Angel Unchained

Angel Unchained has the ingredients of your basic AIP picture- bikers, 'cowboys' (rednecks), hippies, and lots of action. Unfortunately, it isn't entirely synthesized. Perhaps I could've known this by seeing it had been re-rated a PG-13 by the MPAA, but I also thought 'hosh-posh, it still probably has that real violent, grungy feel of dueling off between the forces of hicks and bikers'. Turns out the cooler elements of the film, some of which are some of the more amusing and awesomely bad moments from AIP biker movies, are juxtaposed against a core of a story that's kind of tame, even soft. It's actually got a Seven Samurai-style story to it, with the roles of the bandits and samurai reversed here- this time it's the so-called bandits (bikers) fighting off against the good-old boys (cowboys). This starts off some interest even as knock-off material.

The acting as well is not that terrible, at least for what's required on such an ultra-low budget. Regulars like Don Stroud and Luke Askew are dependable (more so Askew who the year before had a memorable role in Easy Rider), though Tyne Daly, a strange early part for her before The Enforcer and later Judging Amy, keeps the love story a little too mellow for its own good. Angel (Stroud) wants to get away just for a little while from his old gang, so he hooks up with Daly's character and starts working at a commune/farm, complete with dazed bearded help and a token Native American with a special 'mix' of cookies. But as they get terrorized by cowboys on go-carts (yes, go-carts, one of the real highlights of the movie), Angel enlists the help of his biker gang, with some consequences that unfold. All of this is tricky material, and the co-writer/director Lee Madden isn't totally able to balance out the scenes and moments (and just visual sights like with Bill McKinney's retro glasses) with the sappier parts. The latter of which also includes a soundtrack that borders on soft-rock, the specifically wrong tone that suddenly makes the material quite dated.

So, if you're looking for lots of carnage, immoral action, and the stomping out of almost everything in sight, you might be disappointed. Even as there is a neat B-movie style climax involving go-carts vs. bikers that does garner up excitement and laughs, the very end adds a point to what ends up being the lesser qualities of the film. It's intentions are swell, but it gets confused as whether it should be more hippie or biker style, with the poor Injun (yes, that's his character name) caught in the middle. Worth watching once, especially for genre fans, but not top-shelf AIP material.

Angel Unchained tells the story of Angel, the loner who leaves his club for the hippy commune. Local townies (actually cowboys in dune buggies) are out to drive the long hairs away, so Angel asks his biker buddies for protection. It's The Seven Samurai on choppers, but these warriors aren't in it for honour, money, or prestige...they only want the potent 'wammo' that the hippie's medicine man puts into chocolate chip cookies(presumably it's Peyote, but the script takes care not to be too descriptive). Acting honours go to Don Stroud as Angel, there's a young Tyne Daly on hand to 'do her thing', Luke Askew is good as commune leader Tremaine, and Aldo Ray has about five minutes of screen time--most of it reclining in a chair--as the local sheriff. Plenty of action, and a lot less profanity and nudity than you would expect from one of these AIP quickies.

The film opens at an amusement park, where two biker gangs rumble. I have to admit it was fun seeing one moron tossed off a rollercoaster. Don Stroud plays the leader of one of the gangs. After the fracas, he decides it's time to go it alone, so he heads off while the opening credits roll. While filling his bike at a gas station, he runs into a couple of commune dwellers, played by Tyne Daly and some guy with large hair. The local rednecks (they are called "cowboys") tell the hippies the pump is closed, even though Stroud just used it. Stroud calmly puts the nozzle in the hippies' truck, much to the disdain of the rednecks. The hippies then invite Stroud to their farm, where he meets the leader, played by Luke Askew. Stroud decides to settle down for a bit, and learns to farm, make pottery, and indulge in other manly activities.

The rednecks show up, and try to trash the farm. One of them even flings a chicken into the air. Now regardless of how you feel about the Chick-Fil-A, this is just not right, folks. While the pacifists stand idly by, Stroud pitchforks one of the attackers in the shoulder. The rednecks promise revenge. Game on!

Stroud attempts to make peace with the rednecks, apologizing and asking them not to punish the hippies. This does not go over well, and Stroud is forced to use a cattle prod to settle things temporarily. Oh well. Nice try.

Askew asks (try saying that ten times fast) Stroud if his biker buddies would be willing to help out. Stroud says no way, warning Askew that the bikers are nutzoid. Daly convinces Stroud (offscreen) to bring in the gang, so off he goes. The gang is reluctant to help out, since they figure Stroud walked out on them - but they eventually give in.

