The Wild Angels (1966)

The film creates a perfect balance between action and depth of basic needs, in the midst of an infertile atmosphere.

While it doesn't offer any answers, it both thrills and makes you think.

A terrific literary drama and character piece that shows how the process of creating art can be seen differently by those doing it and those looking at it from the outside.

The movie's neither hopeful in contrived ways, nor hopeless in different contrived ways. Somehow it manages to be wonderful

"Heavenly Blues" (Peter Fonda) is the leader of a motorcycle gang known simply as "the Angels" and has as his girlfriend the beautiful "Mike" (Nancy Sinatra). One day he makes the fateful decision to help his best friend "Loser Kearns" (Bruce Dern) get his stolen motorcycle back and that's when things begin to take a turn for the worse. Now as far as this picture is concerned it is somewhat typical of most "biker films" made during this period with the addition of the notable actors just mentioned. Admittedly, the movie loses focus toward the end with nothing to offer other than a large segment of mindless chaos--which all too often isn't that unusual for this kind of film. Having said that, let me just add that this movie isn't for everyone. Those who like biker films, or movies from this particular period of time, will probably enjoy it. Conversely, those who don't may want to steer clear. In any case, I rate it as slightly above average.

In Venice, California, the leader of Hell's Angels Heavenly Blues tells his friend Joe "Loser" Kearns (Bruce Dern) that he had located his stolen motorcycle in Mecca. While trying to retrieve the bike, Loser is shot on the back by a police patrol end goes to the hospital.This film's pedigree is amazing: Dern, Peter Fonda, Diane Ladd, Nancy Sinatra, Roger Corman, Arkoff-Nicholson, Peter Bogdanovich... even if it was a terrible film, it would be a must-see for all those interested in film history.An, of course, it is darn entertaining. I would love to see a special edition of this with commentary and the whole nine yards. Maybe one exists, but not the one I saw.

At the beginning of the film, we are told that Hells Angels had participated in the making of the film. This is a surprise, as the film seems to be a denouncement of this kind of lifestyle. This was a surprise to me, as I was thinking that we would be rooting for the motorcycle people against "the man". Perhaps however, 1966, when the film was made, would be different from 1968.The first time we should realize that we should not be for Heavenly Blues (Peter Fonda) and his gang is when they attack some Mexican youths in a garage. Roger Coorman emphasizes the size differences between the two groups, the all white gang being much bigger than the Mexicans, with Heavenly Blues using racially derogatory comments towards the Mexicans. Later, one of his gang members will try to rape an African American nurse, with Heaveny Blues intervening not out of honorable reasons, but just to get the hell out of the hospital and not get caught.The police in the film are portrayed rather decently. In the hospital, the officer guarding the Loser (Played by Bruce Dern) is portrayed as a caring person, polite to the African American nurse, and concerned about the so called Sister of the Loser (Played by Nancy Sinatra). The police are never shown as being brutal authority figures, but just as people trying to keep things in a peaceful way.Bruce Derns name in the film (The loser) is apt for the whole group. They are in fact portrayed as losers. They're only goal In life is to ride free, and get stoned. They are shown to be able to be exploited by unscrupulous people, such as the Funeral arranger. When at the end the police are on the way, Nancy Sinatra tells Fonda's character, lets get away, He responds for the first time with any real sense of his own life, "there is no where to go". They all leave, but he continues to dig the grave for "The loser", he could be actually digging his own grave.It is during the church scene, where the audience will find these characters repugnant. You don't have to be religious to do so. At the end of the film, you are going to be rooting for the townspeople, watching the ridiculous funeral procession, to attack the motor cycle gang. Coorman bookends the film interesting here. At the beginning, we saw a young boy on a tricycle. At the end of the film, as I recall, it is a young boy who throws an object at the motor cycle gang in the cemetery.I happened to watch the film by chance, on one of those on demand free cable stations. I can't say I was totally entertained by the film. It seems somewhat dated now. But it did surprise me, and I would have to suggest that their was a message in the film, and a rather strong one.

"The Wild Angels" provides further evidence that producer/director Roger Corman wasn't just a clever businessman, but primarily a genuine pioneer of cult-cinema. When people are listing the greatest & coolest biker flicks from the late 60's and early 70's, they're always talking about "Easy Rider", the Aussie classic "Stone", "Cycle Savages" and perhaps a handful of others. "The Wild Angels" rarely ever gets mentioned but it actually predates all these films, so one could really claim this obscure puppy was the prototype of biker-exploitation. In the fifties already, there was the biker classic "The Wild One", with Marlon Brando, but this is the film that almost single-handedly launched the popular trend of exploitation movies in which heavy thugs in leather outfits are cruising across the American countryside and getting in all sort of trouble. Corman's film features pretty much all the essential aspects that determine a biker movie. Nihilistic and crude male characters on their bikes, docile women following them around no matter what, gang conflicts, confrontations with the police, a ritual funeral parade and a whole lot of wild parties with booze, drugs and rape. Peter Fonda depicts, for the first time of many, the ruthless gang leader of a biker gang called The Angels. They wear Nazi symbols and fill their days with smoking weed and complaining how "The Man" doesn't allow them to live freely. When they head out to the Mexican border to recover a stolen motorcycle from a rival gang, Blues' sidekick Loser gets killed after a chase with the police. His funeral escalates into an anarchistic orgy in which the Angels demolish a church, rape their own women and provoke a fight with an entire community. "The Wild Angels" may have been very influential, but it's nevertheless understandable why it never became an authentic cult classic. As said, all the necessary plot ingredients are present, but it too often feels as if they are completely ignored. Multiple potentially compelling sub plots and intriguing character drawings are left unprocessed whereas the film does contain too many tedious and pointless sequences that shouldn't have been there. The atmosphere is effectively nihilistic, with the gang members even continuously fighting and cheating on each other, but there are too few genuinely memorable moments. The acting performances are pretty neat, with a few great names still at the beginning of their careers, like Peter Fonda, Diane Ladd, Michael J. Pollard and Bruce Dern. "The Wild Angels" isn't a classic, but nevertheless essential viewing if you like the rough-n-tough cult cinema of the late 60's.