Motorcycle Gang

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 Originally made as a part of the Rebel Highway Series, a short lived series of made for TV movies for the Showtime channel, (ten TV-Movies produced in all) were made as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

Made for TV (Showtime) and directed by John Milius ("Conan the Barbarian," "Red Dawn"), 1994's "Motorcycle Gang" relays the story of a family traveling through the Southwest circa 1959-60 wherein they run afoul of a small gang of criminal bikers. The daughter is kidnapped and taken into Mexico. The father has no recourse but to take matters into his own hands. Will this crisis tear the family further apart or bring them closer together (i.e. a blessing in disguise)?

Jake "Gary's Son" Busey plays the charismatic bike leader and does it well. The father is played by Gerald McRaney (Major Dad), who's always perfect for father-type roles. The wife is played by Elan Oberon, who doesn't seem all that spectacular looks-wise until you see one shot of her at the motel (whoa!). One of the highlights is Carla Gugino (Silk Spectre in "Watchmen") as the daughter. The daughter's only 16 years-old but Carla was 22 at the time of filming.

There's an interesting subplot about sexuality -- the wife is bored with her husband and was having an affair to fulfill her sexual desires before the trip; the daughter (who suspects the affair) is just awakening to her sexuality and finds it intriguing; the father has grown bored with romance/sex and has drifted from his wife, but the vacation reinvigorates him and stirs his passions; the bikers only regard sex on the most base level.

Another theme is that of universal justice. Scum who choose to give themselves wholly over to their dark side and commit extreme criminal acts don't deserve lovey-dovey mercy and understanding -- they've gone too far; they deserve nothing but obliteration from this realm of existence (say a prayer with 'em if you want).

At a mere 84 minutes the film is short-but-sweet with almost no filler.

The gorgeous Southwest locations are a definite plus.

Being made-for-cable-TV "Motorcycle Gang" is obviously low-budget fare, but that's okay because the biker films of the late 60s/early 70s were just as low-budget. The good thing is that "Motorcycle Gang" is actually better than most of those films. In fact, it's on a par with 1992's "Beyond the Law," although I much prefer "Motorcycle Gang" (Charlie Sheen isn't believable as a hardcore biker plus that film had too many goofy elements).

This isn't "Apocalypse Now," it's a low-budget TV biker flick, so don't expect to be blown away. Just enjoy it for what it is, and maybe you'll discover that it's even more than that.

GRADE: B+

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".

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.

It was a dark, cold evening at 48 Hawthorn Avenue, with only my young Asian friend to keep me company. The night seemed to be innocuously drawing towards an uneventful conclusion, when all of a sudden a last desperate bout of channel-hopping produced a remarkable result - Motorcycle Gang. A superbly crafted piece of modern cinema (although it wasn't actually released in theaters - a travesty!), this film merely serves one purpose - to overawe the viewer with sheer class from every quarter, and it succeeds! Much better than others from the Late Night Classic collection such as On The Line (see review), it features another Oscar worthy performance from Jake "son of Gary" Busey, showing once again why he is widely considered to be superior in every way to his great father (watch starship troopers(1997), which is excellent, and the foot shooting party(1994), which is also probably excellent, for further evidence). The Directing is spot on, with John Milius finally rediscovering the flair shown in Conan the Barbarian (Phew, I hear you gasp in relief. The world is a better place with Milius on top form). But in all honesty, the finale is the pinnacle of this epic. The showdown between the gang and former Army man Cal is quite possibly the best fight scene in history. Cal takes on four, yes four, motorcyclists, and takes each one out with chilling yet breathtaking efficiency, and no little style, saving his pretty young daughter from the grasps of the evil Jake, Crab, Volker and Kincaid. You truly have to see it to believe it.

As you can imagine, that cold dark evening was infinitely warmed up by this unexpected gem of a movie, and if it were up to me, this film would be released on the cinema immediately, opening it up to the wider audience that it surely deserves. Masterpiece!