Born To Ride News

Born To Ride magazine reviews the top 13-biker exploitation films for your enjoyment.

This month, it’s “Wild Hogs” starring Tim Allen, John Travolta, Martin Lawrence, and William H. Macy. The film was released in 2007, and as far ‘biker exploitation films’ go, I suppose that definition probably doesn’t really fit. It is however ‘wildly’ entertaining if you are a comedy fanatic, or middle-aged gay basher.

The story centers around four middle-aged businessmen who are bored with their regular suburban lives—embark on a road trip on their Harleys. Doug (Tim Allen) is a dentist; Bobby (Martin Lawrence) is a plumber; Woody (Travolta) is a bankrupt husband of a swimsuit model, who is divorcing him. Dudley (Macy) is a computer geek, who seeks the companionship of a woman (possibly his first experience) and constantly falls of his motorcycle in some very well performed stunt work. The action, the sets, and riding footage were quite good. The acting was dramatic at times, but continues to make the four look way too ‘Rubbie’ to be realistic. The overuse of gay references became redundant to a point, but overall it remained funny I guess.

The road trip is filled with humorous moments, such as the four sleeping close together scantily clad, after burning their tent down and being discovered by a policeman who is overtly gay, and actually jealous of their situation. A little farther down the road, the four are skinny-dipping in a pond when a traveling family joins them. The family discovers their state of undress while searching for crawdads, and later by the very same – very gay – and very naked policeman. The Hogs escape from the pond on their motorcycles, and during one of their frequent urination stops, they watch in awe as a large group of bikers pass by. This group was the Del Fuegos Motorcycle Club, and the Hogs meet them later down the road at their “Biker Bar” Clubhouse. This meeting goes bad of course, and Dudley ends up losing his motorcycle to “Jack” (Ray Liotta) who is the club’s president. The Hogs are ridiculed and sent down the road with Dudley in tow in a sidecar attached to Woody’s motorcycle.

Less than a mile down the road, Woody decides to walk back to the biker bar and retrieve Dudley’s bike. As the others wait beside the highway, Woody sneaks up, cuts the fuel lines on several of the club’s bikes, and takes off on Dudley’s bike. When Jack discovers the bike missing, the club fires up to give chase, but their pursuit is halted when Jack discards his cigarette into a puddle of gas, which causes their (clubhouse) building to explode and burn to the ground. Meanwhile Woody returns to the trio with Dudley’s bike and to their surprise spins a tale of threatening the club with legal action. The four Hogs ride by the bar waving and Woody gives them the finger just before the whole place blows up. Seeing the massive explosion in his rearview mirror, Woody refuses to stop – even for gas—and the Hogs end up pushing their motorcycles through the desert, where they end up in the small-town of Madrid.

In Madrid, the Hogs have to stay the night to wait for the gas station to open. The Sheriff mistakes the four for Del Fuegos members. He tells them the club members terrorize the town frequently. He explains the small police force (who received weapons training by playing the video game Doom) is unable to do anything about them. Meanwhile Jack sends his members out in pairs to locate the Hogs. The Madrid chili festival is held that night and Dudley furthers his interest in Maggie (Marisa Tomei) who owns the local diner. As he courts her, Bobby comes across two Del Fuegos in town. Because of Woody’s previous explanation and believing that he is untouchable, Bobby humiliates the two bikers by squirting them with ketchup and mustard. Under orders from Jack, the two club members refuse to do anything and Bobby appears to win this battle. The town praises the Wild Hogs as saviors, considering them a friendly biker gang who can protect them. They are appreciative to the point that Dudley spends the night with Maggie.

The next morning the Del Fuegos ride into town 50 strong. Jack yells to the townspeople that his gang will vandalize the town, starting with the diner, until the Wild Hogs come out to fight. Woody reveals his lie about the biker bar incident, and the Hogs hide inside Maggie’s house with the local Sheriff. As they peer out the window, Dudley walks out alone to face the gang, armed only with a tire iron. They tape him up and hang him from a tree like a piñata. Doug launches a plan to rescue him; and he is able to convince the other two to help. After the failed attempt, the Hogs decide to fight the club in front of the diner. The Fight is four-on-four with the Hogs taking repeated beatings. Refusing to quit, the Hogs get back up and challenge the club once more, but this time the entire town comes to back them up. Armed with axe handles, sticks and the like, Jack laughs and refers to them as the Children of the Corn. At this moment the Del Fuegos founder Damien Blade (Peter Fonda) arrives on the scene. Blade chastises Jack and the Del Fuegos for picking on four men and the townspeople, and reveals he actually thought his bar was a “S#!tHOLE” and explained that he insured the bar for twice what it was worth. Now we also learn that Jack is Damien’s son, and he points out to Jack how he forgot what being out on the open road is about and that it doesn’t involve thuggish behavior and violence. The gang soon departs, and the Hogs are again heroes. That is until the Doug and Bobby’s wives arrive in town! After a brief reconciliation, the Hogs venture out to their original destination, the Pacific Coast.

Probably one of the best scenes in the movie occurs during the credits. There, the Del Fuegos get a new clubhouse courtesy of Ty Pennington and the Extreme Makeover Home Edition cast, and the emotions run high as they view their new clubhouse equipped with leather covered parking lot, and a bidet! Now that’s gay! I would give it 3 out of 5 stars for a good effort at wasting an hour and a half of my time.

