Angels from Hell

Although I'm usually a big fan of drive-in movies, I have to confess that motorcycle gang movies kind of leave me cold. So I might be writing this review with some prejudice, but I think that this particular motorcycle movie will be badly judged by other drive-in movie fans. The biggest problem with it is how slow and uneventful it is. In the first half of the movie, almost nothing of consequence happens. It's almost all padding. There's a bit more plot in the second half of the movie, but the movie still feels slow and lacking bite. Another big problem with the movie is that the main character (played by Tom Stern) is not developed very well; we never quite sense what makes him tick and what motivates him. By the way, while the movie got an "R" rating back in 1968, it's not very explicit by today's standards; it would get a "PG-13" rating at most if submitted to the MPAA today.

Tom Stern plays a Viet-Nam veteran who comes home with the dream of forming the most powerful biker gang around. His "wild bunch" consists of such immortals as Smiley, Nutty Norman, Tiny Tim, and Angry Annie. Turns out most of the cast are real bikers and their performances steal the show from the real actors.

Stern however reminds one of a young Nick Adams or Steve McQueen. He doesn't overplay his role; just giving it the sharp edge it needs to be realistic. His anger is a product of his war experiences and his frustrations are those of a man who is powerless to control the events happening around him. For a "minor" film, Stern does an outstanding job. It makes you wonder why this talented actor/director never made it to super-stardom.

(1968) Angels From Hell CRIME DRAMA

It opens with motorcycle bike rider, Mike Connery (Tom Stern) beating up a couple of racists who ganged up to beat up a young African American man wanting to use the washroom. And by the time he helps to carry him out, is when other African American guys riding motor bikes show up. After this was done, he then rides away to meet up with his former bike gang group "Madcaps" hanging out in a bar. And we find out Mike had just returned from serving in the military, and decides he want to upstart his own gang again. Except that the Madcaps have a current leader already, Big George to whom Mike has never met before. Big George then challenges him to a fight since he knows Mike has a long history with majority of the members, and wants to prove he is worthy. Once Mike takes over the Madcap group the movie then flips back and forth between righteous and chaos. It was routine until there was a single moment it became interesting is when two low ball cops became judge and jury and breaking the law themselves are and are worse than bikers themselves. The movie worsened as it continued, as if it forgot what it wanted to say as the makers was making it.

AIP does what it does best, exploitation of stereotypes. Good fun though with the real bikers being used. The real actors aren't as good as them. Incredibly terrible soundtrack.

After serving a tour in Vietnam, "Mike" (Tom Stern) returns to his hometown to discover that his old motorcycle gang has essentially been run out of town by the local law enforcement and that a new person named "George" (Jay York) has since taken over as the leader. Not happy that Mike is now muscling in on his gang, George initiates a fight with him which turns out quite bad--for George. As a result Mike becomes the leader and soon gets the attractive girl (Arlene Martel as "Ginger") as well. But rather than be satisfied with what he has, Mike has a grand plan for uniting motorcycle gangs across the country with none other than himself as the overall leader. Needless to say, this idea is fraught with difficulty. Now rather than reveal any more of this movie and risk spoiling it for those who haven't seen it, I will just say that I thought this was one of the better "motorcycle movies" made thus far. I say this because the plot was realistic and the acting was pretty good as well. In any case, I rate this movie as slightly above average and recommend it to all enthusiasts of this particular sub-genre.