Damnation Alley (1977)
Directed by Jack Smight
Following World War III, four survivors at an desert military installation attempt to drive across the desolate wasteland of America to Albany, where they hope more survivors are living, using a specially built vehicles to protect themselves against the freakish weather, mutated plant and animal life, and other dangers encountered along the way.
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What critics compared Damnation Alley to
To get Goodyear to a more habitable spot, since a bare hand burns up like a vampire in the 140-degree sunlight without a protective suit, the three set off in a jacked-up RV reminiscent of the one Jan-Michael Vincent tooled around in in “Damnation Alley” (1977).
Dewey is merely on-hand to help Finch forage for supplies, since the warm, comforting smile of America’s Dad suggests there’s nothing truly terrifying lurking in the dark; no Omega Man light-averse mutants or giant scorpions from 1977’s Damnation Alley that’ll require Hanks to throw haymakers, pick up a flamethrower or fire the pistol he flashes in one brief shot, suggesting that even Checkov’s Gun didn’t survive the apocalypse.
Essentially a bizarre cross between the two notable 70s-era post-apocalyptic sagas "A Boy and His Dog" and "Damnation Alley"--minus the various weird and grisly elements that cropped up in those projects---"Finch" wants to come across as both a profoundly moving testament to the enduring power of humanity under the most trying of circumstances and as a tour-de-force performance for Hanks in a film that, save for the dog and the CGI robot, is basically a solo gig throughout.
Growing up in the 1970s meant a constant stream of them, from every increasingly goofy entry in the "Airport" franchise and "The Towering Inferno" to B-level crap like "Meteor" or "Damnation Alley."