This month Born To Ride reviews the classic “On Any Sunday.” On Any Sunday is not a typical motorcycle exploitation film, but on the contrary a very positive motorcycle ‘sport’ documentary piece featuring Steve McQueen, Mert Lawwill, Malcolm Smith, and a cast of hundreds of other motorcycle racers and enthusiasts. This 1971 expose was produced by Bruce Brown, and Steve McQueen, and features some very good cinematography considering it’s vintage. It also portrays motorcycle enthusiasts as ‘good guys’ instead of the alternative. The opening scene shows a group of kids racing their bicycles, making motorcycle noises. Some credit this scene with the ‘creation’ of BMX, but I looked at it as a positive thing for the motorcycle community, as we watch our kids aspire to be like us as they grow older. This film leaves no stone unturned in the motorcycle racing world, covering everything from road racing to the “Widow Maker” hill climb. A good portion of the movie focuses on the career of Mert Lawwill who held the AMA number one plate for one grueling season, riding his Harley XR 750 in the flat track series. The film follows Mert through one of his bad years where multiple engine failures and other calamities cause him to lose the coveted number 1 plate to Gene Romero at the season finale in Sacramento. Mert didn’t just flat track it all the way through the film however. He and his costars, Malcolm Smith and Steve McQueen are filmed in various situations in multiple divisions of motorcycle racing. Most know McQueen as an actor who would spend a lot of leisure time as an auto racer, but On Any Sunday will show you that he is a very accomplished motorcycle racer as well. On Any Sunday is often credited as the best and/or most important motorcycle documentary ever made. Roger Ebert says “It does for motorcycle racing what The Endless Summer did for surfing.” I agree with Ebert on this (for once we agree) but don’t forget that Bruce Brown produced both of these films, so that quote is more of an insult than a compliment in my opinion. On Any Sunday is available on a digitally re-mastered DVD and the “Directors Cut” edition comes with yet a second DVD which covers the making of the movie behind the scenes, the trailer, interviews and et cetera. This flick runs 96 minutes, and you will likely enjoy at least 90 of them! If you love motorcycles and racing, you will like this film! I’ll give this one 5 out of 5 stars for keeping me entertained without pissing me off!

In order to understand the true and effectual definition of the word (roustabout), I actually had to do some research. I had always assumed that a ‘Roustabout’ was just a loner that traveled around on a motorcycle, drinking and beating people up. This vision in my mind was likely based on the movie, which I viewed when I was a child. I wasn’t very far off. It seems that the true definition of a roustabout or people that are (roustabouts) are basically un-skilled laborers. The use of this term is common around oil-rigs and carnivals. I suppose now they would just be referred to as laborers. But that enlightenment, as late in life as it came, has little or nothing to do with the movie itself.

Roustabout isn’t really a biker exploitation film per se, but it does give a glimmer of what life was like in the mid sixties, and it does actually feature Elvis riding a 305 Honda in a lot of scenes. Elvis actually DID ride motorcycles, but the lore that follows him rarely refers to this activity. And this one is more of a ‘musical’ / ‘romance’ following in the footsteps of other Elvis films. Hey, you gotta admit – Elvis was mostly notorious for his music, not his acting!

Charlie Rogers (played by Elvis) is a musician performing in a “Tea House” which is the 60’s equivalent of a 1920’s speak-easy, or a place that may serve alcohol illegally, or perhaps to folks that are underage. I base this on a popular term used in the movie. The waitress serving some college kids says ” Well if you see that light come on over there it means that the FUZZ is on the way, and you better ditch the beer and go back to the coke”. I LOVE that term Fuzz. (For you younger folks) It’s a really old term for the Police. I remember once I asked a girlfriend “Have you ever been picked up by the Fuzz?” And she replied “No, but I HAVE been slung around by my tits!!!”

Anyway, our hero Charlie sings a great anti-college boy song “Poison Ivy League” to the table of kids. As Charlie leaves, he is confronted by a trio of the Ivy-Leaguers and is fired from the gig after brawling with them in the establishment’s parking lot. He uses Judo to overcome the trio, and is soon arrested by the local Fuzz. After a night in jail, Charlie hits the road on his Honda 305 Superhawk motorcycle and encounters Joe, Maggie and Cathy. Joe runs him off the road, and he crashes through a fence wrecking his bike and guitar. Maggie, a carnival owner offers him a place to stay and a job with her carnival while the bike is being repaired. Charlie becomes a roustabout or carnie, and spends most of his time chasing Cathy around the show grounds. Joe spends a lot of time abusing Charlie but Maggie recognizes his musical talents and promotes him to top billing. His singing and musical act draws huge crowds to the carnival. Off stage, Charlie cultivates a romance with Cathy but after numerous troubles with her pugnacious father Joe and an incident over a customer’s lost wallet, Charlie leaves the carnival to star in the show of rival carnival producer Harry Carver. It is at this juncture in the film that you will once again be reminded that this is a ‘biker’ film when Charlie on a dare, rides inside the “Wall of Death”. Yeah, I doubt that Elvis did this stunt himself, but it is curious to see one of the original barrels from the sixties. It’s still a great show today! Charlie is a great success at Carvers show but when Charlie learns Maggie may face bankruptcy, he returns to her carnival and relieves her financial woes with his earnings from Carver’s show. After yet another fight with Joe, our hero saves the day and in the musical finale, he is happily reunited with Cathy and remains with Maggie’s carnival.

