She-Devils on Wheels

Master exploitation filmmaker Herschell Gordon Lewis tries his hand at the biker genre that really took off the following year with "Easy Rider". Here he gets fair results, with a screenplay credited to his then-wife, Allison Louise Downe. It functions more as a series of bits than a real story, and overall it's kind of mild. Those people expecting the fireworks produced by his renowned gore films will be disappointed.

The Man-Eaters, the all-female motorcycle gang depicted in this non-epic, are never terribly threatening or much of a danger to society. Mostly they love to recite poetry, help themselves to an assortment of studs, and race. One of their number is Karen (Christie Wagner), who joined a while back despite the objections of her boyfriend Ted (Rodney Bedell). Their "mascot" is a sweet faced, upbeat gal named Honey Pot (Nancy Lee Noble). And the official leader of the gang is the swaggering Queen (Betty Connell). They cause trouble for themselves when they rumble with a male gang led by Joe-Boy (John Weymer).

We do see the aftermath of some rather nasty violence, but the only hilarious bit of gruesomeness comes from a decapitation near the end. The movie offers some fun, but it never reaches the lunatic heights of HGLs' best known work. This viewer can see why some trash lovers - even those who are fans of HGL - might consider it boring.

The acting is pretty rough and amateurish, but the performers are entertaining enough to watch anyway. Connell does have some charisma, and corpulent Pat Poston some screen presence.

This is lesser HGL, but even lesser HGL is not completely without entertainment value.

Six out of 10.

She-Devils on Wheels (1968)

* 1/2 (out of 4)

A female motorcycle gang known as the Man Eaters cause destruction wherever they go. Their leader loves to party with men but the group is also known for destroying them. One member of the crew decides she wants out but doesn't know how to do it.

Herschell Gordon Lewis adds the motorcycle flick to his endless genres that he managed to work in during his career. After the success of THE WILD RIDE we got a whole slew of low-budget motorcycle pictures but there's no doubt that this here isn't one of the better ones.

As with a lot of Lewis' other films, their low-budget charm is on full display but it just doesn't add up to what you'd consider a good movie or a very entertaining one. It's really amazing that he started off in rougies before moving to nudies and then his infamous gore films. Later in his career he would make films like this, which were rather lame and tame. Sex is a big subject here yet we only see people kiss. There's no sex or nudity to be had.

The film offers up the type of performances that you'd expect. There are some bloody bodies on display, although they don't reach a BLOOD FEAST type of level. The group of women add a little fun to things but SHE-DEVILS ON WHEELS just doesn't have enough going for it.

Anyone who can't appreciate this CAMPY movie for what it is has no appreciation or knowledge of true 60's B-sleaze-movies. C'mon, folks - it was 1968.. the summer of Love was just barely over, and you still had massive restrictions on what you could, and couldn't show in a film of ANY genre. Enter Hershel G. Lewis. and the Man-Eaters. Part of what's so hilarious about this film is that the real-time, bikerChix of Southern FL (Filmed in a town called "Medley" around an abandoned airport) were bikers 1st, and actors second. Compared to latter-day hip-hop momma's of Brooklyn's PS103, these broads WOULD be a bunch of Daisy-pickin' mommas - but again, this was 1968. The styles, clothes, cars, HAIR!, and other peripherial shots are worth the watching, as is the clumsy acting. Those who lived through 1968 will catch some of the buzz-words of the day, ie: "Where's his PAD, Nick?" and "What's the Action?" And check out that theme song, repleat with the same twangin' guitar sound as (I) remembered being used on late-60's girl Scout commercials! It's hilarious! And the lounge-Music used for the orgies after the girls "Pick" - Not what I'd imagine Ruby Tuesday would have been into in 1968, with her LSD-inspired scraggly hair and shades - but hey, this is the mistique that is S.D.O.W. Even the "Sex" scenes are tame by today, when Janet Jackson can make a cereal commercial with her boob hangin' out - but remember, it was 1968 and the best that 200+ LB. "Whitey" could do sexually was ride some dork's back in a twitchin', twirlin' frenzy. Whoo! The swingin' female-sex kitten-dominatrix theme is nothing new, nor was it when HGL made this film. What WAS new was that he used real bikers, a real Florida town, and the REAL bad acting that made this cult film the classic it is. If you expect more than that - you're missing the point. I can't imagine what a current-day sequel could be. As for Karen - I think she should have left the gang with Rodney Beddell ( the Blond w/the Corvette ) - but that would have been my ulitmate ending: Kick Queenie's ass, send Whitey to jail, befriend HoneyPot before she gets herself knocked-up or raped again, and go back to being a good girl. Sigh* - I can dream.

