Run, Angel, Run! (1969)

Fresh and Exciting

Best movie ever!

I cannot think of one single thing that I would change about this film. The acting is incomparable, the directing deft, and the writing poignantly brilliant.

It's an amazing and heartbreaking story.

"Angel" (William Smith) is a biker who is wanted by an outlaw motorcycle club known as "the Devil's Angels" for spilling their darkest secrets to a magazine for $10,000. But in order to retrieve the money he and his girlfriend "Laurie" (Valerie Starrett) have to drive from Los Angeles to Frisco and his old motorcycle gang is quite aware of his destination. So to buy some time Angel stops off along the way and gets a job with a sheep rancher named "Dan Felton" (Dan Kemp) who needs some help. The problem is Angel doesn't know anything about sheep and even less about settling down. Meanwhile, rather than giving up, the outlaw motorcycle gang continues to look for him and they are willing to do whatever it takes to find him. Now rather than reveal any more I will just say that this film started out pretty good but seemed to lose steam about halfway through before picking up again towards the end. That said, William Smith performed fairly well and all things considered I suppose it wasn't too bad as far as "biker movies" are concerned. Average.

William Smith is a very capable actor, but it seems he never had an agent. He always got stuck in a lot of B movies like this one. This film was barely good enough for me to keep from falling asleep. The direction was bad, the script terrible, etc. It had a lot of potential and in the hands of a capable producer/director, it could have been a good film. The casting was good, except for the posse of bikers who were on Angel's trail. They seemed like a bunch of lightweights who were the only ones who showed up for the casting call. Everything was bargain basement here; all the scenes lacked intensity. the frequent use of the split screen was distracting and you could see why this technique has since been abandoned.The ending was inadequate and abrupt; a fitting tribute to a wasted effort.

This was the first film directed by 70s action and blaxploitation movie legend Jack Starrett (Slaughter, Cleopatra Jones, Race With the Devil) and despite a minuscule budget and a 13 day shooting schedule, it manages to hold up fairly well today, thanks in large part to its sharp cinematography and innovative editing. Starrett made clever use of split screen compositions to energize the action, and the often rapid-fire editing keeps things moving along briskly. Run Angel Run was also the first starring role for Big Bill Smith, and the one that made him a 70s action movie icon. As Angel, fugitive biker, Smith's chiseled features, macho mustache and bulging biceps get a lot of screen time. In fact, at times I found myself wondering why Smith was running from his gang - he looks like he could punch out every biker in California single-handed, then bench press their hogs. Anyway, the essentials of the movie - lone biker on the run, menacing bike gang giving chase, fast action on the road and lots of fights - made Run Angel Run a surprise hit and one of the few true classics of the short-lived biker genre, alongside Easy Rider, Angels Die Hard, and The Born Losers. Finally out on DVD from Media Blasters, the folks responsible for the Tokyo Shock DVD label, Run Angel Run features introductory commentary by Joe Bob Briggs and a title song by Tammy Wynette.

This is a real Biker-Movie Classic. I think it was the first leading part for William Smith and also his first biker-movie. He did a great job. Of course it is a B-Picture, but it has some good and unforgettable scenes. One year later Smith and director Jack Starrett did another classic together: Nam's Angels.