Damnation Alley

Greetings Mutants,

Your pal Jeffrey here to tell you what to read, again. Today's tastey treat is the classic novel, Damnation Alley by Roger Zelazny. Yeah, you could watch the film, but as always, the book is better.

We meet Hell Tanner, Felon, Murderer, Rapist and Anti-Hero. No, he is not an easy guy to like...in fact he is down right rotten. but in this situation, rotten is just what they need. Boston has been hit by a plague and the Nation of California wants to send help in the form of an Antiserum. The only thing that stands between Boston and the cure is (you guessed it!) 2000 or so miles of irradiated, Giant Scorpion infested Wasteland called "Damnation Alley". Even the weather is ruined in the Post Apocalyptic world. Follow the exploits of Tanner as he drives the Alley in a quest for a full pardon from the nation of California.

This book bears little resemblance to the film of the same name, staring Jan Michael Vincent and George Pepard. Yeah, those of you who have read the book and seen the film know what I mean. The movie version of Damnation Alley is cheesy and very late 1970s. Rather than souped up cars it even features the vehicle from the television show Arc II...but NO monkey!

That vehicle looks like this...

Behold, the Landmaster. An actual vehicle. Now it is in the hands of a private owner and has been refurbished. I know, not in the book but it would still be very cool to own this thing. I would drive it to work, in my very own Damnation Alley, that involves Lawyers, business men and academics.

Back to the film. As I said, the film bears very little resemblence to the book other than it is a Post Apoc, cross country buddy film romp. The main characters in the film are Air Force officers who were once charged with the operation of a missle silo. They find this vehicle in AF storage and decide to go out east looking for civilization. The encounter radioactive mutant scorpions, flesh eating roaches, itinerant dancers and children (Still NO Monkey!) and Las Vegas on the way.

I know, my review of the book is too brief and of the film not complimentary enough to be helpful. My problem is that I hate spoilers. If you want to know how the book and movie compare the only way you can really do that is by reading and watching...and you should. If you are a fan of the End as I am both of these things are very much worth the time. The book, well, its Zelazny for crying out loud...and its a really well written classic. Read it!

As far as the film, sure, its cheesy, but it is a lot of fun to watch. Even if you only watch the first part of it. There is a 15 minute section at the beginning where they show the atomic war and what happens when they launch the missiles...for those of you who are around my age and lived though the cold war its the stuff of our childhood nightmares...get some popcorn and watch it!