If ANY of the actors involved with this movie are still breathing, CONTACT ME!

She-Devils on Wheels was. to say the least, disappointing. The title leads you to believe that these female bikers called the Man-Eaters, are hard, fist swingin', booze drinkin' chicks! Nope. They really bland when you see them. Maybe for that time in the 60's, they were something crazy. But when you do a movie about biker women who are supposed to be really tough, why hold back and make it realistic? I think that Hershel Gordon Lewis really held back. There were some good gory moments, the fight scene between the Man-Eaters and the hot roders was pretty good. I just think that these chicks should have been more hard-core. There must have been a tougher gang of biker-chicks that Lewis could have made a movie about.

Look, I'm not saying that Herschell Gordon Lewis should have just "stuck to what he knew", and just do nothing but gore flicks, because Moonshine Mountain was awesome, and This Stuff'll Kill Ya was also quite good, and, well, come to think of it, that's pretty much all I have to say about Lewis's non-gore. However, it seems I have just committed myself to a review of She-Devils On Wheels...*sigh*... OK, fine.

This is what I'm talking about. She-Devils On Wheels is a prime example of the 60's gore flick without the gore. And then, what are we left with? That's right. Just boring a pile of blah blah blah. Yes, I realize that this film, and films like Just For The Hell Of It is apart of its own genre, separate from gore. Yet, exactly what that genre is, escapes me.

The first thing I hate about this movie is the man-eaters theme song from the beginning. Fingernails on a chalkboard. The second thing I hated was the fat, loud chick. There's nothing I hate more than someone who thinks they can push others around just because they're fat. As if somehow all that fat makes them super-strong. I don't know, maybe it's like that for chicks. After that, I really hated on that pointlessly-PG orgy, or whatever that was supposed to be. Enough rambling. I gotta tell you what it's about sooner or later.

The Man-Eaters (shouldn't they be called the She-Devls?), a motorcycle gang, are an ornery bunch of gals, just lookin' for trouble. When these chicks aren't terrorizing the locals, they're usually out somewhere holding motorcycle races, to determine who gets first dibs on any available men, although, none of them really think too highly of men. And yes, this is where these so-called orgies come in. But there ain't much huggin' and kissin' when a rival all-male gang starts some trouble. Good thing these gals got the fat one on their side... Wait, nevermind.

Herschell Gordon Lewis once said that he sees filmmaking as a business, and pitys anyone who sees it as an art-form. Now, I'm not exactly sure how that is relevant to this anti-She-Devil review, but those words do sorta sound like they came from a man who makes incredibly boring movies (from time to time). It seems like Herschell was kinda trying to go semi-mainstream. Unfortunately he wouldn't learn his lesson so easily, as for the next few years, the non-gore would greatly out-weigh the gore. It's OK, because The Wizard of Gore was amazing.

I would suggest pairing this up with something awesome like Werewolves On Wheels, but perhaps one movie would be enough, because this movie sucks, and there's Just no way around it. Sorry, H.G., it hurts to say such harsh things about a film that you are so obviously proud of. And you should be, sir, because She-Devil's On Wheels is more than most of us accomplish. So, as usual, my rating of a Lewis film will be more than fair, considering Lewis is the man and all. But I really hate this movie. I really, really do. 6/10