the Wild Rebels

I missed the second installment of Motorcycle Movie Night this year so I decided to catch up and watch the Wild Rebels at home tonight.

It's from 1967 and it's a hodgepodge of genres. One exec posits that the kids today are into stock car racing, another must mention biker flicks, a third chimes in that gangster/robbery flicks are big business, and a fourth proposes that the protagonist carry a guitar and break into song from time to time to win over the lady viewers. And so Wild Rebels is born from the boardroom.

I imagine it went something like that. Then 15 days later the movie was in the can.

It's all of those genres but none of them. The biker element is the most prevalent for sure, but it's sort of sullied by the cross-pollination that's going on. Wild Rebels is definitely no Wild Angels. No, sir!

But the three-man biker gang (plus obligatory mama) is called the Satan's Angels, and their president is pretty cool. The prez has a unique vibe. His presentation and the fact there's so few locations and actors make it almost feel like a play at times. Wild rebels, on Broadway!

It's definitely worth seeing, as I'm pretty much going to see every single classic biker flick ever made. I genuinely don't think that's too tall a task. There's a finite amount from the 60's and 70's. And I'll watch em all.

It has some funny moments. Obligatory terrible continuity. Paper-thin script. Shitty effects. Crap lighting. No boobs.

But the dialogue is righteous, man. It's outta sight. The way these cats jive, man...it'll blow your mind cuz you're so square you're shaped like a box.

Stream the whole movie on youtube via the link above.

Dust to Glory

Dust to Glory is a film by Dana Brown. His dad is the man behind Endless Summer and On Any Sunday. So you know where Dana is coming from. Like father like son.

This flick covers the Baja 1000. It's a totally insane 1000 mile race from Ensenada to La Paz, Mexico. Motorcycles, trucks, Beetles, buggies...whatever. Even dudes like Robbie Gordon and Mario Andretti get in on the action. The only crazier race than this is the Dakar Rally.

Brown's cinematography on this flick is fucking superb. Lots of helicopter footage as well as helmet-cam footage. Every angle and perspective you'd want. It's very slick. Really well put together. The Brown's have a very long history with sports documentaries and Dust to Glory does not disappoint.

This film charts the paths of some specific riders/racers, including "Mouse" who's riding all 1000 miles on a bike solo!!! If the race wasn't crazy enough...doing it solo?!

This is streaming on Netflix. Check out the trailer. It's god damn exciting stuff.

These lovely ladies aren't in the flick, but his photo came up when I did a Baja 1000 search...so.

Bosozoku by Masayuki Yoshinaga

I ordered this book from Amazon and got it a couple days ago. It's a photo book on Bosozoku gangs. I know I've touched on them a few times in the past, but to recap; Bosozoku are young Japanese biker gangs. Disenfranchised teenagers riding around on modified UJM's. They make noise, lots of noise, get drunk, party, get in small time fights. And wear kimonos when they ride.

A minority of them take the leap into Yakuza, but Bosozoku aren't as bad as their media portrays. Most of them are done by the time they hit 20 years old.

I'm interested in all things bike-related, so I wanted to have this book. It's a very unique tome. It comes in a hefty hard-cover slipcase, but once you pull the book out you realize there's no spine. It's a hard-cover, but all the pages are glued together in one massive accordion fold. So you read it from front to back, and you can make each spread as wide as you want, and then when you get to the end you turn it over and read it the other way around. When I say "read" I really mean "look." It's all photography. If you were to unfold the book it'd probably be over twenty feet long!

The photography isn't that great, to be honest. It could be a lot better. The photographer was at the right places at the right times...but his photos come across amateur. The Bosozoku have a crazy, unique bike style that's all their own. I dig.

It's a cool book to add to the collection, but I wouldn't run out to get this.

the Hot Angel

Marie thought it sounded like a porno title.

The Hot Angel is an early biker flick. 1958 to be exact. It's sort of like if Happy Days was a biker flick, and obviously that's not a good thing. Women wear super pointy bras, and the dudes are pansies.

I watched it because I'll literally watch ANY biker flick. If there's even a rumor of a bike, I'll give it a watch. This wasn't worth your time. It's alright. You can see a boom mic drop in accidentally at one point if that gives you any indication about what we're dealing with here. Crappy plot exposition. Archetypical characters. All round not really a work of art. Generic in every way.

It WAS streaming on Netflix but they were removing it on the 15th of the month. I highly doubt they'll be renewing the license to stream it. Don't lose any sleep over that, though.

Next...

the Loveless

I loved the Loveless.

This film was the surprise of the motorcycle movie night season. I'd been saving it for later on because the poster just looked so bad. Plus, it was from '82 and a bit of a gamble. But I eventually watched the trailer and thought it looked like it might actually be alright. I was wrong. It was better than alright. It ruled. Legitimately.

This is Willem Dafoe's first flick. He looks barely twenty years old in it. He plays a character similar to Johnny in the Wild One. Of which, this is a total homage. But it's more than a cheap imitation. This is art.

