Devil's Angels (1967)

Excellent adaptation.

Did you people see the same film I saw?

It’s fine. It's literally the definition of a fine movie. You’ve seen it before, you know every beat and outcome before the characters even do. Only question is how much escapism you’re looking for.

Like the great film, it's made with a great deal of visible affection both in front of and behind the camera.

After the 1966 biker movie "The Wild Angels" became a box office smash, American-International Pictures over the next few years made and released a number of other biker movies, "Devil's Angels" being one of the first. While the movie definitely was profitable, the profit was much less so than what "The Wild Angels" grossed. Watching the movie, it's pretty easy to see why drive-in audiences weren't as enthusiastic. There is pretty much no plot or character development in the first half of the movie - it's just one vignette after another. The second half of the movie has a little story and fleshes out its characters slightly, but not too much more. Also disappointing is that the movie is nowhere as sleazy and explicit as some other biker movies of the time (it got a PG rating); it's quite tame even by 1967 standards. The best I can say for the movie is that there is some good widescreen photography and composition.

Ever since my Dad began 'blasting' the 'vinyl album' of "The Wild Angels Vol.2" back in the early 1970s when I was a child; and, after I began sneaking that album into my room when he was at work; I began to relate this Rock-N-Roll movie-music I love to this day (POWER-CHORD, ASS-KICKING ROCK-N-ROLL) to what sounded to me as if Keith Richards, Ray Davies, Peter Townshend, got together with Duane Eddy, and, some others, and, created "Magical Movie Kick-Ass Rock-N-Roll" for 'Biker exploitation movies!' HOWEVER...IT WAS "MIKE CURB"...ALL BY HIMSELF! The Greatest Rock-N-Roll Movie-Star Musician whom 'NO ONE' has ever even heard of!?!?"Easy Rider" is a classic...NO DOUBT, and, it has original music by Rock-N-Roll stars of the day! But, movies like "Devil's Angels;" "The Wild Angels;" "The Glory Stompers;" "Hells Angels On Wheels;" "The Born Losers;" etc...and, even the Clint Eastwood classic "Kelly's Heroes," had music by Mike Curb (at this time, The Mike Curb Congregation)...and, it's all GREAT MUSIC! These 'biker movies' were an 'institution,' just as the 'beach party' movies with Annette Funicello (BEAUTIFUL LADY) and Frankie Avilon were an institution. These biker movies were GREAT 'Drive-In' movies that kept your attention when you weren't fondling your date. These biker movies represented the time in which they were made; they had GREAT MUSIC (thanks mainly to Mike Curb); and, in many ways, they were fun to watch.They never intended to become Academy Award Winners, but, they were good and they kept your attention at the Drive-In! :) God...I miss the Drive-In Theaters SO VERY MUCH! :(

Devil's Angels (1967) ** (out of 4) AIP biker flick is yet another take on THE WILD ONE. Biker Cody (John Cassavetes) wants to find his gang a "Hole in the Wall" just like Butch Cassidy's gang but soon they run into a Sheriff (Leo Gordon) who they're able to make a deal with but the locals have their own plans. When AIP had a hit with THE WILD ANGELS they quickly threw this film into production and while it's far from a classic there's no doubt that it's at least entertaining and fans of the genre should have a good time with it. It's funny to think that the entire film we're supposed to be rooting for the bikers but when you view this film today, and I'm sure it was the same in 1967, you can't help but look at them as the bad guys. They're rude, loud, obnoxious and I don't see how anyone could agree with the stuff they're doing through the first hour of the movie. So, how did the producers try to make us like them? By throwing in equally dumb and obnoxious locals including a Mayor who decides to best way to teach the bikers is to accuse them of rape, which of course just leads to a whole 'nother battle. As with THE WILD ANGELS, the material is handled a lot more serious than most biker movies from this era. What violence is here is usually in the background and there's not even any nudity, profanity or other things like that. As straight as the movie is, there are a few campy moments including a bit with the boys filling up their gas tanks and then not having the money to pay for it. The final courtroom sequence also doesn't do anything but it's a pretty funny form of justice. Cassavetes is obviously way too talented for material like this but his performance certainly raised the quality of the film. Beverly Adams and Mimsy Farmer are both fun in their roles and Gordon does a nice job with the Sheriff. Non-genre fans might not find this worth sitting through but fans of the genre will want to check it out at least once and especially with dialogue like "When God created woman he made her pretty stupid."

Devil's Angels is a little AIP biker flick I wouldn't really recommend to anyone- unless already big into biker/exploitation pictures, really into the 60s or die-hard of John Cassavetes- but I do admire it, sort of. It's not particularly well-made by usually TV director Daniel Haller, and what little imagination with the camera on this crowd is in bits but pretty limited. And sometimes this 'imagination' in the 60s biker movie sense means using the actual distorted POV shots as if they were through a fun-house mirror, and of course lots of tracking shots for anamorphic widescreen. But what's up on the screen is really a kind of bare-bones biker movie, with nothing but a large, riled up, un-stable gang who just want to go somewhere in 'peace'. This leads to their fun being crashing various things. It leads them soon to a town where the Skulls contend with a bunch of good-old small town boys who want them right out of town. Compromises get broken, and then it all leads up to one of the most gargantuan sized climaxes in any biker flick.So, of course, much of the pleasure that comes out of Devil's Angels is in the purest sense of guilt. This is such a black and white world where bikers see the "man" as being completely oppressive, the townspeople fighting to keep the law and proper justice in line, and Cassavetes's Cody is almost stuck in the middle. His performance is one sometimes of nearing bemusement. This is not the usual kind of part I would think Cassavetes would do (probably though as something to fund one of his own movies as writer/director), but he fills the role well up enough in a very professional yet at the same time laid back manner. And as the one real voice of reason in keeping together his gang, the struggle really does near the tedious. We know what will happen, so there isn't much surprise. This is compensated by some funnier, more creative bits here and there, like when the bikers stop in on a beauty pageant, or some specific shots during their carnival shenanigans.Sometimes, too, the frustration in watching a film such as this is in seeing some of the potential that is all now locked up in a time capsule going back almost 40 years. It's only real enjoyment comes out of taking much logic out of reality to showcase a broad party animals and jokesters and other vagabond types as well as the stiff-upper-lip townspeople. While the film is not without a pretty cool, satisfying ending, particularly for Cody's character, there seems to be some excess waste in the story until about an hour into the picture. It's respectable enough trash, with a couple of good performances (aside from the assured star), and obscure enough to really appease the B-movie and exploitation flick fans.