Motorcycle Gang

"Motorcycle Gang" benefits from above average performances and interesting, though marginally developed characters. The deliberate pacing is another plus, which allows for more than just the usual cursory dialog. Jake Busey is well cast as the leader of the gang, and Gerald McRaney is good as the dad in pursuit of his kidnapped daughter, Carla Gugino. Nice desert photography enhances the production as well. Overall, this has entertainment value because it never pretends to be anything except an updated 50s biker movie, and at that it succeeds nicely. So what you see is what you get, and that is totally acceptable from my point of view. - MERK

An ordinary American family, not counting the fact that the head of such is a former Marine, a veteran of the Korean War, once again moves to a new place of residence. Their path lies from Texas to California. In general, a measured trip is episodically interrupted by various small stories, such as a meeting with a couple of beatniks who own a small motel, gradually leading the parallel story to a skirmish with a biker gang led by a blond nicknamed Busey, who kidnaps the daughter and goes to Mexico for a batch of drugs. Remembering his former skills, the hero again takes the path of war and begins to inflict justice in his own way in the vastness, where, apparently, the police are pushed into the background, and various psychopaths and crazy criminal elements rule the ball. The synopsis of the plot introduces some dissonance.

This layout fits in well with the reality of what could be expected in the 1990s, but with the conditional specificity of the 1950s, this form fits rather poorly, and it actually explains the weak presence of action as such. Some philosophical messages do not particularly save the situation.

There is "Motorcycle Gang" from 1957 with a similar theme, but a different story.

I first saw this film on TV late one night. It starts out with the basic fundamentals of a road movie, a family are driving across the mid American desert to their new home in California in the mid sixties when they become terrorised by a motorcycle gang. The father, Cal, appears to be a mild mannered family man, spontaniously dealing with the angst displayed by his wife and teenage daughter whilst also trying to negotiate moving the family across the country. When his daughter is taken hostage by bikers it would seem he is powerless to alter the events that occur.

Nothing however could be further from the truth, it turns out that Cal is actually a World War 2 combat veteran and despite his humbled and fifty something appearance is a very efficient killing machine. When the final fight sequence occurs the character transformation becomes something to behold, as family man Cal takes on his opponents with a supremely violent and ruthess efficiency.

This movie is a classic. despite being shunned at the cinema, i would recommend it to anyone interested in good film. Neither a road, action or adventure movie, this picture defies a specific genre and in doing so in my opinion has become one of the best low key American classical of all time.

This is officially THE worst film ever made. It is terrible! The acting is awful, the sets are awful, the editing is awful, the plot is awful, the props are awful, the soundtrack is awful, I simply could not state one positive comment about this movie! Set in the fifties, you can blatantly see 90's cars roaming around, the bikes the 'Gang' use are rusting even though they are ahead of their time, this is diabolical. Words cannot describe it! Take my advice - avoid this piece of junk at all costs! It will be the biggest waste of 80 minutes you could ever imagine.

John Milius's Motorcycle Gang is a damn fine film. Originally made as a part of the Rebel Highway Series, a short lived series of made for TV movies for the Showtime channel, (ten TV-Movies produced in all) were made as homage to the great B-movies of the 1950's. Each director was given a very modest budget ($1.3 Million) and a limited time of shooting.

While the vast majority of the Rebel Highway films are campy and silly, or overacted bordering dangerously close to the realm of soap operas, Milius's Motorcycle Gang is none of these things. It's adult, serious, dark, wonderfully written, well-acted, and at its core a damn fine story. In fact this film does exactly what a movie should do, it takes its audience to another time and place, where they are then thrown into circumstances where otherwise they would (hopefully) never find themselves. In truth this movie showcases some of Milius's best work.

Motorcycle Gang stands out for a number of reasons - first, it takes its self seriously. With the intention of making a good movie and not a campy, cheesy, and over sexualized film, John Milius gives a realistic take on a normally outrageous idea (a vicious hoard of psychopathic bikers terrorizes an innocent family, chasing them across the American desert). And in doing so he paints a much more accurate description of life in 1950's America. Motorcycle Gang is able to achieve this in a number of different ways, first by manifesting the typical beliefs and opinions of many 1950's Americans in its characters. Throughout the film you will see many of the characters beliefs and opinions on pop-culture, values, history, and taboos being challenged as well as the lasting effect of those challenges.

Second by having more realistic characters, not only the performance of the characters is strong. Gerald McRaney's (the Father) portrayals very accurately a deeply conflicted man, a former war hero, now striving for a new start. Carla Gugino (the daughter) experiences a coming of age story. And Elan Oberon who plays (the Mother) battles her own demons and experiences a great deal of growth. Interestingly, actress Elan Oberon is John Milius's real-life wife and was previously terrorized by another gang of psychopathic bikers in yet another Milius story, this one part of the Miami Vice TV series entitled Viking Bikers from Hell. But all of the characters are driven by their own personal desires, goals, and experiences. And you see these recur again and again throughout the film in the characters.

Increasing the realism once again are the costumes - much more than your typical, blue jeans and Chuck Taylor shoes combination in a 1950's movie. The costumes that the characters wear truly help define them. The action scenes (the stunts and fights scene) are very realistic. For example, the fight scene, encompasses real-life Jiu Jitsu moves and 1940's military combat techniques. There are also a wonderful almost cameo appearance by Rorion Gracie (one of the co-founders of UFC) as Sgt. Lopez who I am sure, accompanied with Stunt Coordinator, Terry Jackson and John Milius had a hand in the fight scene).

But the writing is what stands out most of all. It is genius. While simply "the writing" is a very broad topic and encompass most of what has been previously mentioned, it must be mentioned because the writing is what makes this movie. (It should be noted that while the story is by Kent Anderson and while he also has a teleplay credit accompanied with Laurie McQuillan, what is not mentioned or credited is the fact that John Milius rewrote the teleplay (as stated in a 2003 interview)). It is in the rewrites by John Milius where his true genius emerges and it is there where the film gains its great and incredible depth, especially in a movie that does not even eclipse the 90 min mark. As previously stated the characters are more than simply one dimensional. They have goals, beliefs, taboos, and fears. But the characters also have a past, and in typical John Milius fashion he ties his characters into a significant historical incident and has them shaped by these events. It should be noted that while Milius's characters are known for giving great speeches, I always found it is the subtleties in his speeches, not just what the characters say and do, but the reasons behind them that truly shapes his movies. And Motorcycle Gang is no exception, it contains all of those accepts. And it is that, which makes this movie great, and truly a worthwhile film.

Now that I have written far much more than I originally intended I well leave you saying only this. I enjoyed this movie because it was fun, fraught with great adventure, history, and terror. It is a movie that, if given a chance, will sit right up and grab you.