The editing is great, the music is exceptional, the sound is cool, and the composition is fucking killer. Whoever the DP was, he did an outstanding job. It reminded me of Control or a Hitchcock flick. Very calculated. Very photographic. That's why this film ruled.

Oh, and the cars and the bikes didn't hurt it.

There was one thing that kind of let it down though...and that would be the casting. These actors were kinda crap. Very melodramatic. Delivered their lines like they were...acting. All the lingo is supposed to be 1950's hipster slang, but it's just not delivered very convincingly. Dafoe saves it. The rest of the pasty, skinny runts are pretty second-rate. But on the bright side, you've got the chick with the Corvette. She's a good actor and a Corvette has never looked so fucking sexy than with her behind the wheel. You have to see the flick.

What's it about? Typical biker movie stuff. An M/C rolls into small town America. The good ol' boys don't take too kindly to the greasers and shit goes down. Only, the Loveless adds a bit of a twist to the typical plot. It's got its own sub-plot that rears its ugly head and really makes the ending fucking awesome.

Definitely recommended.

Gay porno?

Much better.

Run, Angel, Run

"Do you like choppers, honey?"

We watched Run, Angel, Run on Thursday at Biker Movie Night. Another one from 1969. But this time we're back out of the Asian jungle and back into the concrete jungles of the West Coast.

This was William Smith's first biker flick of the era. He went on to do several more including Chrome and Hot Leather, CC and Companny, Angel's Die Hard, and Nam's Angels. 

This has some absolutely classic continuity goofs, like Bill's fucking fake mustache! It changes style from scene to scene. Brilliant. Another good one was the fact he was riding a sweet Sportster Chopper but in the scenes that he's doing some off-roading the bike magically turns into a dirt bike with knobby tires etc. Then when he's back on the slab, his bike morphs back into the chopper. Of course, there's the obligatory poor audio dubbing where the engine noise isn't even a fucking Harley motor, he's not revving the throttle even though the engine is squealing, or in one scene I don't even think the bike is ON but the engine bursts into life. 

There's the typical late '60 patter that makes for many classic one-liners. Everything's groovy this and far-out that. Dig this and jazz that, maaaaan. Good stuff. 

"Your old lady's officially a momma now, man."

The story is straight-forward, as they always are. Biker sells-out his gang by doing an expose piece in LIFE (aka LIKE) magazine for 10 g's. He splits town with his old lady after the article is printed. He's on his way to 'Frisco to collect his pay-off while the rest of the gang is in pursuit. So there you have it. Angel's on the run with his old lady and shit's about to get ugly. There's small-town America (like there always is), swastikas, iron crosses, amazing fucking choppers, and by now you know the Biker Film recipe. It's all there. 

This was cool, but somehow not quite as exciting or stupid as some of the others. Dunno what it was. Maybe it focused on Smith's character too much. It might have been a touch more successful if the rest of the gang had some better character development. 

It's on disc on Netflix. It's worth viewing alone for Bill's fake mustache.

The Losers

What do a dozen dudes do on a Thursday night in mid-Winter? Sit around and watch a movie called the Losers. That's how we roll.

Chalk up another 'Nam biker flick. Third this season. Karate chops? Check. Backwards Swastikas?! Check. Biker in a foursome at a Vietnamese brothel? Check. Red paint for blood? Check. Same red paint used on the Chinese' uniforms? Check. Ridiculous racism? Check check check.

It might not be as controversial as Django Unchained, but if this came out now it would raise the hackles on many-a-civil liberties group. The racism knows no bounds. We were dying with laughter.

Errr, this was one of the slightly more serious biker flicks though, in as much as it was really trying to be a hybrid action film and biker film. It tried to hit that crossover market. It sort of succeeds in doing so. There's a lot of action, and enough bikes and bikers to make it a legit biker flick. It would just as soon nix the explosions and shit and keep it straight biker, but it is what it is.

It's got a real plot you can follow. There is some attempts at real acting. It's trying to be legit. But there's even some sword-and-sorcery as a mechanic in a barren workshop in the depths of Vietnam magically transforms a Yamaha dirt bike into a Harley / Volkswagen hybrid trike with mounted machine guns. WTF. FTW.

Who cares what it's about. There's lots of whores, white people acting as asians, some bikers, and plenty of killing in the jungle going on.

This isn't streaming. You have to get the disc from Netflix. If you're not a biker I don't know if I would put this top of my queue. If you are, you should see it. Eventually.

What the hell, it entertained all of us on a Thursday night.

the Peacekillers

The Flying Skülls watched this last night. Holy shit, this was GNARLY for 1971.

We've seen millions of 60's/70s biker flicks and this was by far the most graphic. You're watching it, thinking it's all par for the course and then you're hit with a sketchy gang-rape scene. Then someone might get tortured or shot in the face. There's more than one "fuck" or "motherfucker" dropped in this flick. A militaristic black chick with an righteous afro even calls the bikers "faggots." Most shocking of all, is how the bikers psychologically taunt an ex-momma by describing the impending gang-rape. For 1971, this is pretty hardcore. 

