Angel Unchained

Angel Unchained has the ingredients of your basic AIP picture- bikers, 'cowboys' (rednecks), hippies, and lots of action. Unfortunately, it isn't entirely synthesized. Perhaps I could've known this by seeing it had been re-rated a PG-13 by the MPAA, but I also thought 'hosh-posh, it still probably has that real violent, grungy feel of dueling off between the forces of hicks and bikers'. Turns out the cooler elements of the film, some of which are some of the more amusing and awesomely bad moments from AIP biker movies, are juxtaposed against a core of a story that's kind of tame, even soft. It's actually got a Seven Samurai-style story to it, with the roles of the bandits and samurai reversed here- this time it's the so-called bandits (bikers) fighting off against the good-old boys (cowboys). This starts off some interest even as knock-off material.

The acting as well is not that terrible, at least for what's required on such an ultra-low budget. Regulars like Don Stroud and Luke Askew are dependable (more so Askew who the year before had a memorable role in Easy Rider), though Tyne Daly, a strange early part for her before The Enforcer and later Judging Amy, keeps the love story a little too mellow for its own good. Angel (Stroud) wants to get away just for a little while from his old gang, so he hooks up with Daly's character and starts working at a commune/farm, complete with dazed bearded help and a token Native American with a special 'mix' of cookies. But as they get terrorized by cowboys on go-carts (yes, go-carts, one of the real highlights of the movie), Angel enlists the help of his biker gang, with some consequences that unfold. All of this is tricky material, and the co-writer/director Lee Madden isn't totally able to balance out the scenes and moments (and just visual sights like with Bill McKinney's retro glasses) with the sappier parts. The latter of which also includes a soundtrack that borders on soft-rock, the specifically wrong tone that suddenly makes the material quite dated.

So, if you're looking for lots of carnage, immoral action, and the stomping out of almost everything in sight, you might be disappointed. Even as there is a neat B-movie style climax involving go-carts vs. bikers that does garner up excitement and laughs, the very end adds a point to what ends up being the lesser qualities of the film. It's intentions are swell, but it gets confused as whether it should be more hippie or biker style, with the poor Injun (yes, that's his character name) caught in the middle. Worth watching once, especially for genre fans, but not top-shelf AIP material.

Jack said the rednecks are on "Go-Carts". I own the movie and watch it every few years or so. They are driving dune buggies. A far cry from go carts. I think the movie is great! Very unrealistic which helps make it great. I collect cheap biker movies and this well qualifies. Unrealistic is letting a fellow club member leave so he can get his head together. You gotta have a better reason for leaving any outlaw club. Usually it's prison or death. Just taking off don't cut it. Having a tripping Indian with trippy cookies is a first. Usually outlaws will do some things for cash. These "Bros" go for "cookies"! God bless 'em! Next they will be killing for apple pie. Yes, you could find better things to do with your time than watching this. Usually crushing your fingers in a vise or sticking your face in a fan is more entertaining. If you love cheap biker movies (and vintage dune buggies) you will LOVE this pile.

The film opens at an amusement park, where two biker gangs rumble. I have to admit it was fun seeing one moron tossed off a rollercoaster. Don Stroud plays the leader of one of the gangs. After the fracas, he decides it's time to go it alone, so he heads off while the opening credits roll. While filling his bike at a gas station, he runs into a couple of commune dwellers, played by Tyne Daly and some guy with large hair. The local rednecks (they are called "cowboys") tell the hippies the pump is closed, even though Stroud just used it. Stroud calmly puts the nozzle in the hippies' truck, much to the disdain of the rednecks. The hippies then invite Stroud to their farm, where he meets the leader, played by Luke Askew. Stroud decides to settle down for a bit, and learns to farm, make pottery, and indulge in other manly activities.

The rednecks show up, and try to trash the farm. One of them even flings a chicken into the air. Now regardless of how you feel about the Chick-Fil-A, this is just not right, folks. While the pacifists stand idly by, Stroud pitchforks one of the attackers in the shoulder. The rednecks promise revenge. Game on!

Stroud attempts to make peace with the rednecks, apologizing and asking them not to punish the hippies. This does not go over well, and Stroud is forced to use a cattle prod to settle things temporarily. Oh well. Nice try.