If you are an Elvis fan, you’ve already seen this one I’m sure. But if your looking for a hard core biker exploitation film, this really isn’t it!

The Wild One

The entire review could be summed up in a sentence: “This film created an image and a lifestyle that yet endures.” Yes, the image of a young Brando sitting on his Triumph motorcycle, dressed in a black leather jacket, tilted cap and a stolen trophy attached at the headlamp, is certainly one that literally everyone has seen at least once. Some of you still live that image today!

This film arguably started the biker exploitation explosion in this reviewer’s eyes, and set the tone for hundreds of “B” movie skirt riders that are still being spawned as we speak. Released in 1953, The Wild One was based on a short story The Cyclists’ Raid by Frank Rooney, which was published in Harper’s magazine in 1951. Rooney’s story was inspired by the Life magazine expose dubbed “The Hollister Riot” published in July 21, 1947, after the famed ‘motorcycle weekend’ on July 4th. Curiously, that event is still celebrated in Hollister to this day! Further research will show that this piece was not as well accepted as some of Marlon Brando’s other work, such as Streetcar Named Desire and the film was actually banned in the UK for 14 years! What is Johnny rebelling against? “What have you got?”

The story starts out when Brando, starring as Johnny Strabler, and his gang the Black Rebels Motorcycle Club roll into a small Midwestern town and interrupt a motorcycle race being held there. A member of the BRMC steals a trophy, and presents it to Johnny who is the president of the gang in a show of respect. This trophy will become a focal point in the rest of the film, as it was not ‘won’ in actual competition, but won by the club as a spoil of confrontation. Johnny never actually states that he won the trophy until the gang heads to a local café, where Johnny meets Kathie Bleeker (played by Mary Murphy) who is the daughter of the local constable. Johnny tries to impress Kathie by stating that he won the trophy in the race, and asks her out to a dance being held later in the evening. Kathie refuses, and as the gang causes more and more disturbance, the locals in the town prod Harry Bleeker (the local cop played by Robert Keith) to deal with the gang. At this point in the film, it becomes clear that Kathie is actually attracted to Johnny, and his wild lifestyle, but the romance never seems to work out. …

As Johnny and his gang leave the café, they encounter Chino (played by Lee Marvin) and his gang. Johnny and Chino are old enemies, and it is inferred that they were both members of another – larger- gang. Their rivalry escalated when Johnny broke off and formed the BRMC. Chino tries to recover the stolen trophy, but is unable to do so. As in all films of this nature, a fight breaks out between Johnny and Chino – Johnny wins. During the melee, a citizen hits a motorcycle with his car, and Chino drags him out of the car to beat him up. It is at this point that Harry the Cop arrests Chino. Harry was going to arrest the citizen also, but he lets him go in fear of future retribution. With Chino in jail, Johnny returns to the café to once again ask Kathie out. She again refuses using the ‘trophy’ and the alleged theft as an excuse. … (I guess she didn’t want to be a “Trophy” wife!)

Later that night, Chino’s gang abducts the citizen from his home and in a hilarious scene attempt to put him in jail with Chino. They actually get him into a cot in the cell, but Chino is too drunk to get up, so they just leave him there. He later breaks out! How you ask? The locals form up a vigilante squad to run the bikers out of town. When they go to the jail to retrieve their neighbor, Chino escapes and disappears into the darkness. Later Chino and his gang attempt to abduct Kathie but our hero Johnny saves the day! Kathie and Johnny soon part but the vigilantes capture Johnny and give him a good beating. He escapes, and returns to his motorcycle and as the vigilantes give chase, one of them throws a tire iron at the speeding bike. The tire iron knocks Johnny from his bike, but the rider-less machine careens into an elderly bystander, killing him. …

Johnny is arrested and charged with manslaughter but after Kathie and another witness corroborate his story, he is released from jail. In the end, even though it is apparent that Johnny doesn’t want to thank his witnesses for speaking up for him, he returns to the café to offer the trophy to Kathie.

This film is a classic piece that you will likely enjoy if you are fan of biker exploitation films. I stated earlier that this is the one that started it all, and if you like this kind of action this is a must see! The film runs 79 minutes; it is presented in beautiful black and white, and available on DVD! I’ll give this one five stars, and you will play it over and over again, I promise. …

Then Came Bronson, Warner Brothers Archive Collection

Sixty-nine was a pivotal time in American history. It was also a beginning of sorts for my love affair with motorcycles, begat in large part by a short-lived television series starting that year—Then Came Bronson. I was 12 years-old and devoured every episode of the lonely stranger and his eye-emblazoned Sportster wandering across the country. This movie introduced Jim Bronson (Michael Parks) to the world.

