Die auf heißen Öfen verrecken

Every now and then one must set aside the horror and Kung Fu in order to watch a little sleazy Bikersploitation and, to my surprise, Comcast's Action On Demand channel 'Impact' not only offered this film but featured it in HD! It still looked crap. That's not the point though, right? What we want from a film called The Peace Killers is a violent, sleazy biker flick and that's just what we get here. Mixing equal parts Hicksploitation and Blaxploitation, "Thunder in Paradise" and "Baywatch" creator Douglas Schwartz created a nasty little steamer of a film worth checking out, if you're a fan of exploitation.

The Peace Killers isn't a great film by any means; the acting was acceptable for low budget acting, the fight sequences were poorly choreographed and the deaths were completely unconvincing. In other words, it's the type of exploitation we've all come to know and love with just the right amount of nudity, rape and hot hippie ass to keep viewer's from setting down the remote and walking away or turning the channel. While all of this may sound negative, it isn't. I found myself slightly entertained despite this film's shortcomings. I can't recommend this film to those unfamiliar with Bikersploitation, or exploitation in general, but those "in the know" will probably want to check it out. Cowboy's crazy eye commands you!

Kristy used to be the 'old lady' of the leader of a biker gang. However, after seeing another woman brutally raped, she'd had enough and ran off--even though they promised to track her down and kill her if she did. Some time has passed and by chance, a member of this old gang sees her in a general store--and not surprisingly, he goes to get the gang. As for Kristy, she's being hidden by a group of annoying hippies--annoying because they promise a lot but won't lift a finger to fight. What will become of her? I sometimes enjoy an old biker film--mostly because they are so cheesy. However, "The Peace Killers" was not a film I particularly liked since it went farther than most films in the genre. For most of the films, the gangs looked mean, talked mean and even did a few mean things. These folks, in contrast, really are evil--and the film is pretty vivid in its depiction of rape and nudity. I just felt uncomfortable with a film glamorizing or exploiting rape...and never actually finished watching this one. See it if you like--I just think it crosses the line from entertainment to sleaze. Not enjoyable--just nasty.

It's not Easy Rider, but it's an excellent example of a late 60s/early 70s youth culture drive-in movie experience. Terrifying and disturbing with a message of peace that makes the violence even more distressing. The conflict between a life of mindless violence and a life of intellectual peace is not wasted in a thin story. There is a thoughtful intent in the script and the film's direction. The fight scenes were a bit soft, but pacifists don't have that much butt-kicking training. The uses of original songs to convey the inner life or lack of an inner life of certain characters seems corny by today's standards, but the songs themselves are nice. For what it is, it's well done.

What more could you ask for in a biker flick? The Peace Killers features hairy hippies, Jesus freaks, pot smoking pill popping baddies, gratuitous psychobabble, a fuzztone driven score...everything adds up to one of the best (and least known) entries in this entertaining genre. Directed by future Baywatch creator Doug Schwartz, the film features an attractive lead in fresh-faced Jess Walton, who plays ex-motorcycle mama Kristy. She's being pursued by her former paramour Rebel (Clint Ritchie, who looks like a gone to seed James Brolin), a biker with a HUGE stars and bars flag flying from the back of his hog. This is a very violent film--the pencil skewering scene is unpleasant, and a rape sequence early on quite nasty--but a well made one, with good location photography by the director. (Incidentally, I think the Topanga gas station in this film is the same one utilized in Ray Dennis Steckler's The Thrill Killers--but I may be mistaken.) Add in some great folk-pop numbers from singer Ruthann Friedman and an unforgettable crucifixion scene, and you have a real winner! Side note: future Terrence Mallick cinematographer and husband of Sissy Spacek, Jack Fisk, was the gaffer on this film.

WOW, is all I can say after watching this - amazingly in both a good and bad way. Expecting a simple clichéd biker movie, instead I discovered a movie that somehow manages to encapsulate every major theme from early '70s filmmaking, from the counter-cultural bikers of "Easy Rider" to Southern California commune hippiedom, blaxploitation, and even the ultra-violent vigilante-ism of Sam Peckinpah ("Straw Dogs"), "Death Wish," "Last House on the Left," "Switchblade Sisters," and "Billy Jack." So much crammed into one movie, Quentin Tarantino must have seen this at some point and been at least somewhat inspired in his own style of multi-themed filmmaking.

By no means a great film, and really not a good one either, I still found myself glued to this amazing cultural artifact. I'm really surprised that this movie has basically been forgotten, having never been released on DVD; amateur B-movie connoisseurs and midnight movie-houses would eat this one up if they got their hands on it. The director, Douglas Schwartz (this was his first feature film) would soon go on to make the excellent forgotten film "Your Three Minutes Are Up" starring Beau Bridges, and "Baywatch" many years later. The tone of these two movies ("Your Three Minutes..." was a light comedy with serious undertones) could not be more different, yet in both of them Schwartz displays a near-brilliant ability to evoke the socio-cultural milieu of Southern California in the early-'70s (even early Baywatch episodes carry some of this skill in his feel for settings.) If you are in the least bit turned off by violence, I recommend not watching this, as there is blood, mutilation, rape, and plenty of general nastiness. On the other hand, if you can laugh along with the irony of "serious-themed" pictures like this one and "Billy Jack" (released the same year) portraying "pacifism through the barrel of a gun," then you should have yourself some trashy drive-in good times.