Askew asks (try saying that ten times fast) Stroud if his biker buddies would be willing to help out. Stroud says no way, warning Askew that the bikers are nutzoid. Daly convinces Stroud (offscreen) to bring in the gang, so off he goes. The gang is reluctant to help out, since they figure Stroud walked out on them - but they eventually give in.

At this point, the film almost becomes a biker version of "The Magnificent Seven" (or, more appropriately, "The Moronic Twelve Or So"). But not quite. There is one major difference (besides the obvious difference in acting talent). The bikers really are nutzoid, and hard to control once they reach the farm. Their new leader "Pilot," played by Larry Bishop, is apathetic to what is going on. The creepy Bill McKinney, as "Shotgun," wears glasses bigger than Elton John (and I mean bigger than Elton John, not bigger than Elton John's glasses). Then there is "Magician," played by T. Max Graham. This lardo wears a top hat and cap; he stashes his bennies in his cape. Yes, these are exactly the guys you would call if you needed assistance. In one hilarious scene, one of the bikers tries to teach a hippie how to fight. In disgust, he finally says "Man, you don't need to learn how to fight. You need to learn how to run."

The bikers spy on the old American Indian on the farm, who puts a "secret ingredient" in his cookies. After sampling a few cookies, the bikers decide they want the recipe, so they trash his place, which upsets Stroud. The bikers decide they are going to leave unless they get the ingredients. Askew takes off on a motorcycle with the "whammo," as the bikers call the stash. I'm still not sure why he did that, but Stroud tracks him down. They return to the farm, just in time to see two of the hippies wandering in after being assaulted.

The rednecks show up in their dune buggies, and the climactic fight ensues. There is one good stunt, when one of the bikers is lassoed and does a 180 spin in the air. But the fight is over almost as soon as it starts. Inexplicably, Askew hops on a bike again, collides with a buggy, and goes flying through the air. Everybody stops what they are doing, like this is "West Side Story" and they all have to feel bad. Hey, this is a rumble, for crying out loud. You're supposed to smash heads.

Except for the abrupt ending, this flick managed to keep me entertained. Stroud is not the best leading man in the world, and certainly has played his share of scumballs in his career. But he seems to nail his character pretty well, as does Bishop. Askew is okay, but if he were wearing suspenders, you'd swear he was a Quaker. Daly is okay as well, except for her habit of wrinkling her nose. In an amusing cameo, Aldo Ray plays the town sheriff. In one scene, he and Bishop relax in chairs, calmly discussing the temperature and humidity, while the bikers and rednecks beat the crap out of each other.

What really struck me about this film was its accuracy in depicting two of the most frequently exploited subcultures of the American 1960's. The Hippies are young middle-class idealists, with no evident skills or systematic approach to philosophy. The bikers are violent degenerates, but not over-the-top barbarians who kill at a moment's notice. Their behavior was so similar to stories and books I've read that I wonder if some of the scenes were actually reminiscences of some former Hell's Angel the writer knew. Unfortunately, I never could make out the name of the motorcycle club on the backs of their jackets. It looked like "Exiles Nomads", but what kind of a name is that? Overall, the movie is satisfying, if nothing particularly new. Fits well into the "Born Losers" category of film, but definitely in a class apart from "Satan's Sadists" or "Wild Angel."

After a rumble with another motorcycle gang one of the bikers named "Angel" (Don Stroud) decides it's time to leave and make it on his own. So he gives up his colors and drives off down the highway. It's at this time that he rides into a small town and while filling up at the local gas station comes upon two hippies who are subsequently denied service by some redneck cowboys who inhabit the area. He helps them out and to express their gratitude they invite him to stay at their nearby commune. Since he has nowhere else to go he takes them up on their offer. Unfortunately, after only a few days the rednecks come and destroy the crops that the hippies had worked all summer on after which the cowboys give them an ultimatum to leave or they will return in a week. So in desperation the leader of the commune who goes by the name of "Jonathan Tremaine" (Luke Askew) pleads with Angel to bring his old gang to help them out. Although he explicitly warns them about the potential danger these bikers could create they continue to insist so he then rides out to ask them. The bikers accept the invitation and all kinds of mayhem follows not long afterward. Now rather than reveal any more I will just say that this was an okay "biker film" which could have been better if it had flowed a bit more smoothly from one scene to another. In any case, I found it to be an adequate movie for the most part and I have rated it accordingly. Average.