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5
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5 |
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10
= Highest Rating |
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Hells
Angels on Wheels*
isn't particularly good, but it's one of the better
films of the biker movie subgenre that blossomed
in the wake of Roger Corman's The
Wild Angels (1966). It's mostly remembered
for the early starring role it afforded the young
Jack Nicholson, just a couple of years before
his breakout performance in Easy
Rider propelled him to eventual superstardom.
Most biker flicks feature very
little in the way of actual plot and this one
is no exception. Nicholson is Poet, a disgruntled
gas station attendant who hooks up with some Hell's
Angels when he's fired from his job. The gang's
leader, Buddy (exploitation vet Adam Rourke),
overhears Poet telling off his boss and is impressed
with his attitude. Since Poet rides a motorcycle,
Buddy invites him to tag along with the crew just
for kicks. Poet meets up with them later and decides
to hang out, though some of the Angels don't like
him and don't want him around. When he helps them
beat up some rival bikers, however, Buddy and
Co. take him under their wing as a sort of probationary
apprentice Angel. Poet makes the mistake of falling
for Buddy's old lady, Shill (Sabrina Scharf),
who's a bit fickle to say the least. She delights
in playing Poet and Buddy off one another, hoping
to spur the men into a fight over her. It takes
a long time for Poet to get wise to this two-faced
bitch... In the meantime he and the Angels ride
around, smoke pot and drink beer, are hassled
by the cops and get into a lot of brawls. Poet
and his erstwhile mentor eventually have a confrontation
over Shill. That's pretty much the entire movie.
Since director Richard Rush
and cinematographer Laszlo ("Leslie") Kovacs were
competent filmmakers —
even this early in their careers —
Hells
Angels on Wheels
has a patina of quality a notch above your standard
low budget biker movie of the period, even when
things appear hastily improvised on the spot and/or
the money ran out. Lead actors Rourke and Nicholson
are also quite good despite the trite dialog.
In Nicholson's Poet we get a character we can
somewhat identify with, a guy who likes some aspects
of the Angels' hedonistic lifestyle but who's
got enough of a conscience to balk when they take
things too far. That's about as deep as the film
gets, y'all... Who wants meaningful drama or social
commentary in a biker flick anyway? Regardless
of the efforts of those behind and in front of
the camera, there really wasn't much they could
do given the aimless, episodic nature of the script.
Not a whole lot happens in this movie. It's pretty
much a series of pointless vignettes in between
fight scenes. Whenever the proceedings really
start to drag you can rest assured that Poet and
the Angels are about to get into a brawl, be it
with rival bikers, sailors on shore leave or local
bully-boys. (After all, old fashioned fist fights
don't cost very much to film; no expensive motorcycles
or cars have to be trashed.) Adding an unexpected
injection of goofiness, some of these fight scenes
are accompanied by rather hokey music that could
almost have been lifted from the old Batman
TV show — all that's
missing are the cartoon word balloons declaring
POW!, ZOT! and BAM!
The film's
most remembered scene has to be the body-painting
"orgy", which is pretty mild considering no one
actually gets naked. Everyone involved seemed
to be having a good time, though; Jack Nicholson
can't resist sticking his head into frame and
mugging shamelessly. I wonder... Was that real
ganja they were smoking on the set? (Trivia note:
the actor playing the bohemian artist is the late
Bob Kelljan, who'd go on to direct '70s drive-in
favorites Count Yorga,
Vampire, its sequel, and Scream,
Blacula, Scream.) For me, the thing most vividly
recalled from seeing the flick on a UHF channel
nearly 20 years ago was the super-abrupt
ending. As with Cycle
Savages, you'll probably be left thinking,
"Oh... So that's it?"
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*
I have no idea why the title word "HELLS"
is spelled without an apostrophe.
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Hells
Angels on Wheels comes to DVD looking and
sounding better than it ever has since first playing
theaters and drive-ins nearly 40 years ago. While
not pristine, the print used for the Image disc
is a significant improvement over old VHS editions
and TV broadcasts. (It's also anamorphically letterboxed
at 1.85:1, the film's correct aspect ratio.) Alas,
the only extra included is the original theatrical
trailer. 1/14/04
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