Not that any of the shit mentioned above makes the Peacekillers any good or anything, but it's worth noting.

Graphic nature aside, it's right in line with all the other genre flicks. Quarreling biker gangs, small town America, scorned lover, acid, weed, cheap beer, orgies, mommas, old ladies, choppers, a hippie commune, the man, crap music, questionable acting, you know the recipe. 

There's a hippie commune where they just sit around naked and get high / fuck / tend the community garden all day. Biker gang follows a hot momma to the commune so they can gang-rape her as revenge for leaving the biker gag. enter a rival minority biker gang (black chick, two black dudes, asian chick, and a token white guy). She's caught, escapes, caught, escapes, they fight, there's a pitchfork, there's a gun, shit happens. There's lots of bike riding.

The blood is awesome. Evidently back in the 70's people used to bleed Sherwin Williams paint. 

Best thing about this flick is Black Widow and her gang, the Branded Banshees (aforementioned minority gang). She's straight out of a Tarantino flick. Crazy ass chick. 

You can stream this on Netflix or watch the whole thing on YouTube (linked above). 

Oh, almost forgot to mention the cans. Finally, we see some great cans in a biker flick! I doff my cap. Thank you, Peacekillers. 

Lesser movies would have used a mannequin. Today it would be CGI. The Peacekillers is hardcore.

That guy is smooooov. He sits around preaching shit like Jesus, but he's got a harem of naked 70's nymphos ready to bang right after the sermon.

Not the first time we've seen a pitchfork used in a biker flick. Probably not the last.

The Hard Ride

Groovy. Far Out. I need to start dropping jazz on people's minds more, maaan.

The Hard Ride was great. The last "motorcycle movie night" film we watched was Chrome and Hot Leather. It set the bar for 'Nam biker flicks. Tonight we watched the Hard Ride, and it fucking raised that bar like a mofo'! It raised the bar and welded some rebar spikes on it.

Pizza, cider, and cookies. Twas a good night. The Hard Ride is from 1971. It actually has a plot and a pretty cool ending. We saw two nipples, which is about two more than we normally see in these biker flicks. But this from '71, so things were getting a little bit raunchier. The language was a touch harsher than normal. The cliches were flying. The acting was typically crap. And the music suuuuuucked. There's no excuse for the pussy soundtrack. The bikes were incredible. Choppers in almost every shot of the whole flick. The bikes were glorious. Whoever paired such a killer line up of bikes with such shitty music should be shot. Or at least tied to the back of a chopper and dragged through the desert.

Who cares about the plot. It involves 'Nam, some bikers, and some mamas. "The Man" was conspicuously absent, though. The only cop we see is actually quite cool. Very out of character.

The whole crew was stoked on this flick. If you're after a good period biker flick, you can't go wrong with the Hard Ride.

Keep the shiny side up...

Chrome & Hot Leather

The Flying Skülls watched Chrome & Hot Leather this evening at "Shitty Motorcycle Movie Night." Beer flowed, pizza was delivered, and we even caught some side-boob in this great 1971 biker / 'Nam crossover flick.

As the biker genre progressed and ticket sales started to dwindle they started to add in elements of other genres, like horror, blaxploitation, gay, war movie, etc. They did this to rekindle the fire and bring in a wider audience. And it's bloody weird. But it rules. They even give Marvin Gaye a part!

It's essentially about a biker gang that accidentally offs a couple chicks, and the 'Nam boyfriend comes back to exact revenge on the gang. The protagonist enlists the help of a couple of his 'Nam buddies and they go under-cover to bust these the gang. It's pretty damn funny.

The production of the film pendulums back and forth between surprisingly good and expectedly shitty. But overall, the Director definitely tries to elevate this above the likes of some of the '68 / '69 flicks. This movie has a plot. It's thin and full of holes, but there's a definite plot and legitimate story arc that makes it look like Hamlet compared to the likes of the Glory Stompers or Devil's Angels. And the cast includes many staples from the biker genre.

The old ladies were top class. Best we've seen in any biker flick of the era so far. Wish we would have seen more of them.

The bikes ruled hard. Amazing choppers. That's what we watch these things for, and this flick did not disappoint. Bikes in almost every scene of the movie. Just as it should be. There's also the obligatory swastika appearance.

The music veers into fusion territory at times. A bit of r'n'b. And then militaristic bugle drills when appropriate. Long gone are the fuzzy guitar tones of 1969.

The 'Nam heroes were seemingly trained in Kung-Fu, or maybe that was the influence of the 70's new-found obsession/exploitation of Kung-Fu. You decide. But all I know is those 'Nam dudes sure wielded a mean chop.

What else? Oh, the coolest thing was Larry Bishop, who's a member of the Wizards M/C...being addicted to pinball. Get it?

Good. This flick ruled. Watch it.