Fortress

[Herkimer Jitty]

Saw this one one of the movie channels a few weeks ago.

It's one of those movies that's so bad it's good, and I absolutley love it.

It's got Christopher Lambert as this dude who gets sent to jail because he and his wife had a second baby, which some generic all-powerful low-rent Omni Consumer Products has outlawed. So, they're sent to a high-tech prison run by Kurtwood Smith, who as you would expect, is a total douchenozzle creeperfish who spends most of his time thought-policing the prisoners and looking at sexy dreams. And of course, being Evil Kurtwood Smith.

This film is a beautiful collison of bad science fiction and bad jail movies - I'm not saying the worst of both - it exists in that sweet spot of still being watchable, with the bad (unintentionally hilarious) stuff being the icing for folks who dig that kind of stuff.

My favorite scene has to be at the very end, when the truck comes to life and it seems like Lambert's wife has been run over, and the barn explodes, then it zooms in on him one-handing this gatling gun as he's all like "NOOOOO!!!!" in slow-motion. Then the barn explodes a second time for good measure.

Awesome.

Also, it has Jeffrey Combs in it.

 

[Tiberius]

Unfortunately, that ending is hard to find. I got it on DVD a while back and the ending it has just has them escape and then she has the baby and they all live happily ever after.

Love Jeff Combs in it. "Aw, shit, man, i blew up the money!"

 

[Sephiroth]

^odd, then they run it on SHOwtime, it's usually the killer truck ending

 

[DeadmeatDiggory]

I always had a thing for Loryn Locklin... "This is an unauthorized thought process!!"

 

[Deckerd]

I remember we bought it on VCR a long time ago. It was a fun movie. The Bad Guy was a terrific invention. Never really understood how Christopher Lambert became a movie star though. We had the truck ending - it was complete nonsense with 'splosions all over the place. Excellent.

 

[Holdfast]

Fun movie, Fortress. I can't say I remember many details about it, despite having seen it a fair few times, but every I stumble upon it while channel hopping, I usually watch it through. No higher compliment than that, is there?

 

[Aragorn]

Anyone brave the straight-to-DVD Fortress 2? Only Lambert returned. The wife had to be recast.

 

[Lt. Trull]

I thought fortress 2 was a little over the top.... come on now.... prison in space....
it sounds like a kermit the frog pigs in space episode...
I wasn't impressed with the movie... and it's not that memorable

 

[KB24]

I really like this movie and have it on dvd, but its been awhile, so I can't properly access the so bad its good angles. I think the sequel Fortress 2 Rentry is really bad, however!

 

[Holdfast]

I thought fortress 2 was a little over the top.... come on now.... prison in space...

Oh God, I have seen it. I thought I hadn't, but that description totally brought the memory back. Yeah, it was pretty bad; I still watched it through. I think. Clearly, elements are still repressed in my memory.

 

[KB24]

It was on again tonight. Yes, some of these 90s sf films may be kind of bad now, but we are still watching them, aren't we?

 

[Tiberius]

Speaking of the extended ending for the first movie, does anyone know if it's available on the net somewhere?

 

[FreezeC77]

Anyone brave the straight-to-DVD Fortress 2? Only Lambert returned. The wife had to be recast.

Does that mean Fortress was actually released in theaters? Always thought they were straight to video movies (I think they are early 90s so they predate DVD)

 

[Aragorn]

I saw listings for Fortress in the movie times. I'm guessing it wasn't probably a wide release film though.

IMDB said it only grossed $6.7 million in the US but $40 million worldwide.

 

[Brikar99]

I saw listings for Fortress in the movie times. I'm guessing it wasn't probably a wide release film though.

I remember seeing commercials for it. A friend of mine was really, really excited to go.

 

[Lt. Trull]

I saw listings for Fortress in the movie times. I'm guessing it wasn't probably a wide release film though.

IMDB said it only grossed $6.7 million in the US but $40 million worldwide.

yeah that would be a big draw for some people.....
americans in prison in space....

 

[KB24]

Considering Highlander- which also didn't do well in its initial release- is Lambert's biggest film, yeah. And yet, I like everything I see him in- from Greystoke: The Legend of Tarzan, Resurrection, and even that bad science fiction Beowulf movie. Sometimes I will watch a movie just because he is in it, even if I know it is probably going to be a subpar genre release.

 

[FormerLurker]

I only ever saw part of this movie, and it didn't impress me. However, there is an Australian film, also called "Fortress" that starred Rachel Ward as a schoolteacher in the Australian outback, and she and all her students are kidnapped and held for ransom. They escape, and the chase is on, with a very powerful and creepy ending. I watched it because I read the book it's based on, which itself it based very loosely on real events.

 

[Greg Cox]

Considering Highlander- which also didn't do well in its initial release- is Lambert's biggest film, yeah. And yet, I like everything I see him in- from Greystoke: The Legend of Tarzan, Resurrection, and even that bad science fiction Beowulf movie. Sometimes I will watch a movie just because he is in it, even if I know it is probably going to be a subpar genre release.

Don't forget Mortal Kombat!

 

[Brikar99]

I've always found Lambert to be a very watchable actor, albeit one with fairly limited range.