The Wild Angels (1966)

When a bike is stolen from the Hells Angels, an epic chase to retrieve the bike ensues as the bikers terrorize and spread fear wherever they ride. Directed by Roger Corman (MASQUE OF THE RED DEATH). American International had built a reputation (and made money) on a series of Edgar Allan Poe adaptations and the BEACH PARTY movies. But as counterculture slowly seeped into the 1960s, Roger Corman saw a chance to exploit the notorious biker group and this was the first of several biker movies to follow from AIP. The film doesn't hide the Hells Angels racism, their Nazi regalia, the way they treat women or their contempt for the law. Yet it seems to want to portray them as some sort of repressed minority group, rebels against a restrictive society. As cinema, its handsomely shot by Richard Moore (MYRA BRECKINRIDGE) in Panavision but that's about it. It's a pretty lousy movie. As an artifact of the 1960s exploitation cinema, it has its place but it has all the depth of a BEACH PARTY movie but nowhere near as fun. Did the Hells Angels really dance The Monkey in a rural church during a funeral? With Peter Fonda, Nancy Sinatra, Bruce Dern, Diane Ladd, Michael J. Pollard, Gayle Hunnicutt, Joan Shawlee and Norman Alden.