The Loveless

"The Loveless" has apparently built somewhat of a cult since it was first released more than thirty years ago. To a degree, I can sort of understand that. There are some positive things to be found here. Though a low budget movie, the movie looks good, from the convincing period detail to the photography. The acting is also well done; you can really believe these brooding characters. And the atmosphere is appropriate for a movie about hard core bikers.

Unfortunately, despite positive things like what I've listed, the movie didn't work for me. In fact, I think that most viewers will be dissatisfied as well. There is a big problem, and that problem is that there is virtually no plot. The movie is just one scene after another where little to nothing (usually nothing) of consequence happening. I admit I came close to hitting the eject button on my DVD player several times because I was quite frankly bored. In the end, I can only recommend the movie to hard core fans of anyone in front of or behind the camera.

I saw 'The Loveless' years and years ago but I'm still searching the internet for it; it must have been on TV because I didn't see it at the cinema and it isn't available on video. I watched the film because it had bikes in it and was amazed - it has a great sound-track, stunning visuals with glistening chrome and shots of motor oil that you can almost touch (the repair scenes in the garage).

The first time you see the film the ending is a surprise - after you've thought about it for a while it becomes obvious that it's the only ending the film could have.

I'm stunned that this film seems to have vanished. It is impossible to obtain on tape or DVD and even some of my film going friends that reckon they like Kathryn Bigelow have never heard of it.

Bring it out on DVD - NOW!

Kathryn Bigelow's first feature, as well as Willem Dafoe's first credited role. Dafoe plays a 1950's biker who rolls into a small Georgia town en route to Daytona and meets up with some biker friends. The locals treat them with a mixture of fascination and contempt. But this isn't EASY RIDER or THE WILD ONE... its moody atmosphere plays more like a meeting of Kenneth Anger and David Lynch. Eerie bright colors, an aura of sleazy cool, homoerotic imagery, long lingering shots, smoky score and hip soundtrack. I found it fascinating and it unexpectedly drew me into its world. Some of the performances are weak and some of the writing is corny, but ultimately these flaws just add to the sense of iconography at play, a kind of mythical recreation of archetypes from another time. These characters (both the bikers and the townsfolk) are indeed "loveless", living without drive, detachedly picking up cheap kicks wherever they can. I really enjoyed watching this stylish, elegiac film.

They ride fast and live dirty and cool, that could be a tagline for The Loveless. The characters in this biker gang, who are actually relatively peaceful compared to the people in The Wild One (they aren't that rebellious, but just enough to make an impression), and just want to chill in a small not-quite town until they can go down to Daytona for a big race. But there isn't much to do in terms of hanging out. Sure, they can work on their rides in a local garage, and sure Willem Dafoe's Vance has a ladies-man charm that is uncanny (or just, you know, 'bad boy' style, as we see in an opening scene where he helps an older woman with a flat tire), and sure there's a night of revelry in a bar. But these guys aren't looking too much for trouble, relatively. It's more about how they just want to drink some good booze, listen to their rock and roll, and unfortunately get harassed by rednecks who think their Commies.

I can't really say for Monty Montgomery, as he directed this as his first feature and then went off into producing (save maybe for the connection to Wild at Heart), but as Kathryn Bigelow's first film as co- director it shows so much promise for the rest of her career. And intriguingly it's not quite like her other movies. It's inspired by some of the Wild One, some rock and roll, but in its look and melodramatic shades such as with the girl Vance hooks up with it's akin to Douglas Sirk. It's visual sheen is very 1950's, and it's got guys on bikes who are looking for a good time, and all the actors are cast spot on. Fun to watch as well is one of the bikers played by Robert Gordon, a Rockabilly legend. But it's Bigelow's vision that makes it unique, and perhaps Montgomery's affinity for 50's low-down road culture.

It's hard to pin-point what makes the movie interesting since, frankly, not a whole lot happens. There's the romantic fling Vance has with the girl- a scenario shot with loving close-ups to the girl and a fine look to the motel bed scenes- and there's some doing with the sub-plot of the redneck dudes looking to beat some biker ass. But the tone is what counts here, and what may actually turn off some viewers. There isn't a lot of 'plot' and in some ways, more than any other Bigelow film, resembles a European piece that concerns itself with how these guys move, react, listen to the music (and there's a lot, a close second to American Graffiti in terms of amount of 50's rock tunes, this less recognizable but still as meaningful), and get drunk in a bar with what looks like 100 bottles on a table.

What it comes down to in The Loveless is you can either take the figurative ride with these guys just hanging out, or not. I did, and it was enjoyable once it got me in its grasp. It's never boring though; you always are a little on edge that something *could* happen, and when it does (i.e. the confrontation between the girl's father and Vance) that it reaches a dramatic peak, or of course with the violent climax that could be an homage to Peckinpah. It's just a different kind of biker movie, less concerned with action and more about what it was like to be these guys, or be around them, in a sleepy nothing-town in the mid 50's. If Antonioni made a biker movie and had to have a soundtrack of wall-to-wall rockabilly, it might be this.

"The Loveless" was Kathryn Bigelow's feature film debut, (she co-wrote and co-directed it with Monty Montgomery). It's a very self-conscious homage to both "The Wild One", with Willem Dafoe in the Brando role, (it also marked Dafoe's 'official' debut), and Kenneth Anger's "Scorpio Rising" shot in the garish colors of the kind of fifties' melodramas that Douglas Sirk might have made. It's got a very rough and ready feel to it and the script and the acting leave a lot to be desired but it looks great, (Bigelow was a painter before going into movies), and it has a great soundtrack. Hardly anything happens and it might have worked better as a short but at 82 minutes it never outstays its welcome and is worth catching.