The Girls from Thunder Strip

One of the lesser biker movies from the golden age. Fairly rough sledding. Big problems with tone here. One minute Casey Kasem is "blown up" by a stick of dynamite ala Wile E. Coyote, to cartoonish effect with tattered outfit and blackened face, the next minute the bikers (really just serial killers, nothing more) are just killing civilians at random with a gunshot to the middle of the forehead, hardcore. Focus, people!

I really doubt the supposed release date of this film: clearly this trash epic could have been neither made nor released in 1966. The fashions, hairstyles and attitudes are just wrong. 1969 might be more like it, but I could also imagine 1970 or 1968. The sideburns are too long, the bell-bottoms are too wide, the hair is too big and unsettled, and the hippies too smelly to be 1966. Having said that, enjoy one of the more mindlessly violent motorcycle dramas out there.

Casey Kasem has a couple of scenes in the film, sporting sharp suits and big sideburns. Old Casey got a lot of acting work in the late 60's and early 70's. Be sure to check him out in THE INCREDIBLE TWO HEADED TRANSPLANT. And check out some of David L. Hewitt's other epics, including the bizarrely indescribable MIGHTY GORGA, available on DVD.

Also enjoy Bruce Kimball aka Kemp, in one of his earlier outings as Deputy Orville. A dependable presence on the drive-in film circuit during this time frame, he usually appeared as doltish deputies or sheriffs. He also appears in such other Hewitt films as THE MIGHTY GORGA, and several Al Adamson shlock fests like Dracula VS. FRANKENSTEIN, as well as Lee Frost's LOVE CAMP 7 and CHAIN GANG WOMEN, and one of my favorite mistakes, THE TORMENTORS.

The Girls from Thunder Strip (1970) is a movie that I recently watched on Prime. The storyline follows three sisters in the moon shine business during prohibition. A local biker gang wants to take their operations over and an FBI agent wants to shut them down. Can the sisters keep their operations up and running when it seems like everyone wants to shut them down?

This movie is directed by David L. Hewitt (The Mighty Gorga) and stars Jody McCrea (Bikini Beach), Maray Ayres (The Cycle Savages), Mick Mehas (Hells Chosen Few), Casey Kasem (Ghostbusters) and Gary Kent (Lost).

This is a classic grindhouse picture with grainy film, a beautiful female cast, a great soundtrack and a low budget. The acting is average and the camera angles, action scenes, kill and rape scenes are very inconsistent. There are some sudden violent scenes. The storyline had potential, but the other elements keep it from reaching its potential.

Overall, this movie is nothing special and a below average addition to the grind house genre; however, I would score this a 3/10 and still recommend seeing it once.

Director David Hewitt is best-known for his sci-fi work such as WIZARD OF MARS and JOURNEY TO THE CENTER OF TIME, as well as the unclassifiable THE MIGHTY GORGA, which I've seen about ten times! This little-known biker/rural-revenge flick (shot in Texas?) was written by the great comic artist Pat Boyette, photographed beautifully in widescreen techniscope by the reliable Gary Graver (who also edited and has a brief cameo), and acted by an impressive troupe including Gary Kent (you want to see his character killed after spending ten minutes with him!), Jack Starrett as the sheriff (perfect for the role, and he has some nice comic scenes with Casey Kasem), the lovely Megan Timothy, and in one of his last films, Jody McCrea. With a hippie-bluegrass score, fine rural locations, a grim unwashed look to the characters and the production, a nice widescreen transfer on the VHS tape, and the above-mentioned acting/directing/photography, GIRLS FROM THUNDER STRIP is a lost classic that will surely attract more attention in future years.

Now, if only I can find a copy of the Hewitt's OTHER biker film, the patchwork HELL'S CHOSEN FEW (the bikers in this film wear Hell's Chosen Few jackets, by the way!). This is a film worth finding. 1960s independent films such as this take a lot of chances and are able to do so much on so little money. Too many of today's "independent films" are either pretentious film-school swill or shot-on-video predictable garbage or self-consciously "camp" or "decadent" bore-fests. Hewitt/Graver/Kent and crew were in the right place at the right time with the right talents and with the desire to CREATE. Thankfully, the drive-ins of the day provided an outlet for their work...work which we can enjoy today through the magic of video. By the way, this film would look GREAT on the big screen,although I can't imagine ever having a chance to see that happen in my lifetime...

Three, tough talkin', barefooted, moonshiner sisters go on the run from the law after springing one of their number from the local jail, and unwisely allow three murderous bikers to escape with them... in a film that has its eye on the biker genre and its hand up the skirt of hickploitation. Despite director David L Hewitt, having form in the biker genre, helming The Tormentors and Hells Chosen Few, the greater allegiance here is towards all things country, y'all. The Girls from Thunder Strip might well be Hewitt's most enjoyable film, although given that we're talking about the man who brought The Mighty Gorga, The Lucifer Complex and Gallery of Horror into this world, the competition isn't exactly what you'd call stiff. A more tonally uneven movie you're never likely to meet. Good time humour, cartoonish sight gags and cheery banjo music go hand in hand with offscreen rape and onscreen, cold blooded murder as the film can't seem to decide if it wants to be another Satan's Sadists or a prototype for The Dukes of Hazzard. The cast is equally schizophrenic, featuring the sons of famous people (Jody McCrea, Lindsay Crosby) exploitation vets (Gary Kent, Bruce Kimball, William Bonner) and Casey 'voice of Shaggy' Kasem as an uptight out of towner who gets his pants blown off....Zoinks!!!

THE GIRLS FROM THUNDER STRIP was / is the perfect drive-in movie! It opens with bikers, known as Hell's Chosen Few, causing mayhem. The mistreatment and degradation of women seems to be their favorite pastime. They soon meet up with the local sheriff and some good old fashioned police brutality! Next stop, the county slammer!

There's also a moonshining operation in the nearby woods, run by Red (Maray Ayres), Jessie (Megan Timothy), and Lil (Melinda Mecharg).

These two worlds will intersect with catastrophic results!

THE BOTTOM LINE: Hillbilly moonshiners are not to be trifled with, not even by demonic, psycho bikers!

THIS MOVIE HAS: #1- A chase and a shootout, accompanied by banjos! #2- A crazed, killer biker named Animal (William Bonner)! #3- Casey Kasem himself as a government agent! #4- A stuffed mountain lion that attacks and kills!

Goodnight, and don't forget to visit the snack bar on your way out...