At this point, the film almost becomes a biker version of "The Magnificent Seven" (or, more appropriately, "The Moronic Twelve Or So"). But not quite. There is one major difference (besides the obvious difference in acting talent). The bikers really are nutzoid, and hard to control once they reach the farm. Their new leader "Pilot," played by Larry Bishop, is apathetic to what is going on. The creepy Bill McKinney, as "Shotgun," wears glasses bigger than Elton John (and I mean bigger than Elton John, not bigger than Elton John's glasses). Then there is "Magician," played by T. Max Graham. This lardo wears a top hat and cap; he stashes his bennies in his cape. Yes, these are exactly the guys you would call if you needed assistance. In one hilarious scene, one of the bikers tries to teach a hippie how to fight. In disgust, he finally says "Man, you don't need to learn how to fight. You need to learn how to run."

The bikers spy on the old American Indian on the farm, who puts a "secret ingredient" in his cookies. After sampling a few cookies, the bikers decide they want the recipe, so they trash his place, which upsets Stroud. The bikers decide they are going to leave unless they get the ingredients. Askew takes off on a motorcycle with the "whammo," as the bikers call the stash. I'm still not sure why he did that, but Stroud tracks him down. They return to the farm, just in time to see two of the hippies wandering in after being assaulted.

The rednecks show up in their dune buggies, and the climactic fight ensues. There is one good stunt, when one of the bikers is lassoed and does a 180 spin in the air. But the fight is over almost as soon as it starts. Inexplicably, Askew hops on a bike again, collides with a buggy, and goes flying through the air. Everybody stops what they are doing, like this is "West Side Story" and they all have to feel bad. Hey, this is a rumble, for crying out loud. You're supposed to smash heads.

Except for the abrupt ending, this flick managed to keep me entertained. Stroud is not the best leading man in the world, and certainly has played his share of scumballs in his career. But he seems to nail his character pretty well, as does Bishop. Askew is okay, but if he were wearing suspenders, you'd swear he was a Quaker. Daly is okay as well, except for her habit of wrinkling her nose. In an amusing cameo, Aldo Ray plays the town sheriff. In one scene, he and Bishop relax in chairs, calmly discussing the temperature and humidity, while the bikers and rednecks beat the crap out of each other.

The title of this biker flick seems to suggest that the character of Angel (Stroud) will at some point cut loose and split open some heads, but that never really happens. It refers more to the fact that he breaks free of the commitment he once had to a bike gang (or club, as it is referred to here.) The film opens with a bizarre scuffle that takes place in an otherwise deserted amusement park as rival bikers pound each other senseless ON the rides (including, hilariously, a small roller-coaster!) Stroud, having had his fill of the leather and chain lifestyle, then departs to find himself. Eventually, he comes to the aid of two hippies and winds up living on their dilapidated commune. Unfortunately for all of them, the local townsfolk don't take to hippies and repeatedly try to intimidate them and force them off the land. So Stroud calls upon his old biker buddies to come to the aid of the flower children. In this case, the solution may be more of a danger than the original problem since the bikers are depicted as the most repellent, foul, destructive pigs imaginable. Between the rather clueless hippies, the redneck townspeople and the nasty bikers, there are few people in the film to root for. Stroud is a reasonably appealing presence and Daly (as his newfound love) manages to inject a bit of pleasantness and heart into the film. Askew, as the hippie's leader, does an okay job. Bishop somehow manages to remain attractive despite the company he keeps and the careless character he portrays here. Among the remaining cast is McKinney as a savage, mildly deranged biker punk who thinks of women as property to be used and defaced upon his whim. McKinney is best known for his heart-stopping role as a violent, inbred, mountain man in "Deliverance". Ray has a cameo as the town's lackadaisical sheriff, who can scarcely bother to lift a finger in the midst of conflict. The cast of the film is diverse enough to warrant a look, but most fans of the genre will be disappointed in the finished product. There are a few extended fight scenes, but nothing too spectacular and the movie cops out by having people escape their vehicles just before they crash, giving the film a less exploitive and less severe flavor. It's almost cartoonish at times, though there is one chicken that gets treated pretty badly. The only nude scene is a demure one with Daly mostly obscured behind the wood slats of an old pick up truck. A few decent moments of acting creep in, but it tends to be a pretty lackluster affair. Fans of the stars will likely enjoy it more than the casual viewer.

Angel (surfer Don Stroud, "The Amityville Horror") is a biker who joins a commune of hippies near a small town. When the town rednecks attack them, Angel calls up some of his bad biker buddies to exact revenge.

This is more or less exactly what you would expect from a movie that combines hippies with bikers. They simply do not get along well, despite both of them being anti-establishment and pro-drug. (We saw a similar yet different encounter in "Easy Rider".)

Was this a good film? Maybe. I mean, I am not going to go out and tell people to watch it. But as far as some good old-fashioned American International Pictures fun goes, this is another AIP film that you can just relax to. No thinking involved.