans of extreme cinema and grindhouse.

Censorship

Fight For Your Life was denied a British theatrical release in 1981,[5] but a video release the following year allowed the public brief access to the film before it wound up on the video nasties list and was outlawed. It is notable for being the only 'video nasty' to appear on the list due to language, specifically the racism displayed by Sanderson's character.

Availability

Briefly available in the United Kingdom on the independent video label Vision On, released circa 1982, but outlawed with the advent of the Video Recordings Act (1984), Fight For Your Life was denied a British cinema release when it was rejected by the BBFC in October 1981. Fight For Your Life was issued in the U.S. by Blue Underground as a remastered DVD. The director passed on providing a commentary track for the DVD reissue, but did grant an interview for the book Nightmare USA in which he re-watched the film with his maid, Dorothy, and both provided retrospective insights on the film.

The original film negative, having been stored by the film rights holder in a New Jersey basement, was destroyed by Hurricane Sandy in 2012.[6]

See also

References
  1. Landis 2002, p. 104.
  2. Fight for Your Life at Rotten Tomatoes
  3. "Fight For Your Life Review". TVGuide.com. Retrieved 11 July 2012.
  4. Fight for Your Life at AllMovie
  5. Fight for Your Life at the British Board of Film Classification
  6. "Spider Baby is Given The Academy Treatment (Interview with William Lustig)". Diabolique. Retrieved 30 December 2016.
  • Landis, Bill (2002). Sleazoid Express: A Mind-Twisting Tour Through the Grindhouse Cinema of Times Square. Simon and Schuster.
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