Motorcycle Gang

This film essentially begins sometime in the 50's with a man by the name of "Cal Morris" (Gerald McRaney), his wife "Jean Morris" (Elan Oberon) and their teenage daughter "Leann Morris" (Carla Gugino) packing up the car and heading out from Houston to their new home in Los Angeles. Naturally, since the interstate highways system was yet to be completed during this time, Cal figures that their trip will take approximately 3 days. Meanwhile, about 700 miles down the road, a motorcycle gang has recently gone on a killing spree and when they meet the Morris family at a roadside diner, the leader of the gang, known simply as "Jake" (Jake Busey), decides that he can make some money by kidnapping Leann and selling her in Mexico. What he doesn't realize, however, is that Cal is a former Army veteran who has seen his share of combat and is more than willing to take matters into his own hands to get his daughter back. Now, as far as the actual merits of this movie are concerned, I must admit that I have mixed feelings about it. On the one hand, although the film takes place in the 50's, there was something about the setting that just didn't feel right for some reason. I don't know, maybe it's just me but something seemed off. Likewise, I didn't particularly care for the acting on the part of Jake Busey all that much either. While it's true that his character was quite unsavory, his performance wasn't nearly as menacing as it should have been. Perhaps it was his goofy smile during some of these scenes, but whatever the reason, he just didn't seem right for this role. On the other hand, I thought that Gerald McRaney put in a good performance and--along with the reasonably interesting plot--managed to overcome some of the weaknesses just mentioned. That being said, while this was certainly not a great "biker film" by any means, it wasn't all that bad and for that reason I have rated it accordingly. Average.

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 Originally made as a part of the Rebel Highway Series, a short lived series of made for TV movies for the Showtime channel, (ten TV-Movies produced in all) were made as homage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.

Cal Morris (Gerald McRaney) and his family are driving to their new home in California and are terrorized by a motorcycle gang along the highway.

From the genius of John Milius comes this film, which I believe is a remake of a 1960s Sam Arkoff film, written by Lou Rusoff and originally directed by Edward L. Cahn ("It! The Terror from Beyond Space"). Starring as the bad guy? Jake Busey, whose father previously worked with Milius on "Big Wednesday".

The film is rated R but is still sort of silly because it has that American International Pictures feel to it. There may be sexual assault and violence, but this is not the dark stuff that Milius tackled in "Apocalypse Now".

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.

"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