Chrome and Hot Leather

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.

The saddest thing about "Chrome and Hot Leather" (1971) is that it could have been a fairly decent film; at least by American International biker film standards. They seem to have had a large budget; at least enough to cast in quantity if not quality; and to outfit their biker gang (Wizards) with Harley's-something that was often beyond the budget of these things.

They had William Smith, the best movie baddie of the day, for their gang leader T.J. and Michael Haynes for the chain-throwing mama slapping Casey. In fact the whole biker thing is handled pretty well by the standards of the early 1970's.

Then they had an extremely young Cheryl Ladd (she looks about 16 although she was 18) and former Miss Ohio and Miss America Runner-Up Kathy Baumann (note the John Havlicek Basketball Camp t-shirt she is wearing). In high school she dated someone I knew and she also looks about the same in this film as she did then. Unfortunately neither actress gets to show much in the way of acting skills or exploitable assets. .

This is one of those movies the Army and Air Force Exchange Service saw fit to show us GI's at posts and bases around with world back in the early 1970's. To us at the time virtually everything military related was unintentionally hilarious, from Peter Brown's non-GI haircut (if it was a paying role couldn't he at least have cut it enough so you could see a portion of his ears) to the moronic combat training. It got laughs from us for months whenever someone brought up the topic. On the other hand what was supposed to be the film's comic relief, sequences of Peter Brown and Company learning to ride motorcycles is funny only to those amused by things totally lame and stupid.

In retrospect the film never had a chance given its director Lee "The Man With Two Heads" Frost and its star, the aging Tony Young. When you look bad in comparison to a non-actor (Marvin Gaye plays Tony's pal) it is time to find another line of work. Young lined up the financing for this baby and hired Frost on the condition he be given the lead. You won't find a more wooden actor than Young, whose character looks like an extremely dour 55 year-old man and is supposed to be the love interest for the two teen actresses.

Several times they appear headed in the self-parody direction (if that is what they had emphasized the film would be a classic) and Smith lets you know that he is playing this thing for laughs. But this tiny attempt at real humor is dwarfed by the unintentional hilarity and the giggles you will get from the many continuity errors that occur throughout the movie.

Then again, what do I know? I'm only a child.

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.

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...

I appreciate the cheesy and inept exploitation flick as much as the next person--in fact, probably a good bit more--but even by by basement standards, "Chrome and Hot Leather" is a piece of crap. The whole story of Green Berets vs. Bikers is lame and unconvincing on all sides, the bikes are nothing special, nor is the riding done on them. But one thing does set this film apart and that would be the presence of the legendary Marvin Gaye as one of the aforementioned military types. And it makes one a bit sorry that he didn't do more acting (his only other dramatic role seems to have been alongside Lee Majors in a similarly forgettable film): Gaye's on-screen presence is as relaxed and charming as his musical style and he was certainly easy on the eyes. Still, what drove him to make supporting appearances in drive-in fodder escapes me--probably the same thing that drove him to train with the Chicago Bears. But, if it's biker trash you want, I suggest the classic "The Wild Angels" or the magnificently sleazy "She-Devils on Wheels." And, if you want to appreciate Marvin Gaye's talent, you might be better off tracking down one of his "Shindig!" or "T.A.M.I. Show" appearances.