Sociedade Violenta

Chino (Dennis Hopper) is the brutal crazy leader of the biker gang Black Souls. Chino and his boys ambush Darryl (Jody McCrea), leader of rival biker gang Glory Stompers. Unwilling to leave a witness behind, they take Darryl's girlfriend Chris captive. Darryl recovers and follows in pursuit.

This is a biker exploitation flick. It has Dennis Hopper doing crazy. That's about it. The plot is really simple. There isn't anything too memorable. McCrea is nowhere near edgy enough to be a biker gang leader. There is a surprisingly limited amount of cinematic road action. There are limited motorcycle stunts and no car crashes. The most interesting stunt may be running over a guy although I'm not 100% sure that the body isn't a dummy. There is an acrobatic chicken run at the end but it doesn't look as dangerous as it sounds. The story lacks intensity. Chris' romance only works if she's trying to trick the guy. Instead of intensity, the movie replaces it with a biker party. It looks like they had a bunch of extras for a day and threw in plenty of alcohol. This is low budget biker exploitation indie at its most middling. They don't even use Dennis Hopper for his fullest. There is a lot of crazy to play with and he only showcases it a few times. He should be dialed up to 11 for the whole movie.

"Darryl" (Jody McCrea) is a member of the motorcycle gang called the Glory Stompers. One day while walking with his girlfriend "Chris" (Chris Noel) he is severely beaten up by five members of a rival gang called the Black Souls. Believing that they killed him and not wanting any witnesses, the leader named "Chino" (Dennis Hopper) decides to forcibly take Chris with them to Mexico where she is to be sold into prostitution. What Chino doesn't know is that Darryl's wounds weren't nearly as critical as he initially thought and upon gaining consciousness Darryl is determined to catch up to the Black Souls and get Chris back one way or the other. Anyway, so much for the rather standard plot. As far as the overall movie was concerned, I will just say that it was okay as far as biker films go. Naturally, Dennis Hopper performed in his usual energetic manner which helped add a little life into some of the slower scenes. Likewise, Chris Noel--and to a lesser extent Astrid Warner (as "Doreen")--definitely added some nice scenery along the way as well. In any case, although I doubt anybody would consider this film to be that great, it wasn't that bad either and as a result I have rated it accordingly. Average.

Rebel motorcycle gangs love to ride, and ride hard, but there are three other facets that they like: (1) drink, (2) party orgy-like, and (3) wreck things. In this film they don't wreck much, but they do the others well. If you want to see them wreck things, see "Devil's Angels" (1968). Produced for the independent American International Pictures (AIP), "The Glory Stompers" followed the success of the " The Wild Angels" (1966). "The Glory Stompers" cost $100,000 to make, but grossed more than thirty times that much. Now that's a successful production!

A rival gang of the Stompers, the Black Souls led by the unbalanced Chino (Dennis Hopper), kidnap blonde Chris (Chris Noel), girlfriend of Darryl (Jody McCrea), leader of the Stompers. Darryl is badly beaten up and left for dead (never mind the silly details), but somehow has amazing recovery powers. It's up to him and two pals, ex-member Smiley (Jock Mahoney) and Pony (Gary Wood) to track down the bad guys and reclaim his chick. Will he succeed? And will Magoo (Robert Tessier) eventually rape Chris; he certainly tries hard?

Note that the gorgeous girl who strips and skinny-dips along the way is the alluring Doreen (Astrid Warner). Kudos rightfully belong the Mario Tossi for his enjoyable cinematography: See the great shots of the motorcyclists on the sand dunes. So there is some value after all.

If you can get passed the standard revenge plot, "The Glory Stompers" is considerably better than expected. A fuzz guitar soundtrack adds tremendously to the overall enjoyment. Recognizable talent early on is displayed by Dennis Hopper and a pre "chrome dome" Robert Tessier. Another big plus is the on location photography, with well shot riding sequences. Of course all the "hey man" stuff dates the film squarely in the 1960s, and the acting by those not named Hopper or Tessier is wooden. Best looked upon as a time capsule with a very familiar plot, "The Glory Stompers" is something to be watched occasionally, when one reminisces about motorcycles pre C.G.I.. - MERK

''The Glory Stompers'' is hardly a classic-even in the ''Biker'' genre, but it's a decent, entertaining little flick from AIP. Dennis Hopper stars as a member of the ''Black Souls'' motorcycle gang, who beat up rival ''Glory Stompers'' member Jody McCrea,leave him for dead, and kidnaps his girl, Chris Noel. He and his gang (who include ''Born Losers'' alumni Robert Tessier, Edwin Cook and Paul Prokop) plan to sell Chris to a Mexican flesh peddler somewhere south of the border. However, McCrea(once he recovers) joins up with ex-Stomper Jock Mahoney and sets out to rescue her. Complicating matters is Hopper's psycho ''Momma'' (Saundra Gayle, a LONG way from ''The Wonderful World Of The Brothers Grimm'') who can't wait to dispose of Chris. And so it goes.The Widescreen photography is very good. The acting is decent all around. Hopper, despite his limited vocabulary (he says ''man'' in almost every sentence) is OK until the climax, when he screams, shakes, whimpers, whines, froths at the mouth and seems to be auditioning for a summer stock tour of ''Hamlet''. And, when all else fails, they toss in a ''Love-In'' along with a brief fight between a couple of tough looking'' Biker Chicks''. The soundtrack, which features, among others, ''The Arrows'' who were a Biker Film staple by now, is good, if somewhat overdone.Mike Curb, former Lt Governor and Motorcycle Music specialist, (The Wild Angels'' ''Devil's Angels'' etc) produced and wrote most of the music-even adding a song called ''Black Souls'' for future ''America's Top 40'' DJ Casey Kasem, who is seen in a bit part as one of the ''Souls''. Fortunately, this one didn't make it into the film's final cut, though, in all probability, it was just intended to help fill up the quickie tie-in soundtrack album.However, the title song ''The Stompers Ride'' did-though it was just a recycled version of Curb's ''Wild Angels Theme''. In fact, much of the music in the AIP biker films was used more than once for their other exploitation titles. Nevertheless, the Sidewalk Recording from the movie is now a highly prized collectors item, which goes for big $$$ whenever it surfaces on EBAY. Ironic, considering that back in the early ''70's, these and other Sidewalk/Tower exploitation soundtracks could be found in discount and drug stores for as little as (Gulp!) three for $1.00. MGM and Twentieth-Century-Fox have just released a nice DVD of this title. The print shows it's age from time to time, but it's in Anamorphic Widescreen with nice color and a sharp image.(the Widescreen process used was probably ''Panavision'', but here it's called ''Colorscope''). and the sound quality is also very good. As a ''Limited Edition'' DVD-R, there are no extras, but it's still nice to have an ''Official'' release at last. Incidentally, of AIP'S many Cycle Sagas, only two others were made in the ''Scope''process -''The Wild Angels'' and it's follow-up ''Devil's Angels''.All of them should have been filmed this way, because, like this one, most of the others feature a lot of footage with the Bikers zooming up and down the highway. And that sort of thing was ideal for the format. Catch a ride with the Stompers and hang on!.