The Glory Stompers (1967)

Save your money for something good and enjoyable

Good movie but grossly overrated

Excellent but underrated film

To all those who have watched it: I hope you enjoyed it as much as I do.

I've always held Dennis Hopper in high regard as an actor but he must have literally been starving to take part in this picture. As Chino, the leader of the Black Souls biker gang, Hopper consistently goes over the top to the point of embarrassment, as demonstrated when he reacts to his brother Paul's (Jim Reader) death in the latter part of the story. It's actually quite hilarious if you get to see it.And knock me over with a feather, but I couldn't get over the idea of Casey Kasem as the mouth behind The Mouth, another Black Soul with maniacal tendencies. He mostly tag-teams with a character called Bones who isn't identified on the credits list, so at least that actor's name doesn't suffer the indignity of being identified with this flick. Actually, it got a little difficult to pinpoint the movie's genre at one point when the outlaw bikers rode into a love fest including hippies and flower children with a body painting in progress.Then knock me over double when one of my childhood fave's rides into view, good old Range Rider/Wild Bill Hickok himself, Jock Mahoney as a former Glory Stomper. The picture utilizes him to at least offer a semblance of normalcy to the proceedings when he advises Stomper Darryl (Jody McCrae) to leave the group and become a 'citizen'. But gee, if girlfriend Chris (Chris Noel) couldn't convince him, I don't know how Smiley would have. Just not in the cards.What makes the picture even more surreal if you watch for them, are the numerous continuity lapses between scenes when Darryl's facial bruises go away and reappear again, the same with Magoo's (Robert Tessier) right eye and the discoloration on Chris's forehead that's evident when she reunites with Darryl but is gone as soon as they kiss. At least the tear on her shirt remained intact for the entire picture, someone was paying attention to that one.Well I guess if you go for this stuff there's a lot here to keep one entertained. I can watch just about anything once, so at least now I can say I saw a Dennis Hopper motorcycle gang flick. A heck of a way to go though with a knife to the neck by a girlfriend's erratic knife throw. That was almost as gross as Clean Cut brother Paul spit-cleaning Chris's bloody lip. Eeeuuwwwww!

****SPOILERS**** The not all that stable to begin with Dennis Hopper is hog wild here as "Black Soul" biker leader Chino who kidnaps "Glory Stomper" biker Darryl's ,Jody McCrea, woman Chris, Chris Noel, after Chino and his gang worked Darryl over after dissing them, in standing up for his woman, and left him for dead. Recovering from his injuries Darryl hooks up with former "Glory Stomper" member Smiley played by, remember him from "I've Lived Before", Jock Mahoney as the duo try to track down Chino and his biker gang before they cross the US/Mexican border and sell Chris into a lifetime of prostitution to a local Mexican pimp.It turns out that the loose screw in Chino's plans is his fellow "Black Soul" member Mister Magoo, Robert Tessler, who developed the hots for Chris and despite Chino's plans for her, to be sold as a hooker in the Mexican prostitution racket, want Chris all for himself. There's Chino's all American clean cut looking younger brother Paul, Jim Reader, who while holding Chris hostage falls in love with her that leads to tragic, for him, results. That's when Mister Magoo while attempting to rape Chris ends up running Paul down with his bike as he tries to rescue her.***SPOILERS***The final showdown has Chino after spending most off his time partying drinking as well as whoring with his fellow "Black Souls" shows up and find his brother Paul dead and in a wild frenzy guns down Mister Magoo before he could explain, he did it only for love?, his actions. It's Darryl together with Smiley and Glory Stomper Poney,Gary Wood, who show up to prevent the now out of control Chino from doing any more damage. But it's Chino's "Momma"- wherever that means- Jo Ann,Sandra Bettin, by flinging a knife meant for Darryl that missed and caught Chino in the neck putting a final end to this insanity.

Dennis Hopper is lost to us now, so his film legacy should be presented and preserved to the best of the studio system's capability.That's why I'm shocked and saddened that The Glory Stompers has still not been released on DVD, even in the current climate of biker-schlock appreciation.The corporation or individual owning the film's rights should hasten to make it available to lovers of sixties films in general, and Dennis Hopper fans in particular.Is this terrible oversight related to the fact that MGM is up for sale, a situation which has prevented the production of more 007 worthlessness? And more importantly, kept CHiPs season 3 from being released on DVD? Where's Ted Turner when you need him? As Mr. Hopper might say in The Glory Stompers, "Like hey, YEAH, man, I mean, this is like, really important, OK?"

Ah, the life of a bikie is a difficult one, especially when you have to choose between gangs like the Glory Stompers and the Black Souls. The Stompers have Pony, young, blond, bronzed and muscly, but those teeth are just a bit too brilliant. The Black Souls have some really ugly members, but also Clean-Cut, who fills out his jeans nicely and wear some fiendishly cool shades. Whose side would you be on?