Cürrent 451: Angels from Hell

I gotta review this while it's fresh in my mind.

"I'm gonna drop some jazz on your mind, man." The immortal words of the Pres are still reverberating in my brain. This shit ruled hard!

While this was awesome, keep in mind it ruled hard in context of other movies of the biker genre. In and of itself it's a pile of crap, but in context this thing is the Citizen Kane of biker flicks, baby. It forgoes the obligatory opening scene of bikers riding down the street to a lukewarm 60's garage rock track, and instead cuts right in on the action. Someone asks the bartender for some penis, at least that's what it sounded like, and next thing you know there's a hate crime going on in the bathroom. It seemed like it was gonna get all prison-gay or something in there, but it turned out to be some white dudes jumping a brotha from a black M/C. The terrible fake blood flows like wine, and the penis-asker kicks some ass and saves the brotha. He takes him outside to meet up w/ his righteous gang of brothas with deep voices and fro's. But then we never see them again for the whole movie.

And that's pretty much a microcosm of this flick. It's like the whole thing is a bunch of vignettes or skits that involve the same characters but are only very loosely related. There's a lot of "whys" and "whats" to be asked throughout the movie. "What happened to that dude?" was on my mind a lot. Things just happened, then they moved right along to the next part of the plot with no regard to what really happened before or after.

But don't let that distract you from a groovy flick, brothers and sisters. This flick had everything you wanted in a 1968 biker movie: Gnarliest fucking biker gang we've ever seen? Check. Bad-ass trikes?! Check. Hot mommas in mini skirts and go-go boots? Check. Nip? Check. Gang members named Pus and Balls? Check. Cop vs. biker war? Check. Bud Ekins cameo role as a Richie Cunningham-esque square who rides rings around the gang? Check. Amazing period correct dialog? Check. Lots of weed/grass/pot? Check. Hippy commune? Check. Incredibly un-PC depictions and stereotypes of lesbians, blacks, jews, bikers, Hollywood actors, squares, and cops? Chickity-check-check. This movie didn't give a fuck. And probably didn't know any better. It was hilarious.

A lot of the bikers were real bikers. It clearly showed in their riding. These dudes had some legit moves. Nice wheelies to kick off the flick. And even though the acting was typically weak, there were a couple stand-out roles. Tom Stern's portrayal of the Pres who comes back into town after getting out of Nam was actually really good. He was one of the more charismatic actors we've seen. And the dude who played the local sheriff was pretty good, too. He knew how to play stoic without coming off as boring or too wooden. I wouldn't give him an Academy Award or anything, but he's probably the best copper we've seen in any of these films.

Artistically the film really made some socio-political indictments against the status quo, governmental erosion of civil rights and judiciary abuses of power. The best of this genre will generally have a legitimate political commentary that is sometimes masked by girls with no bras in tight shirts and dudes with no brains getting hassled by the Man. You gotta look past the fuzz and the grass to see that great films like Angels from Hell are really all about truth, justice and the American way. Liberty and freedom for all, man.

I definitely recommend this flick. Our very own Magician even commented on the fabulous velvety wallpaper in Ginger's love-shack. So let's not forget that along with truth, justice and the American way, comes every citizen's right to own groovy wallpaper.

Stream it on Netflix or you're not American.