Facce senza Dio

Although following a line of biker movies, stretching back to "The Wild One," "Devil's Angels" feels remarkably contemporary in its tone: anarchists on wheels ride into a town, smashing windows, stealing whatever they want, burning a car, disrespecting legal authority, boasting of their contempt for the bourgeoisie, and vandalizing everything. Their leader, John Cassavetes, is surprisingly reasonable and the beauty of Mimsy Farmer is hereby preserved forever.

It's Roger Corman's follow-up to his successful The Wild Angels. Cody (John Cassavetes) leads what's left of his motorcycle gang called the Skulls. They are continuously on the run from The Man. Cody recounts the story of Butch Cassidy's hideout, the Hole-in-the-Wall, and vows to find their own secret place.

Cassavetes should get a bit more gruffy to be a biker. He's too clean. I know that he never has facial hair but this role needs some. Maybe he could have a few day's growth. I am surprised with the humor and it's somewhat too broad. I like the rough general tone of this gang but the almost-rape scene does get very creepy. I don't mind going negative on the bikers as long as the movie doesn't keep trying to push the discrimination narrative. Despite the problematic rooting interest, I would like going apocalyptic on the town. If only they actually did it. The budget would have a problem burning down a town.

Roger Corman's Devil's Angels which was made at the height of the movie-biker craze in 1967 has three qualities which make this "B" film a devilish good time.

Starring the late-great John Cassavetes as motorcycle gang leader Cody. Cassavates was one of the best actors of the 1960s, yet never really became popular with the mainstream movie goer. He brings a complexity to his character. Torn between "doing-your-own-thing" or "selling-out". As his sidekick is the beautiful and lovely Beverly Adams. Ms. Adams is best known for playing Dean Martin's sexy secretary in the Matt Helm series, Lovely Kravezit. Looking earthy, but sexy, she excels in one of his best on-screen roles.

A fine supporting cast is lead by Mimsy Farmer and veteran character actor/writer Leo Gordon. Out-dated today, but for the times it must rate as one of the top 5 biker films of the decade.

Interesting side note, the movie poster for Devil's Angels is one of the best there is.

... as objective as possible. My grandfather (mom's side), the late ROY THIEL, played the deputy in this film. And somewhere in the family archives is a lobby poster for Devil's Angels. Word has it our family packed up the station wagon and watched it at the local (Seattle, WA) drive-in a few years after it's release. Now, years later, the keywords Roger Corman, 1967 biker film, and John Cassavetes shed a new light on the movie I barely knew of while growing up. Unintentionally kitschy, one of those movies you watch for the ambiance of the era rather than scrutinizing the plot line, but all in all, a nice time capsule of B-movie biker films of mid-late '60s. Devil's Angel's comes highly recommended (of course).

PS. My grandfather's name is attributed to (though he acted in commercials and several other non-credited roles) is yet another "Devil" titled-movie of the era: "Devil's Eight."

After the 1966 biker movie "The Wild Angels" became a box office smash, American-International Pictures over the next few years made and released a number of other biker movies, "Devil's Angels" being one of the first. While the movie definitely was profitable, the profit was much less so than what "The Wild Angels" grossed. Watching the movie, it's pretty easy to see why drive-in audiences weren't as enthusiastic. There is pretty much no plot or character development in the first half of the movie - it's just one vignette after another. The second half of the movie has a little story and fleshes out its characters slightly, but not too much more. Also disappointing is that the movie is nowhere as sleazy and explicit as some other biker movies of the time (it got a PG rating); it's quite tame even by 1967 standards. The best I can say for the movie is that there is some good widescreen photography and composition.