Battletruck (also known as Warlords of the 21st Century in the U.S. and Destructors in Italy) is a 1982 New Zealand post-apocalyptic science fiction action film co-written and directed by Harley Cokliss and starring Michael Beck, Annie McEnroe, James Wainwright, John Ratzenberger, and Bruno Lawrence.

Plot

In the near future, Earth has been devastated by a series of wars referred to as "the Oil Wars" over depleting petroleum reserves. The regions around the oil producing Mesopotamia Basin are largely radioactive wastelands due to limited nuclear exchange; oil fields in Saudi Arabia and most of the Middle East burn out of control. Food riots have become common in many cities around the world which are now under martial law. Much of the American rural countryside has become lawless with the majority of remaining military and police trying to maintain order in the cities. Large groups of citizens are fleeing cities to the countryside to find food and any remaining fuel reserves. What little petroleum remains in these regions has become a precious commodity fought over by vicious warlords and mercenaries. A war party led by former U.S. Army Colonel Jacob Straker (James Wainwright), traveling in a large, heavily armed, armored truck, intercept two traders riding in a horse-drawn carriage with large amount of diesel fuel, killing one of the traders. The surviving trader takes the war party to the source, which is a hidden supply depot lost during the local government's collapse and thought to be radioactive. Straker orders his men to setup camp to use the supply depot as a base of operations.

Awards