The film begins with Jim’s friend, Nick (Martin Sheen) in crisis and disillusioned with life — as so many young men are. Part of the “Stompers” motorcycle club, Nick had settled down with a wife and a “real” job—offering much promise for advancement according to his wife—but he knows better. Dead end, dull job, responsibilities, and no resources—is that what life is all about? The only thing he has worth anything is his Sportster, so under the Golden Gate Bridge he asks Jim to buy it from his wife and then promptly jumps to his death,
Jim returns to the office of his once-valued profession, a reporter, only to realize he is facing much the same as his friend—a dull job and an industry hungry for unsavory stories, ones that “show people at their worst.” Jim loads up the Sportster and hits the road.
He doesn’t get far before he eyes a young girl (Temple Brooks, played by Bonnie Bedelia), running away from her pending life of responsibility, shedding her wedding dress and engagement ring on a northern California beach. She runs away sans clothes, but they meet again when she runs Bronson off the road. Jim catches up and lets her driver door have it with a kick of his boot. Off he goes, suitably avenged. At a gas stop, they meet again, where the convertible driver becomes a passenger on the Sportster, abandoning her car as the result of a curious policeman’s questions.
From here on love fitfully blooms. On the road to New Orleans they slowly figure each other out. However, on arrival they realize they need to part, he to continue his quest for meaning and her to return to the very thing that had scared her onto the road with Jim. They part and Bronson rides into television history over the next 2 years and 26 episodes.

What is interesting is the kind of biker Bronson is. He’s not a tear-it-up terrorizer of decent common folk, as so many movies make us out to be. Neither is he the trendy young motorcyclist so many Honda ads of the time purported us to be, riding our little, brightly colored scoots, wearing white slacks and boat shoes, and with a pert college girl on back.

What Bronson was, and what I aspire to be as a biker and a person, is a self-reliant man in charge of his bike and his life, not the pawn of others. He’s quiet and a thinker, and not afraid to get his hands dirty for that next tank of gas and a bit of food, or wrenching his ride on the side of the highway. He’s not a pushover, but neither is he a troublemaker. He leads himself and is not led by others. He lives by his own rules, but they are not thoughtless or selfish rules and he listens more than he talks. What it all comes down to is his choice of going out and living his life, instead of accepting life as other people tell him it is or should be.

Bronson is so soft-spoken I occasionally had to back up to catch quiet bits of dialogue set against the unmistakably late 60s music. Maybe someday that music will attain an aura of classicism, but to my ears it is awkward. The movie, however, makes up for that music by a couple instances of a nice rendition of “Wayfaring Stranger” sung by Michael Parks and Bonnie Bedelia.

For an observant rider, little things like the magical appearance of knobbies on the Sportster (really a Jawa) for the hill-climbing scene may disturb the flow a bit, but the story is worth putting up with little inconsistencies. Many viewers will not even notice the poetic license taken here and there. If you recall the show from your youth and enjoy an occasional blast from the past, pick up this flick. Be warned—you may end up following your viewing with online searches for TV episodes and “Bronson Bikes.” You may even think about your life, your choices, and what you love about riding. This DVD is available from Warner Broadcasting and at Amazon.com.

Vampire Biker Babes
Written and Directed by Walt Jenkins
2007
Available, www.borntoride.com/store.html
Date night movie under certain circumstances. 

The Motorcycle Western ran its course as Drive-In and Grand house fare until some moment in the 1980s when home video rental displaced the seedy environs of downtown red-light district and pick-up strip theatres and even drive-ins.

With the advent of film on video it wasn’t long before stuff was being shot straight to video in record time for record low budgets and earning record money on investment. Another advancement in marketing was that now all the explicit  films and the themed X-Rated fare that was once played on silent 8mm reels at stag parties or with sound in “Art” houses was available to view in the comfort and safety of your own home. This tossed a wrench into the gears that churned out biker movies. It has come to pass that there are so few biker movies that to be classified as a biker movie it takes only the brief appearance of a motorcycle. I have seen lists that put TOP GUN and Mission Impossible and Terminator 2 in the biker movie category; these are NOT biker movies these are movies that have motorcycles in them.

There is a void in this category. Wild Hogs was a great movie and it was everything you would expect from a cast populated by greats like Vinny Barbarino, Tim “The Tool Man” Taylor, “Big Momma” Lawrence, that guy from the Fargo movie who sold cars and that other guy from Wise Guys. Was it a true Biker Movie…? Maybe, if you can categorize Big Momma’s House as a cross-dresser movie. OK, Peter Fonda was in Wild Hogs at the end. So yes, as weak as it is as an example of the true Biker Movie genre, it has Peter Fonda going for it.

In 2007, the same year that Wild Hogs was released, Vampire Biker Babes debuted as a Florida biker movie. It is just that, but not JUST that. While this movie has some violent scenes and, I think, might be a buzz-kill as a date night film, it is a hoot to watch. It is full of places that anyone who has scooted about Florida will recognize but the shooting was so clever that the places become wonderfully fresh; like how the east coast of Florida was transformed in Body Heat. You get a great feel for the area without really knowing where you are. — OK, you will recognize the interiors of some great Florida bars.  In fact the bartender credits in this movie are as crowded as the stunt credits in a Tom Cruise action film. 

