Hells Angels on Wheels (1967)

Must See Movie...

Disapointment

Am i the only one who thinks........Average?

Unshakable, witty and deeply felt, the film will be paying emotional dividends for a long, long time.

Jack Nicholson is poised and relaxed here, but he doesn't get to show much wit as a good boy who decides to run with the Angels' dastardly misadventures for a spell. In so doing, he hooks up with the leader's gf, the better for them to offer their detached commentary on the varied depravity. This 'redeeming social value' move is extraneous and entirely unconvincing, even if the filmmakers believe every word; it's pure gamesmanship, something for the eggheads to chew on. The actual content of the film resides in the episodic procession of set pieces, each chosen for maximum visual interest - an amusement park brawl, a body-painting party, a biker wedding, a duel to the death amid some scenic ruins. Cinematographer "Leslie" Kovacs makes the most of these, but in the end it's pretty thin gruel. The big musical interlude in the middle sums things up: "Moving but going nowhere". Going nowhere fast, too, as in the absurdly abrupt ending; not that there was anything that really needed doing beyond that.

I collect "cheap" Biker movies, not inexpensive, but tacky. This one is cheap/tacky, but may have the worst ending of ANY movie ever made. I'm surprised no one mentions that. About the ending...how and why does Buddy's bike explode? Why does the front tire explode in flames? Well, I know. When Buddy bites down, they wanted the bike to blow up so he would die. They did not have the money to do it more than once, much less authentically. I got knocked down by a pick up truck while on my '72 XLH, but it didn't blow up. (I guess I wasn't supposed to die) The tire blows up because it is hard to get a bike to fall over (while being ghost ridden) right on the mark. They had one chance to make it land on the explosive charge and failed. That's why I love these "Biker Movies". The cheapness. Horrible acting. Worse plots. But LOVE the bikes! '60's style choppers are the greatest. Old school. As the Biker said in the (cheap) Biker scene in the movie DUTCH TREAT, "We geek chickens on Saturday night...Know what I mean?" That's what Bikers do. Rape, pillage and geek chickens. By the way, in Dutch Treat, I am the "Biker" seated to the "Chicken Geeker's" left. Got paid to drink beer. Took 12 hours to do that 2 minute scene. No drinking on the set, tho. I smuggled cans of Coors Light in my sock and poured them in my empty bottle, so I am the only one actually drinking beer in that "Biker" scene. When you see someone drinking booze in a movie, the bottles and cans are empty. Anyway, that was my 15 minutes of fame. Had a ball. Long live cheap Biker movies!

Directors office 1967: "Let's make a cool movie.." "Yeah.. What kind of movie" "What about a road-movie?" "Mmm.. A road-movie with motorcycles?" "Sounds good.. With some bad boys?" "The baddest boys in the world.. HELLS ANGELS!" "Oh no.. Don't be kidding me.. Not the ANGELS?" "Oh yes.. With a lot of bitches too." "Sounds good. But.. How can we make those guys look very cool?" "Hey.. This is the late sixties.. It's very easy to look cool: Drink and drive, never change your clothes, smoke some pot, take bath in beer and grow beard." "This gonna be sooo cool!" No.. It was a big mistake, instead."Hells Angels on wheels" are a total waste of time.

This one is shelved in the 'cult' section of my favorite independent video rental shop, and for good reason. It's ludicrous!Jack Nicholson is 'Poet,' a bad-ass gas-station attendant who gets fired after mouthing off at a customer and then rides off with the Hell's Angels, chasing after a piece of the macho life and a shot at making it with Shill (Sabrina Scharf), who rides bitch behind club chapter president Buddy (Adam Roarke), the king bad-ass of them all.A confessed example of the B-movie 'exploitation' genre, 'Hell's Angels on Wheels' plays on every possible cliché: chair-smashing barroom brawls, bikers harassing carnival-goers and helpless drivers, cops harassing the bikers, heavy drinking and smoking of the evil weed by the violent Angels, etc. It's all too hilarious to be believed. The acting is adequate--Jack is great as Poet, making the most out of the stilted, silly dialogue, and Adam Roarke, a B-movie leading man if there ever was one, seems to be relishing every bit of his character's corny, macho posturing. Sabrina Schraff as Shill is a tough, sexy leading lady, though her hip outfits and perfectly coiffed bouffant don't much fit the look and style of an actual biker chick, even in 1967. As a matter of fact, the whole gang is a little too clean and well-groomed to resemble actual motorcycle outlaws, and the soundtrack consists of some of the most hilariously bad sixties-era 'muzak' you'll ever hear. Real Angels wouldn't be caught dead listening to such crappy pap.The film is most interesting for its trivia value: Included are brief appearances by a host of actual Hell's Angels led by Sonny Barger, who to this day remains President of the infamous motorcycle gang. Apparently the Angels traded the use of their name and insignia for a cameo and a mention in the credits (though one wonders if they would have agreed to do so had they seen the film's final cut beforehand). Sabrina Schraff, the main love interest, was a former Playboy Bunny and later appeared in 'Easyrider', which, of course, also featured Jack Nicholson in his breakout role. Schraff, interestingly enough, went on to become a California state senator.This is a silly little time capsule--a nice example of the sixties-era exploitation flick and a reasonable indicator of the widespread paranoia surrounding the motorcycle gang phenomena popularized in the early sixties. The Angels obviously enjoy being romanticized as fun-loving but fierce rebels against mainstream culture in the tradition of the frontier outlaws of the nineteenth century and the gangsters of the roaring twenties, but trust me, this movie is no history lesson.