Metacritic reviews

The plot has holes big enough to drive a Harley-Davidson through. But the film is better than it might have been, and better than it had to be. Take it on its own terms and you might find it interesting.

Director Richard Rush, who later made the classic The Stunt Man, overindulges the arty bike footage. But this is certainly an artifact of an age, photographed by Leslie (later Laszlo) Kovacs, who became one of Hollywood's best cinematographers. [02 Jan 2004, p.4E]

Though director Richard Rush’s Hells Angels on Wheels is thin on plot, it had a few aces up its sleeve in cinematographer László Kovács (credited as Leslie Kovacs), lead actor Jack Nicholson, and an air of authenticity because of the presence of some real Angels as extras, including the notorious Sonny Barger serving as a technical adviser.

The whole project, in fact, with its violence and love interest (Nicholson fighting for the leader's 'momma') is schizophrenic, cutting from psychedelia and group sex to private angst and night-time stompings. Rush said that he found the whole bike phenomenon 'distasteful', and it shows in the uneven treatment.

Even Nicholson's presence can't lift this trash to a one-star listing.