From the movie’s title you get a feel for the story line, there will be Biker Vampires. In this case the Biker Vampires will be Babes. The biker vampire babes are cute to really hot, their costuming is great and provided by Zone D’ Erotica (http://www.zonederoticaonline.com/). It occurred to me, if you did decide to view this movie for date night give your gal an outfit from the very place that did costumes for the film–the evening might work out well. Also, from the looks of it, Zone D’ is a cool place for gals to buy hot riding gear.

In the credits the producers acknowledge the over 500 Florida bikers who made this film possible. This is way cool, this makes this a true biker film because true bikers are in it, everybody is in it. The riding scenes, while mostly straight road scenes, are good because of the sheer numbers of bikes. There is a short moment at a sprint car short track so you get a small taste of racing. It left me wanting more. AND I wanted to see a prolonged chase scene, but then I always want to see chase scenes.

The cast is not well known; there are no well-known actors in this film except for one cameo appearance by Born To Ride Magazine Publisher and Born To Ride TV Executive Producer, Ron Galletti. Galletti nails his part because he is a mass of raw talent and he was … he was playing himself.

Vampire Biker Babes has a well thought story line and is a modern mix of high-tech graphics effects and green screen sets. 

Made for bikers, by bikers in Florida. How can you go wrong?

The Black Six

1973/74
Directed by Matt Cimber
Available www.amazon.com

A white biker guy discovers his little high school sister is dating a black kid. The white biker guy and his biker gang find the black kid and murder him. The murdered kid has an older brother who is back from the war in Vietnam and is cruising around the country with other guys just out of the US ARMY.  They all ride Triumphs. All they want is peace.

The Black Six is not as graphically violent as some of the grind-house biker movies of its time. During the ‘sploitation era in film in the 1960s, and ’70s many of the rough edges of fantasy and social commentary were exploited by film makers because there were two very lucrative and active customers, those who lived on these edges of society and the straight, but curious, main-streamers.  Hoards of teenagers and college kids flocked to the drive-ins to watch biker movies. The newspaper ads for the Black Six read in bold face “Six Times Tougher Than ‘SHAFT!’ Six Times Rougher Than ‘SUPERFLY’” These movies were not polite but they were rich with social codes of conduct. The Black Six could be used as a metaphor for the polarization we find our political system in today. The fine points have shifted, bi-racial relationships are not taboo anymore, Hollywood is full of beautiful bi-racial people, we have a bi-racial President.

The Black Six is unique in a lot of ways but the most obvious is the cast is populated by some of the hottest professional athletes of the era.

Len Barney, Rookie of the Year 1967, played corner back for the Detroit Lions. Selected to the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1992.

Carl Eller, First round draft pick for both Buffalo and Minnesota in 1964. Eller still holds the Vikings’ record for sacks at 130 ½ – 133 ½ career. Eller played left defensive end as a member of the Purple People Eaters. He played in four Superbowls.

Gene Washington, Wide Receiver out of Stanford University – drafted by San Francisco 49ers and later played for the Detroit Lions. Gene Washington was the focus of romantic suspicion after he attended two big diplomatic dinners with former secretary of State Condoleezza  Rice. He had a pretty impressive TV and Film career:

•     Banacek episode “Let’s Hear It for a Living Legend” (1972) as Clay Mills
•    The Mod Squad episode “The Connection” (1972)
•    Black Gunn (1972) as Elmo
•    The Black Six as Bubba Daniels
•    Airport 1975 (1974) as himself, uncredited
•    McMillan & Wife episode “Guilt by Association” as Luke Johnson
•    Lady Cocoa (1975) as Doug

Mercury Morris, In college Mercury Morris was All American in 1967 and 1968. He played wide receiver and was a member of the Miami Dolphins in their best years.

Willie Lanier, Middle linebacker for the Kansas City Chiefs from 1967 through 1977. All-Star team American Football League 1968 and 1969. Pro Bowl 1970 through 1975. Inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame 1986.

Mean Joe Green, Pittsburgh Steelers, the Steel Curtain. Four Superbowls, NFL Defensive Player of the Year in 1972 and 1974. He went to the pro Bowl 10 times during his career. Well known for the “Hey Kid” Coke commercial where the kid gives Joe a Coke and he gives the kid his smelly game jersey. NFL Hall of Fame 1987.

Mean Joe was in a bunch of stuff too.
•    The Black Six (1974) as Kevin Washington
•    Horror High (1974) as the coach’s buddy, a policeman
•    Lady Cocoa (1975)
•    Fighting Back: The Story of Rocky Bleier (1980TV) as a Steeler player
•    Smokey and the Bandit II (1980) as himself
•    …All the Marbles (1981) as himself
•    The Steeler and the Pittsburgh Kid (1981TV) as himself
•    SCTV episode “Battle of the PBS Stars” as himself
•    Family Guy episode “Road To Germany” as himself

Aside from the wow factor of all these greats is that this is a pretty good action film – the acting of the athletes is strong enough with Washington carrying the movie. He is smooth. Unlike a lot of black VS white films from the Grind House days, not every white person in this film is a racist. The Black Six are a force as they were not just a bunch of black guys on bikes but American Soldiers who served together and now were bonded by their search for meaning. Several times in the film – Bubba, played by Washington, says something about fighting the war and he wasn’t sure why we were there. This feature of the film is right on. It matters not that these guys are anything but US Army professionals; guys who had the balls to do what needed to be done for their Country and came home to protests and lost identity. That is until they understand that they will find meaning if they keep a vigilance over their corner of society. I know I am projecting the sense of this band of brothers beyond the storyline but if you allow this theme to be available to you, you will discover just how many of the Vets you ride with have this same quality.

