HELLS ANGELS ON WHEELS (1967)

 Before Jack Nicholson starred in the classic EASY RIDER, and went on to big Hollywood success, he was the main character in this way sleazier, more exploitation-y version of a biker flick as a gas-station attendant who quits his job and tags along with some Hells Angels. This leads to some criminal activities including some barroom brawling, police hassling, the occasional murder and driving squares' cars vehicles off the road because they drive too slow. Real-life Hells Angels leader Sonny Barger shows up for a second and apparently was a technical consultant of some sort. While some of the things that may have been considered more shocking back when this was released, like two male bikers smooching away or the whole partner swapping thing, might seem pretty mild today to the super-liberal mainstream this one still manages to be a pretty solid and watchable love-triangle story about some not-very love-filled people. The tunes could be a little more rocking but still worth a look for some classic exploitation of what might be the CITIZEN KANE of biker cinema.

 


                                Given a shorter, blunter title in this Italian? poster:

THE TERROR (1963)

 Slow-moving Roger Corman-directed AIP horror flick that has that classic feel. This is mainly due to Boris Karloff's presence as a brooding Baron who has secluded himself in his seaside spooky castle but there's also a witch, a young Dick Miller as Boris' servant, a face-meltdown, a bird that eats eyeballs right out of your head and enough other creepy elements to make this one watchable. There's also some twists at the end which make it worthwhile. Jack Nicholson does an OK job as a bewitched French soldier before growing his hair out and heading off to make all those great biker flicks later on in the 60s. The plot itself is just a variation on Edgar Allen Poe stories which Corman had already made(HOUSE OF USHER and PIT AND THE PENDULUM) and which are actually better movies so go watch them first.
 Francis Ford Coppola helped shoot this and it's been claimed that it was all shot in 4 days but apparently that was just the scenes with Karloff.
 Being in the public domain this movie is in just about every cheap-ass horror DVD set out there right alongside NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD.
 AKA THE CASTLE OF TERROR and THE HAUNTING(released-to-TV-version)




There's a bunch of shitty-artwork VHS releases of this:

Here's one from my collection:

THE REBEL ROUSERS (1970)

 After EASY RIDER was a big hit there came a whole slew of these outlaw biker flicks and many of them, like this one here, had an all-star cast.  Cameron Mitchell is our main main, not looking nearly as bloated as I'm used to seeing him, as a fellow who runs across some bikers led by Bruce Dern who he went to college with.  This doesn't stop the gang from beating the shit out of him just for the hell of it.  These are the kind of bikers that I don't think are necessarily evil but they don't really give a fuck about what they have to do to have a good time or a cheap thrill.  Dern is the only one of them who has any kind of conscience at all regarding his actions and this leads to some bickering and bike-racing on the beach.  Their disregard for decency  might eventually lead our gang of knucklehead hog-riders into the neighborhood of rape and murder as the movie goes on and things get more serious.  Diane Ladd, who is in a few of these biker flicks and later on the mom in WILD AT HEART, is Cameron's lady friend and the object of Jack Nicholson's molesting hands and tongue.  Nicholson is pretty awesome here as a sleazeball in awesome stripey-pants who will fuck over his best friend for a thrill.  Harry Dean Stanton is also part of the gang in a stupid-looking suit and pork-pie hat.  While overall this film teases a lot more violence than you actually get onscreen(you mostly just get a lot of general mayhem and anarchy) it's still a neat little low-budget, time-capsule, throwback, drive-in semi-classic that would play all the time on TV back when I was a kid and broadcast TV had a reason to exist.    
 This was actually filmed in '67 and not released until after EASY RIDER to cash in on the Nicholson connection.

“With the unbridled passion of men possessed, they blasted their way through all opposition in a campaign of sexual self-indulgence that left nothing but burned-out shells of humanity strewn in their path.”:

THE WILD RIDE (1960)

 
 A young Jack Nicholson stars here as a beatniky leader of a gang of juvenile delinquents.  He spends his time racing hot-rods, playing chicken with cars(and a motorcycle cop who he ends up killing), dumping an older married woman who's been having an affair with him and being an all around bully(or "top stud" as he's called over and over) to his gang of followers.  It all ends in tragedy and heartbreak and old people have their view of the horror of young people reinforced once again.  This is a pretty standard J.D. film that coulda came out in the 50's and probably seemed dated a few years after it was released.  Some of the weird slang is cool to hear today though.       
 Strangely enough I own this on a biker movie DVD triple feature disc and there's no bikes or bikers anywhere to be seen.    
 This is a black & white film but there's a newer colorized version of this titled VELOCITY which has some modern wraparound scenes added where a guy(who is supposed to be Nicholson) is talking about his youth and then it flashes back to the real movie.  I haven't seen that version but I've read that it's pretty awful. 

ONE FLEW OVER THE CUCKOO'S NEST (1975)

"But I tried, didn't I? Goddammit, at least I did that."

I'm guessing this will probably be the only movie on this blog that has won an academy award(it actually won 5) or even been nominated.  It's hard to believe that at one time quality movies were actually included in an awards show that is now just a showcase for boring, over-commercialized Hollywood garbage.  What is this film about?  Rebellion? following one's own path? the corruption of authority? the subjectivity of madness?  I think it's about all that stuff and it's just chock full of amazing little scenes that add up to an overall amazing film and one of the few films from the "drama" genre that I would even bother watching.  The reason it works so well, besides the direction of Milos Forman, is the group of actors, playing the patients in an asylum, who are all pretty young here.  Besides Jack Nicholson you get Danny DeVito, Christopher Lloyd, Brad Dourif and Michael Berryman (playing a memorable lobotomized freak-show of a nut who doesn't get enough screentime).  My favorite institutionalized wacko, though, has got to be the great Sydney Lassick.  While he is not young at all, his scenes always crack me up and his acting style is beyond incredible.  If this guy wasn't truly and completely insane he may have been the greatest actor to ever live.  All the poor guy wants are his cigarettes!  It's rare that a film can make you laugh and also feel like complete shit by the time it's all over but this one does and it's another reason why the 70's era as a whole will probably never be surpassed in any genre.