Chrome and Hot Leather

CHROME AND HOT LEATHER contains more biker mayhem perpetrated by folks who kinda, sorta look like actual bikers.

A motorcycle gang called THE WIZARDS are peeved when two women in a car accidentally knock one of them off their bike. This is a no-no, and costs the women dearly.

Enter Mitch (Tony Young) a Green Beret / Vietnam Vet, and fiance of one of the victims. Mitch is none too pleased and seeks satisfaction. Packed with action and early-1970's ambiance, CHROME is one of the better films of its sub-genre.

William Smith is really good as T. J. the leader of THE WIZARDS, and so is music legend Marvin Gaye as one of Mitch's Green Beret pals...

Sad but true, this double feature of CHROME AND HOT LEATHER plus GOD FORGIVES, I DON'T was a crowded night of goggle eyed teen adventure (I secretly went without mum and dad knowing) and saw it in 1971 at Sydney's home of the crap double feature The Capitol Theatre. Lots of customers there that Saturday night, plenty of couples (I wonder what the girlfriends thought) and me and my pals scoffing lollies and staring at the screen. One memorable scene in CHROME was a bikie being stopped by a cop on a rural road. The cop comes over and we all expect him to harass the bikie. Instead the cop shows what a nice guy he was by telling the bikie how much he liked his bike, admiring those hot chrome exhaust pipes..... I do not know if a sex scene followed and was edited out, but today that would play like a pick up to raucous laughter. GOD FORGIVES I DON'T was a terrible Italian or Spanish western with Terence Hill. However we all went home satisfied. Cost 70c I remember. The 70s were such fun.

Come on now...a biker flick is supposed to be violent and sleazy. This one is so antiseptic it would have made it by TV censors in the 70's--even if the original American-International ads tried hard to suggest otherwise. It does contain one great line: As the biker gang leader prepares to rough up one of our heroes, he is distracted by a fellow gang member playing a noisy pinball machine, leading to remark, "Gabriel, can't you see that we're menacing someone?" Ludicrous music, seemingly from another film, accompanies one of the climactic fight scenes. Sadly, this film could give the Hell's Angels a good name.

This film begins with two young women driving on the highway and suddenly encountering a motorcycle gang known as the Wizards headed in the same direction. Not content with simply letting them pass, one of the members of the gang named "Casey" (Michael Haynes) decides to have some fun at their expense and demands that they pull over. When they resist he becomes a bit more aggressive which then causes them to swerve into him. Not badly hurt he gets back on his motorcycle and in a fit of road rage shatters their windshield with a chain which results in them veering out-of-control and subsequently crashing--eventually killing both of the women. Recognizing the trouble they have found themselves in the leader of the gang named "T. J." (William Smith) orders his group to flee the scene before they can be identified. Unfortunately for them, a traveling salesman comes upon the accident and overhears one of the women softly uttering the word "devils" just before dying. Not long after that a Special Forces instructor by the name of "Mitch" (Tony Young) gets the news of his fiancé's death and with the help of three of his fellow Green Berets decides to seek out those responsible. Although they don't have much to go on they immediately begin to look for a motorcycle gang with a connection to the word "devil"--and the Wizards just happen to carry that exact image on their jacket. Now rather than reveal any more I will just say that this film started off well enough but got a little unrealistic and downright hokey toward the end. Even so, I liked the initial premise and contrast between the bikers and the Green Beret so for that reason I have rated this film a little higher than it probably deserves. Average.

As biker movies go, Chrome And Hot Leather is unusual. Biker films, tended to highlight the wild lifestyle of the outlaw biker culture, as desirable. But this film doesn't glorify bikers. In fact, the military establishment, and their straight-arrow values, are the focus of heroism in this movie.

It's true that by the time this film was made in 1971, outlaw bikers were no longer romanticized like they had been just a few years earlier, by the youth culture. Still, it's hard to believe that during the Vietnam war era, when antiwar sentiments were strong, Hollywood goes and makes a film with the military as the good guys.

The plot centers around a Green Beret Sgt. named Mitch, who is headed home after his tour of duty in 'Nam. He's engaged to be married to a beautiful young woman, and ready to begin a new life as a civilian. Meanwhile, as his fiancé and her friend are out for a drive, they're harassed by a biker gang. This results in an accident, that kills the two women. Mitch, along with a few of his army comrades, are determined to catch the bikers who are responsible for killing his fiancé.

Actor Tony Young infuses the character of Mitch with a steely, square-jawed resolve, to avenge his fiancé's murder. The great R&B singer Marvin Gaye, appears as Mitch's Green Beret buddy. Marvin does an adequate job in his role, but he's a much better singer than actor. William Smith plays the biker gang leader. William has appeared in more biker films over the years, than probably any other actor. With his burly, threatening appearance, Smith seems like he was born to play badass outlaw bikers.

Mitch and his Army pals work together as a cracker-jack military unit, to accomplish their mission of nabbing the biker gang. The way Mitch and company carry out their quest for justice, reminds me of the fictional TV military group, called the A-Team. I wonder if the creators of the A-Team, were inspired by this movie.

Chrome And Hot Leather isn't the best biker film around, but it's different. For fans of biker movies, this one won't validate the bikers as cool. This movie would be most enjoyable for those that admire the military, and how it's members triumph over the bad guys.