The Wild Rebels (1967)

Terrible acting, screenplay and direction.

Just perfect...

Highly Overrated But Still Good

The story, direction, characters, and writing/dialogue is akin to taking a tranquilizer shot to the neck, but everything else was so well done.

Rod "crash and burn" Tillman (Steve Alaimo) races super modified stock cars. While at a nightclub down on his luck he is approached by a biker gang of four, "Satan's Angels." They want him to drive a station wagon get-away car for a bank robbery. Guess how that goes? Check out the tires squealing on dirt.This is MST-3000 bad and is part of their series, the preferred way to watch this film. In one scene, Rod has a guitar. He is asked to play, consents, and then sings instead, setting the guitar down. It didn't really matter because none of the white folk were dancing to the music...they were dancing, but they didn't let the music affect them.Guide: No swearing, sex, or nudity.

I saw this film as an episode of Mystery Science Theater 3000, because chances are if I had never seen it on that show, I never would have watched it. This film is just one of a whole lot of biker films from this era and the only thing that sets it apart from others is that it was riffed by the gang on the satellite of love and that these bikers are not shown riding their motorcycles all that often. Other than those things, this movie is just another low budget biker film with an unappealing cast and a very bad 'hero'. The film at least has a bit of a plot going on and if I want to be kind, it almost has the same plot as Point Break in that it features a gang that is out robbing and they keep getting away with it so someone has to infiltrate their gang; however, I am probably being way too kind to this film. Though it is not quite as bad as other films riffed by the Mystery Science Theater 3000 gang, it is still overall kind of stinky.The story has a race car driver who has an accident at the start of the film. This accident cost him his life savings so he decides to just give it up. He ends up at a bar where he meets a biker gang that has a proposition for him. They want him to essentially drive a get away car during their heists as the cops are getting closer to capturing them. They figure they start using a car rather than their bikes, they may not be fingered quite so fast. The race car driver does not want to do it, but he ends up joining them as he is recruited by the police to infiltrate the gang so that he can give the police updates on their plans.This was a pretty good episode of Mystery Science Theater 3000. I prefer when they do horror or science fiction, but this one worked because it was rather fast paced and had lots of riffing material for the gang. The film was a bit more violent than a lot of the fare that they have riffed as the shoot out at the end gets pretty bad. I am surprised they showed so much considering in later episodes they seemed to shy away from showing anything too graphic. The episode featuring the film Squirm comes to mind as that one cut out nearly every bloody scene and decent worm kill except the old man at the farm.So the film is nothing special, but nor is it completely horrid. Just a lot horrid I guess you can say. I doubt there are too many people who have seen the straight film with out MST3K, but probably more so than a film like Skydivers. The film was full of kicks though and it at least moved by at a brisk pace so it had that going for it. Because in retrospect it did not have that many kicks to it.

Let say, thank you to MST3K for getting me into this movie.After years of searching I was finally able to locate a compilation DVD that had this film on it. I wanted to see the original version.What I got was a movie that was so bad it's good, entertaining in a Plan 9 from Outer Space sort of way.After wrecking his car during a race, Rod decides he's had enough, and is going to retire, and just enjoy life. He winds up in Florida at a go-go club. He carries his trusty guitar with him everywhere he goes. While at this bar, he is noticed by a group of outlaw bikers from a gang called Satan's Angels. One of them recognizes Rod from his race days, and a plan is hatched. They are going to hire him as their driver for a series of robberies. After Rod performs with the band, The Birdwatchers, a terrible Monkees clone band, that is playing at the club, they make they move. The use the seductive skills of Linda, (Bobbie Byers, a sexy woman that could charm anyone) who happens to be the girlfriend of the leader of the gang, Jeter.Somehow, Rod ends up being followed by the Florida state police, and is used by them to infiltrate the gang to bring the them to justice. The film climaxes with a gun fight at a Lighthouse.Yes, there are plenty of gaffs and continuity errors. You'll see a few scenes that are supposed to take place at night, but clearly take place later in the afternoon. You'll see guitars disappear and re-appear, People who seems to wear the same clothes everyday, despite this film's plot unfolding over several months. and you'll see plenty of vehicles that catch fire for no real reason.The dialog is pretty bad, even worse then Plan 9, because even the actors seem like they are having a hard time saying them without laughing. Steve Alamio simply is a horrible actor, mediocre singer, and a terrible choice for the film's hero.Add all of that up, and you have the perfect so bad it's good entertaining b movie that is perfect for a day when nothing good is on cable, and by judging of the play list for the premium channels as of late, that's a lot of days. I highly recommend this movie for all lovers of b-movies!

If you decide to watch Wild Rebels, don't expect anything deep and meaningful. If you're looking for a film that explores the relationships and structure of a motorcycle gang, Wild Rebels is the wrong movie. If you're looking for an expose on the breakdown of the American educational system and the problem of juvenile delinquency, Wild Rebels is the wrong movie. If you're looking for a movie that examines how undermanned rural police departments are when facing a well-financed, well-organized gang, Wild Rebels is the wrong movie. But if you're looking for an absurd movie filled with scene after scene of unintentional humor, horrendous acting, a paper-thin plot, and community theater style production values, Wild Rebels is the right movie.Wild Rebels is the story of a down-on-his-luck stock-car driver named Rod Tillman (Steve Alaimo). After a fiery crash (which Rod walks away from completely unscathed despite having only a cotton pants and a London Fog style jacket for protection), Rod decides to give it up. With no plan for his future other than to wander aimless through the back-roads of the South, he stumbles on the Satan's Angels motorcycle gang (a gang being three of the stupidest guys to ever zip up a leather jacket and a woman they seem to share). This group of hoodlums spends their time terrorizing a rural town in Florida by committing such atrocities as stealing a newspaper from a neighbor's mailbox. These bumbling idiots need someone to act as their driver during some larger crimes they have planned. Apparently, these three Einsteins can only drive vehicles with two tires, not four. So they recruit Rod to perform feats of daring that only an experienced stunt driver would be capable of like keeping the car in the middle of a gravel road during a low-speed chase. Eventually, they hold-up a bank, get into the aforementioned low-speed chase, and have the lamest gun battle with the police ever put on film. I could go on forever, but you get the idea.I hate the term "so bad it's good", but that seems to aptly describe Wild Rebels.