Hell's Belles

The late '60s were the era of biker movies. The "Citizen Kane" of this genre was obviously "Easy Rider", while "The Wild Angels" might get called the second-best.

Released on DVD with the latter was "Hell's Belles". The simple plot - a racer's motorcycle gets stolen, so he sets out to reclaim it - holds second place to the sight of Jocelyn Lane in a miniskirt. I guess that she got relegated to potboilers while other actresses of the era got the highbrow roles. Even so, she was certainly a sight for sore eyes.

So, it's nothing special. I understand that the director later directed episodes of "Little House on the Prairie" (which I've never seen). The main thing here is the chance to see Jocelyn Lane looking sexy.

A 1969 B remake of Winchester '73. Jeremy Slate wins a race and receives a new bike as the prize. He wants to sell it for cash but of course, it's stolen. His personal quest to "get my bike back so I can buy a ranch" is the plot.

3 reasons to watch this curio:

1) If you're into bikes.

2) Filming locations all in Arizona 3) Jocelyn Lane!

After Tickle Me with Elvis, I feel for Jocelyn having to put up with low grade projects. She's the best part of this film.

Film has its moments with some nice Arizona desert locations shots. Have I mentioned Jocelyn Lane though? My goodness she's easy on the eyes.

After a grueling race with the grand prize being a beautiful motorcycle, one of the losers named "Tony" (Michael Walker) decides he is going to get that bike not matter what it takes. So that night he sets up a trap on the road which the winning racer, "Danny" (Jeremy Slate) has to take on his way home. Sure enough, as Danny gets to a certain point Tony and his friends ambush him and proceed to beat him into unconsciousness. A little later Danny wakes up and finds that his new motorcycle has been substituted for the one driven by Tony. But as it so happens, Tony makes a big mistake that same night when he drives up to a gas station where a motorcycle gang just happens to be frequenting. They beat up Tony and the leader of the gang by the name of "Tampa" (Adam Roarke) takes the motorcycle. Not long afterward Danny drives up and discovers from Tony what happened. Danny then proceeds to drive out to where the motorcycle gang is camping and then gets caught while attempting to steal it. After beating him up the Tampa decides to reimburse Danny by giving him one of their women in exchange--and subsequently knocks him out again. When he regains consciousness he finds the woman named "Cathy" (Jocelyn Lane) sitting around and the two of them set out to find the bikers. Now rather than reveal any more I will just say that, although it certainly had some good action here and there, it lacked the necessary realism for me to take it that seriously. Likewise, I didn't especially care for the ending that much either. For those reasons I have rated it accordingly. Average.

The late-60's biker sub-genre take on the James Stewart Western, WINCHESTER '73, which is about a cherished gun, won in a contest then stolen from the winner before winding up in several different hands...

Only here it's a motorcycle that modern cowboy type Jeremy Slate loses the night of the race by his jealous rival, who then loses it to the token gang led by sixties' biker staple Adam Roarke, fresh from HELL'S ANGELS ON WHEELS and THE SAVAGE SEVEN...

So Roarke (with bulky sidekick William Lucking) is as comfortable in a biker flick as director Maury Dexter is at Westerns, since, earlier in the decade, he turned out a bunch for 20th Century Fox along with Neo Noir thrillers, and, like those entertaining and economical programmers, he moves an otherwise plodding exploitation decently enough for the viewer to remain semi-intrigued throughout...

But the true scene-stealer is the extremely gorgeous Jocelyn Lane, who Roarke trades Slate for the stolen vehicle and that he doesn't want (God knows why), and the title HELL'S BELLES is misleading since it's not about the other biker molls, all but passive commentators on their men, fighting with fists instead guns and riding bikes instead of horses, while Slate eventually thaws out from his initially reluctant relationship with Lane... Who wouldn't?

I missed this when it originally played, but 30+ years later seeing it for the first time I'm very impressed. This is a biker film that anyone could enjoy, despite one's feelings about that genre. Imagine an old western where Bob Steele or someone like that wins a horse race on a horse that he has raised from birth and devoted his life to. After the race, a crook with a lot of money who came in second in the race offers to buy Bob's horse, but Bob won't sell at the ridiculous price offered. So the crook steals Bob's horse, and then Bob goes on a mission to get the horse back (wait a minute, that IS the plot of an old western serial from 1934, LAW OF THE WILD, I thought is was familiar). Transplant that plot into a biker realm, with Jeremy Slate in the lead role, and you've got HELL'S BELLES. His nemesis is played by the late, great Adam Roarke (who actually steals the bike from the guy who stole it from Slate!). Slate is always convincing, here taking what could be a two-dimensional character and turning him into a complex, three dimensional man with a fascinating back-story, someone about whom we care. The same can be said for Jocelyn Lane, as the woman with whom he is involuntarily teamed. They hate each other for much of the film, so in a way you have a biker version of THE African QUEEN, but once her real story comes out she is quite fascinating. Ms. Lane made a number of fine films in the 60's--TICKLE ME with Elvis, BULLET FOR PRETTY BOY with Fabian Forte, and some European genre films (wow, until looking her up on the IMDb, I didn't even know she was European!!) I'll have to dig out my copy of WAR GODS OF BABYLON. The Arizona photography on this film is excellent, the shots are beautifully composed, and director Maury Dexter has an excellent sense of pacing. His work at AIP in the late 60s is much underrated. MARYJANE is excellent, and YOUNG ANIMALS was very much ahead of its time. I gave this film a "10" rating, which I hardly ever do, because it don't think it could be improved upon. It took me into its world and kept me captivated for 90 minutes. For me, HELL'S BELLES is one of the definitive biker films, even if it is basically a western in biker garb. Highly recommended!!