Fight for Your Life  (1977)

Theatrical Release Information:
Fight for Your Life

This outrageous sleazefest released by exploitation maven William Mishkin may be the least politically correct film ever seen in American theaters. Thug William Sanderson (of TV's Newhart) and two of his flunkies shoot a number of people and go on the lam to upstate New York. They hide out at the home of a black minister and his family, whom they torture, rape, and intimidate for much of the film. Sanderson's dialogue is amazingly racist, and one wonders if it caused any riots at the inner-city grindhouses where this film played. Any examples would be unprintable, and this is definitely not a film for sensitive viewers. Not only does Sanderson manage to shock with epithets, but he makes the minister dance a jig and refers to his elderly mother as "Aunt Jemima." If that wasn't enough, a small white boy has his head beaten to a pulp with a stone in a rather graphic scene cut from some prints. Director Robert A. Endelson also includes a gang rape and some anti-Hispanic sentiment. This film is for extreme tastes only, though some may find the sheer exuberance of Sanderson's performance good for a few laughs. Writer Straw Weisman also penned the Troma comedy When Nature Calls before directing Dead Mate. ~ Robert Firsching, All Movie Guide