Black Angels

This movie begins with a young man by the name of "Jimmy" (James Young-El) who aspires to become the leader of a black motorcycle gang known as the Choppers. So to gain some notoriety he decides to set up a man named "Chainer" (Des Roberts) who is the leader of a rival motorcycle gang called Satan's Scorpions. Unfortunately, Jimmy dies in the attempt and it is up to Chainer to bring the news of his death to the Choppers. Needless to say, the members of the Choppers aren't very happy when Chainer comes unannounced and uninvited but their leader who goes by the name of "Knifer" (Robert Johnson) respects his action and allows him to return to his gang unharmed. Unfortunately, the tension between the two gangs continues to increase with one person in particular more than eager to provide the necessary spark to ignite an all-out war. Now rather than reveal any more I will just say that this film had a decent enough plot but there were certain problems with the execution that were difficult to ignore. For starters, the director (Laurence Merrick) used too many flashback scenes which detracted from the movie rather than enhancing it. Likewise, too much time was spent on high speed chases and other assorted riding scenes at the expense of character development or a meaningful script. Additionally, the music played during these riding scenes was pretty bad as well. In any case, the fact of the matter is that there are plenty of other "biker films" out there which are much better and I have rated this picture accordingly. Below average.

I always wanted to see "The Black Angels" because James Whitworth and Channon Scot,the director of lost and forgotten Bigfoot horror flick "Sasqua" were in it.Channon Scot during our "Sasqua" interview told me about "The Black Angels":"'The Black Angels' was the 1st feature film,I,Big Jim Whitworth and others that were in "Sasqua" did in,I believe,1969,if that's when they landed on the moon I got the year right.We shot that in 14 days at Paramount Ranch and all for a $1 a piece and never got to change our clothes.The director Lawrence Merrick wanted us to really feel like a biker.We stunk for all that time.That's when we met the Manson family and that's when one of our buddies took a 16mm cam and filmed them on the Sphan Ranch.Afterwards is when they committed all those crimes".The film tells the story of a fierce rivalry between two motorcycle gangs:the white Serpents and the black Choppers.It's pretty dirty and exploitative as it features rape scene,stabbings and even wild cats attacking people.If you are a fan of bikersploitation sub-genre you will enjoy "The Black Angels".7 out of 10.

A hybrid between a blaxploitation movie and a biker film, with the emphasis heavily on the latter. Interestingly, the Black Angels here are not the brothers but the evil cops! The joy of this one is it's rough and ready nature, with off-the-street actors and ropey fight scenes.

Here is a biker flick that tries to deal with interacial tensions between black & white clubs. There are fights, drugs, riding, sex (to include a vary racy (no pun intended) rape with 2 black men & a white woman). Its fun to watch this in its silly production, 1 just has to remember this is a exploitation film, it is intended to make money off this type of flick, that is biker's & black's.

Black Angels (1970)

* 1/2 (out of 4)

Jimmy is a young black male who hopes to one day be the leader of the all-black motorcycle gang. This leads him to attack a notorious white biker known as Chainer. Chainer, understanding what the kid is trying to do, gives him a good beating but nothing too serious. This here sets off a chain of events that lead to the black gang thinking that the white one is about the wage a war.

Laurence Merrick isn't a name that is known by many but he directed this film as well as a couple other notoriously bad movies. GUESS WHAT HAPPENED TO COUNT Dracula? and MANSON are two really campy movies and both of them are more entertaining than this film, which is obviously trying to cash in on the success of films like EASY RIDER and THE WILD RIDE. Obviously this low-budget exploitation picture can't match either one of those pictures and there's just not enough going on here to keep it more entertaining.

The biggest problem with BLACK ANGELS is that there's just not enough going on to keep it entertaining throughout its running time. I say that because the film could have made for some campy fun because of the racial angle that it takes but sadly very little is done with the plot. The highlight of the film happens very easy on when the "young" guy tries to show up the "old" guy and it leads to a fairly funny and entertaining fight.

For the most part the cast members are good enough for this type of film and that includes James Whitworth who would later gain fame playing Jupiter in Wes Craven's THE HILLS HAVE EYES. The film also offers up some minor nudity and violence but there's just not enough here to save the picture.