While this is not a film obsessed with revenge there is a moment when a man’s gotta do what a man’s gotta do; “If a man runs from trouble he runs right in to it”, Bubba says to his little sister. There is racial equality commentary, there is commentary on apathy, on hopelessness and on activism. There is also a cool Funk theme that drives the movie. The film quality is not so great. It took a while to recognize the bikes. Everybody is wearing  cool clothes especially Ceal, Bubba’s ex-girlfriend and fallen woman, played by Rosalind Miles. She delivers the best performance of the film. There are cartoonish rednecks in the story and they are dressed like cartoon rednecks do in every film, even now.

The guys didn’t seem comfortable on the bikes, but these guys are really tall and Bonneville’s are pretty tight. Good film, good plot, good statement on the era, a few good performances, lots of fun and rough edits. The end is high energy and it left the door open for a sequel. The sequel never happened.

KC O’Dunn
aka Chaplin Plato

References

http://en.wikipedia.org

www.blaxploitationpride.org
www.ask.com

chppertown-the-sinners

Filmmakers Zack Coffman and Scott Di Lalla are becoming iconic. They’re just a couple of regular guys who love bikes and like to tell stories as they occur. While there are planned events in their work nothing is scripted, and often stuff does not go off a planned. The films are pure and rough—lacking anything that might make them seem contrived or counterfeit. This not to say the films are without sentimentality. There are some extreme moments in these works and there is the expression of deep respect and love between friends forged in brotherhood.

To experience the beauty of craft, the support of community, and the celebration of life these guys will carry you kindly to the place where the truth about us dwells.

Following are three reviews of documentaries from One World Studios.

KC O’Dunn
aka Chaplin Plato

Visit One World Studios by going to http://www.borntoride.com/
or visit them at  http://www.oneworldstudiosltd.com/

Choppertown, The Sinners
a motorcycle fabrication documentary film by Zack Coffman & Scott Di Lalla

Over the last 20 or so years, since Harley got Malcolm Forbes and Mickey Rourke to be the centerpieces of their We-Ain’t-a-Workin’-Man’s-Motorcycle-Anymore, shift of market consciousness, one of the things that has been exorcised out of the motorcycle market and media is the hospitality of the working grunge machinist. Your local bike shop used to be a place where you could stop by on your way home from work with a 12 pack and share a beer with they guys who kept your life rollin’.  You could sit in the petroleum thick air and BS about women and cars and women and fishin’ and huntin’ and cars and bikes and women and guns and. … The bike shop was a sanctuary.

Filmmakers Zack Coffman and Scott Di Lalla are good friends who love bikes and are insiders in the culture of motorcycle brotherhood in southern California. Over beers they decided the off-the-rack, buy-in mentality of the Sunday rider was eclipsing the truth and the authentic relationships of those who ride were being lost by distraction. There was a time when the denim jacket was enough to keep the wind at bay, or your work overalls would get you to the club with your good clothes under; but after a while the black leather jacket and vest became a badge of the masses. Conformity confounded the community and riding was reduced to a few highly organized bike nights through the week and a Sunday putt for some noble cause. ‘Nothing wrong with noble causes but noble causes comes in a variety of faces and need— meaning different things to different social circles. Sometimes the noble cause is helping a friend get his bike back on the road.

When the film was being figured out by Di Lalla and Coffman they fell into the perfect scene. They knew a guy who was a friend of a guy who was about to launch a build out of an Evo motor on a bobber frame using the support of junk yards and the collection of odd materials accumulated over the years by the Sinners. This guy is a Sinner. The Sinners are what the riding life was and is still, but conformists would be very uncomfortable among them.

The Sinners are the ultra network of brothers who span hundreds of miles of California and support each other with everything a person might need; even haircuts. One of those rare republican societies where there is complete support of one another and the hierarchy is loosely defined but staunchly protected … a sanctuary.

This is the sweet spot where Coffman and Di Lalla chronicle the love, the society, and the brotherhood.  The meaningful details of wrenching and welding and dancing and singing and bar fighting and playing hard driving and soulful music.

This is a very good documentary and in fact has become the cornerstone of One World Studios. It was the European debut of this film that was the purpose of One World Tour Europe. The guys documented an amazing journey to the Old-World to show the film and to meet Europe’s underground rouges of custom bikes and cars.

http://www.choppertown.net/

Great library addition.
Sound Tracks are also available.

Electra Glide in Blue
Classic Film Review
KC O’Dunn

Electra Glide in Blue is a classic Motorcycle Western. It isn’t classic because it was released in 1973, it is classic because everybody in it was great. It’s a classic because of its social statement on the abuse of domestic power and the film’s rendering of an era. The writing is pure. The acting is as real as it gets.  The script is a study in flesh and blood that breathed well before the actor’s got it. The thing about this movie is that it can be taken scene by scene and watched independent of the rest of the story just to study the various elements in the story telling.

