Angels from Hell

After serving a tour in Vietnam, "Mike" (Tom Stern) returns to his hometown to discover that his old motorcycle gang has essentially been run out of town by the local law enforcement and that a new person named "George" (Jay York) has since taken over as the leader. Not happy that Mike is now muscling in on his gang, George initiates a fight with him which turns out quite bad--for George. As a result Mike becomes the leader and soon gets the attractive girl (Arlene Martel as "Ginger") as well. But rather than be satisfied with what he has, Mike has a grand plan for uniting motorcycle gangs across the country with none other than himself as the overall leader. Needless to say, this idea is fraught with difficulty. Now rather than reveal any more of this movie and risk spoiling it for those who haven't seen it, I will just say that I thought this was one of the better "motorcycle movies" made thus far. I say this because the plot was realistic and the acting was pretty good as well. In any case, I rate this movie as slightly above average and recommend it to all enthusiasts of this particular sub-genre.

Tom Stern ("Hell's Angels '69") stars as Mike, a Vietnam veteran who returns home determined to form his own biker gang and stick it to the man. He assumes control of his former cronies, who were better behaved before he came along. He wants to make his gang all-powerful, and their antics lead to fairly predictable results.

Overall, as directed by Bruce Kessler ("The Gay Deceivers"), "Angels from Hell", which gets a special 'story consultant' credit for famed Angel Sonny Barger, is typical for the genre, with decent action and a cast full of tough guys and sassy, sexy ladies. The music score is most groovy, with a priceless theme song to boot. Perhaps most interesting is that the movie isn't quite as anti-establishment as other entries in this genre, at least in its even handed portrayal of lawman Bingham (played by the late, great actor / director Jack Starrett).

The swaggering Stern does alright in the central role. Among the supporting players are Ted Markland ("Fighting Mad") as Smiley, the enticing Arlene Martel ("Zoltan: Hound of Dracula") as the independent-minded Ginger, Paul Bertoya ("Hot Rods to Hell") as the unstable Norman, Jimmy Murphy ("Mister Roberts") as Tiny Tim, and, in his film debut, wrestler Pepper Martin, famous for his role in "Superman II".

The ending fails to be all that satisfactory, but it does have a feeling of somber inevitability as Mike tries to make the case that the law should protect those of his kind as well as the average citizen. The end credits give the performers an appreciated "curtain call", and the movie does entertain if never really catch fire.

Seven out of 10.

Mike (Tom Stern), a biker, returns to California after serving in Vietnam. He uses his war-hero experience to organize a new, united super outlaw gang. When one member is shot by police because he killed a girl at a pot orgy, an all-out cop versus biker war results.

I have no idea why there existed a period in time where all you had to do was throw bikers, hippies and cops in a film and it just wrote itself. This idea spawned some good films (notably "Easy Rider") and plenty of bad ones. And it seems like many of the bad ones were brought to life by American International Pictures.

This is no exception, and unfortunately they did not even manage to cast a single big star. Without the name talent or crew, this is a largely forgettable film from a largely forgettable genre. The most notable name is Von Dutch who designed the titles -- decades before the brand became famous.

Although I'm usually a big fan of drive-in movies, I have to confess that motorcycle gang movies kind of leave me cold. So I might be writing this review with some prejudice, but I think that this particular motorcycle movie will be badly judged by other drive-in movie fans. The biggest problem with it is how slow and uneventful it is. In the first half of the movie, almost nothing of consequence happens. It's almost all padding. There's a bit more plot in the second half of the movie, but the movie still feels slow and lacking bite. Another big problem with the movie is that the main character (played by Tom Stern) is not developed very well; we never quite sense what makes him tick and what motivates him. By the way, while the movie got an "R" rating back in 1968, it's not very explicit by today's standards; it would get a "PG-13" rating at most if submitted to the MPAA today.

(1968) Angels From Hell CRIME DRAMA

It opens with motorcycle bike rider, Mike Connery (Tom Stern) beating up a couple of racists who ganged up to beat up a young African American man wanting to use the washroom. And by the time he helps to carry him out, is when other African American guys riding motor bikes show up. After this was done, he then rides away to meet up with his former bike gang group "Madcaps" hanging out in a bar. And we find out Mike had just returned from serving in the military, and decides he want to upstart his own gang again. Except that the Madcaps have a current leader already, Big George to whom Mike has never met before. Big George then challenges him to a fight since he knows Mike has a long history with majority of the members, and wants to prove he is worthy. Once Mike takes over the Madcap group the movie then flips back and forth between righteous and chaos. It was routine until there was a single moment it became interesting is when two low ball cops became judge and jury and breaking the law themselves are and are worse than bikers themselves. The movie worsened as it continued, as if it forgot what it wanted to say as the makers was making it.