Also, there are bikes in the film, mainly two 74ci Electra Glide cop bikes. There is also the obligatory Motorcycle-Western-Hippie-Outlaw-Biker mob on BSAs, Nortons and Triumphs. The story takes place in the Arizona desert so there is a lot of dust and bright days that seem to last forever. The motormen are shown racing along dirt roads, hitting soft patches and recovering and in one scene take the bikes motocross as they chase down a suspect.

Sure the scenery is pretty and I am sure the early reviews of this movie spent some time on that point, but for me the meat in this epic is the story of the guy who just wants out of the sun and to make his living with his brains. I don’t like to dwell on the story line or the plot so that I don’t buzz kill your experience with the film, but I had to lift this dialog between the Robert Blake character, John Wintergreen and his Partner Zipper, played by Billy (Green) Bush. Zipper likes his job.

ZIPPER: “Big John what you wanna go over to homicide for?”

JOHN: “Ah, Zip I just can’t spend the rest of my life out there on that motorcycle getting’ heat stroke and listenin’ to you passin air outta both ends at the same time; that just ain’t my idea ‘a bein’ a cop partner.”

ZIPPER: “Eh, we got a good life on these motors; ya put in yer time and you go home and ya get yer money. What could be more simple?”

JOHN: “I cain’t argue – it just ain’t my dream. Dreamin’s part da game Zip. Ain’t chu-gotta-dream? ”

ZIPPER: “Sure, I dream … for a stroker. About fourteen hundred CCs worth. Tucked into a ’74 straight legged chromed frame kicked – with sixteen inch mag rear wheel – with a chromed sprocket; a chromed chain; chromed spokes; a chrome tranny; a chrome footy; and a eight inch extended Sportster fork with a chromed dog-bone; TT pipes; brass rocker boxes; couple quarts-iodide running lights; a full fairing you can really get behind; contoured seat with a two-foot poboy sissy bar. AND no squawk box. But a telephone and an AM/FM and an insulated cocktail bar in the left pocket. To me Big John that’s a real motor scooter.”

JOHN: “My dream don’t cost a nickle, all I want is that brown suit and that Stetson Hat and four wheels under me insteada two … and that badge that says, ‘boy ya  getting’ paid ta think, not get callouses on yer ass”

Like every good western there are good guys and bad guys and the twist is that the bad guys are not always who they should be. It is not a straight line story, there are subplots and when you watch the director’s commentary you discover there were at least two more subplots that were scrapped because of budget.

There is no sentimental romance in this flick. There is however a gal who is the only developed female character in the film. Jeannine Riley plays Jolene, a gal who spent a year in New York as a Rockett with her “very own dance team” she fell in love with a salesman just as she was about to leave New York for stardom in Hollywood. She and Jim were married – he wanted children and she wanted her career—social commentary on crossed purpose, a theme that dates this film from a societal perspective.  Women do it all now … little conflict in it. It is almost expected that a woman in modern times would have family and career. She “lost him and everything.” She gets by now working at the local watering hole. She likes cops, she adores cops … she is the prototype cop groupie. Her position of power is expressed in a confrontational scene where she targets the very guy who is the ticket to the hero, or to be more exact, the anti hero’s success – the craft of the relationship crossfire. It is an ugly thing when you have to live it and here the crossfire is so completely coarse that the kind of discomfort it provokes is enough to make you lose sleep. It is well worth watching this scene alone for the power of it.  Jeannine Riley was hot in the ’60s when she starred on one of the spin-offs of The Beverly Hillbillies called Petty Coat Junction. Her earliest record of work was in Route 66 in 1960. She was in demand through the ’60s but she faded with the ’70s. As a guy who was a 19-year old kid in 1973 I have to say, seeing her in this film this far removed from the day showed me a different take on her abilities as an actor. It also made me more keenly aware of how sexy she was. She was just off type for the era. She was curvy at a time when the movies were going the other way.

The paramount feature of this film is the motorcycle chase scene. No special effects, no footage of people on bikes mounted on trailers to get the perfect shot (Unlike Wild Hogs). The riding is actual, real-time blasting down the highway. The off-road stuff is genuine and the disrespect of the cops for law-abiding citizens is a sign of the times. I lived through those days of constabulary fascism, I watched Miami cops beat people who were too slow to leave a concert. I was searched time and again and my stuff was torn up by jerks who had gone through the police academy. This film peels back a few layers of the comfort slime that the main-streamers liked to surround them selves with. I remember how this movie was received as the straights went to see it because they were sure it was a cops beat hippies and kill bad guys movie and it turns out it is about real life situations and the there are no heroes.

The Electra Glide in blue is a poignant moment in this film; it is the active player in a tragedy in a story that seems to have many. There is death in this movie and backstabbing and political maneuvering and lust and bikes, bikes ridden by great riders. Amazingly the most impressive motorcycle chase scene in cinematic history was achieved with only six stunt riders … there are some crazy crashes in this flick.  There are some scenes that were edited to the last possible frame to miss a spectacular crash that would have put the hero pursuit bike out of the game. Face it, FLHs when they go up against BSAs and Triumphs are somewhat cumbersome, even when driven by the best.

Props to the Riders
J.N Roberts        Scott Dockstader
Rock Walker      Mickey Alzola
Alan Gibbs         Ron Rondell

The Actors
John Wintergreen        Robert Blake
Zipper                          Billy (Green) Bush
Harve Poole                 Mitchell Ryan
Jolene                          Jeannine Riley
Willie                           Elisha Cook
Coroner                        Royal Dano
VW Mini Bus Driver   David J Wolinski
Bob Zemko                  Peter Cetera
Killer                            Terry Kath
Pig Man                        Lee Loughnane
Lose Lips                      Walter Parazaider
Sgt. Ryker                     Joe Samsil
L.A. Detective              Jason Clark
Truck Driver                Michael Butler
Ice Cream Girl 1          Susan Forristal
Ice Cream Girl 2           Lucy Angle Guercio
Zemko’s Girlfriend        Melissa Green
Detective                      Jim Gilmore
The Beard                     Bob Zemko

Produced and Directed by James William Guerico, who also composed the musical score
Screen Play by Robert Burns
Story by Robert Boris and Rupert Hitzig

Among the actors with no lines who got no mention in the credits is Nick Nolte at 20 something years old.

No matter how old you are Electra Glide in Blue is a great Motorcycle Movie. The acting is top notch, the casting is brilliant, and the directing is artful. For some in this film the curtain was coming down on their careers, others were hopeful but the industry didn’t grace them and then there are those who have been in a lot of films and television series and shows. Robert Blake went on to be an Emmy Award-winning icon of the ’70s in a cop show called Baretta (1975 to 1978) but as it turns out his personal life is anti heroic.

Electra Glide in Blue, see it!

The Wild Angels

The Wild Angels

The iconic 1966 film featuring Peter Fonda, Nancy Sinatra, and a cast of hundreds, is one of the most well-known biker exploitation films ever produced. In this classic film the “Angels” a California Motorcycle Club, travel across the state to retrieve a stolen motorcycle belonging to one of the clubs members “the Loser.” Heavenly Blues (Fonda) is the charismatic club president. At times he seems to have to ‘baby-sit’ his troop of fun-loving boozers and druggies.
This one is a favorite of mine, because the producers actually used real Harley-Davidson ‘choppers’ and actually cast some of the real members of the Hell’s Angels. In short, it is one of those films that give bikers in general a ‘bad’ name, but those of us who really know the true way of the biker lifestyle will find it entertaining, and at times hilarious.
The Angels ride through the desert to Mecca, California to look for the Loser’s stolen motorcycle. They accuse a group of Mexicans in a repair shop of stealing the motorcycle when the Loser finds his brake pedal on a workbench. After some mild insults and accusations naturally, a fight breaks out in the shop and the ‘taco benders’ as Fonda calls them wind up on the losing end. The police arrive, chasing the Angels on foot, and the Loser escapes on a parked police motorcycle. After a chase on mountain roads, one of the officers shoots the Loser in the back, and he later ends in a local hospital.
Blues leads a small group of Angels to rescue the Loser and they subsequently “bust him out” of the hospital. In the melee a nurse is accosted by one of the Angels who knocks her out to keep the cops from discovering their presence in the hospital. The nurse later identifies Blues as one of the men she saw however; the audience knows that it was thanks to Blues’ intervention the assault stopped short of rape. Blues rebukes the member just before the cops notice their ‘suspect’ is gone. Later, the Loser dies at the Angels’ local watering hole from his injuries. The Angels move his body to an undertaker’s office-he demands cash “plus tax.” Using a forged death certificate the Angels arrange a funeral at a tiny church in the Loser’s rural hometown. During the service, Blues steps up to the minister and says those famous words “We just want to be free. Free to ride our machines without a hassle from the man. …” But when Blues says they just want to have fun, the Angels turn the service into a major party. The Angels remove the Loser from his Nazi flag-draped casket, sit him up and place a joint in his mouth. Meanwhile they also knock out the minister, tie him up and place him in the casket.
Later, the Angels proceed to the Sequoia Grove cemetery to bury the Loser. The procession of noisy bikers gets the attention of the locals, who all gather to see the spectacle. One of the local kids throws a rock at the Angels and naturally yet another fight breaks out. This interruption prevents burying the Loser, and as police sirens wail in the background everyone scatters. One of the members begs Blues to go, but he refuses and tells his girl to leave with another member of the gang. This is where the other most remembered phrase comes in, as Blues sighs “there’s nowhere to go.”
The last of the group leaves and Blues picks up a shovel and returns to the grave to bury the Loser.
Just as I was going to call all my boozing buddies over to watch this flick once again, a knock came at the door. I opened it to see a mailman with an overnight package. I signed for it and opened it up, expecting something good. It was just a DVD and a note from the editor of this magazine demanding an immediate review of The Twilight Zone Episode #138 from 1964. This was disappointing news.
In this short film a group of ‘bikers’ if you want to call them that are actually aliens from another planet sent to earth to infiltrate a small town. The local folks actually become fond of this odd cast, and befriend them. Little did they know the space-bikers were there to poison their water supply!
I dunno … I suppose that it was getting late and I drifted off to sleep somewhere after the giant eyeball in the 1950s TV screen requested them to continue with the plan of destruction. This particular episode albeit cute, doesn’t really rate very high up there in the ‘biker exploitation’ world. I guess that’s just because it only exists in The Twilight Zone. …