OUT NOW FOR 2004! The Motorcycle Diaries
(based on Che Guevera's book of the same name)

4/5... subtle, funny and touching. - Film Threat 5/5... this is serious fun and one of the best movies of 2004. - BBC Films It should be made mandatory viewing in places low and high. - Film Journal Int'l 3/4... beautifully filmed and leisurely... - New York Daily News a mildly stirring coming-of-age drama… - filmcritic.com 4/4... One of the year's best. - New York Post

THE WILD ONE (1954)
Cast: Marlon Brando, Mary Murphy, Robert Keith, Lee Marvin
Director: Laslo Benedek
Length: 79 minutes

"Based on an actual event that took place in Hollister, California, The Wild One is THE classic cycle flick. After being thrown out of a motorcycle race, Brando and is gang 'invade' a small town, drink beer and stage their own impromptu event. Brando has eyes for a local beauty (Mary Murphy) who turns out to be the local cop's daughter, and things really deteriorate when Lee Marvin and his rival gang show up in the same town. "What are you rebelling against?" asks Mary Murphy. "What've you got?" responds surly, leather-jacketed motorcycle punk Marlon Brando.
It comes as a disappointment to discover that The Wild One, the quintessential Brando "rebel" film, is at base a traditional "misunderstood youth vs. the nasty system" effort, with a particularly banal finale. Based on a true incident, the film begins with Brando and his motorcyle gang invading a small town after having been kicked out of a cycle competition (but not before stealing the second-prize trophy). Brando's bikers raise hell all day, but some of the townsfolk are shown to be little better than the invaders. Sheriff Robert Keith, whose daughter (Murphy) has gone fond of Brando, finally responds to the bikers' destructiveness by jailing Lee Marvin, leader of a rival gang. When Marvin's buddies goes on a rampage, Brando exhibits his essential decency by safely escorting the sheriff's daughter out of the melee. The townsfolk misunderstand, assuming that Brando intends to rape the girl. He is attacked by a vigilante mob led by town hothead Ray Teal, who uses this excuse to exercise his own sadistic tendencies. Keith breaks up the mob and suggests that Brando leave; he tries to do so, but another angry response from the mob causes him to inadvertently strike and kill a pedestrian. At the subsequent hearing, the girl rushes to Brando's defense. Though grateful for the unexpected kindness, Brando is constitutionally unable to say "thank you" and rides out of town alone. The image of Marlon Brando astride his Triumph has entered movie folklore, just like King Kong on the Empire State Building or the billow-skirted Marilyn Monroe standing over a subway grating; it's too bad that The Wild One isn't a more worthy vehicle for Brando's talents." ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

As should be obvious by its title, Teenage Devil Dolls is a low-budget, low-grade exploitationer designed for a quick turnover in the grindhouse circuit. Devils they are, dolls not quite, and teenagers not at all. Innocent Barbara Marks begins the downhill slide when a city slicker turns her on to the evil marijuana weed, which of course leads to harder stuff. She ultimately ends up on the streets, selling her body to support her habit. The male lead in Teenage Devil Dolls is Bramlef L. Price Jr.; the director is B. Lawrence Price. Coincidence? We don't think so. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Drug abuse is not funny and this mid '50s melodrama does not want the audience to forget that for a minute as it tells the low-budget exploitative tale of a good girl gone bad. Her downward spiral started with a single puff on a marijuana cigarette. From there it was pills and after that it was only a matter of time before she began injecting heroin. Fully addicted, her life became a lurid nightmare as she struggled constantly to maintain the "high" her body craved. Even accidents and hospitalization cannot stop the mad demon inside and soon she becomes a dealer. It is only after the police capture her that she is forced to get the monkey off her back and start upon a new, more productive life. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

MOTORCYCLE GANG (1957)
Cast: Anne Neyland, John Ashley, Raymond Hatton, Carl "Alfalfa" Switzer
Directed by Edward L. Cahn
Length: 1 hour 18 minutes

Description: The "Skyriders" motorcycle gang are charging up to win club titles at the Pacific motorcycle championships, and Randy has a one-cylinder mind geared to take home the cup - until his old rival Nick rides back into town.

Motorcycle Gang opens with chicks on bikes! Wow! That's a plus. And being chased by cops. Even better! Old Triumphs and a BSA to boot race through the dusty backroads of California, climbing steep hills and spewing dirt, outrunning the boys in blue. The excited and dust-covered gang of youths convene in the brush to chat after their getaway, despite one spill by character Terry, who is new in town. She brushes herself off and spits out words of fire at Randy who is trying too hard. The cheesy "speed" lingo (think a rip-off of cockney slang) and painful one-line zingers ("You have a one-cylinder mind!") flung this movie into the b-movie bin pretty fast and made me almost reach for the mute button. But it still had charm. And cool helmets. And chicks on bikes! Terry (played by Anne Neyland, Jailhouse Rock) is a biker babe in town for the summer and plans to ruffle a few feathers (ahem, guys) after checking out the town's newly formed chartered bike club, the Skyriders. Nick (oh-so-dreamy teen throb John Ashley), the rebel just outta jail, comes back and tries to shake up a few things himself, mainly Randy the geeked-out now law-abiding club member. Nick tries to get Randy's goat (so he breaks his probation and gets booted from the Skyriders). These two have a history in the past involving a mysterious deadly accident... and both get involved with flirtaceous, curvaceous Terry.

The Skyriders club is run by a lieutenant cop named Watson trying to change the image of a biker. Their club meeting lasts all of a minute (unlike BIA meetings, right?). Then they dance. And fight. Or was it the other way round? The best and funniest parts that save this movie from the total Juvenile Delinquent genre come from former child actor Alfalfa (aka Carl Switzer) as Speed, a jumpy jive-talking jokester. This was his second to last movie before he was shot to death over $50 and a dog... but I digress.

From 4alfalfa.com:
Most commentators and film historians categorize Motorcycle Gang as a prototypical fifties teenage exploitation film (even though it is clear that the film's stars have been graduated from high school for years). But despite some rear-screen projection effects that are quite possibly the least convincing in the history of the cinema, Motorcycle Gang is never so bad as to be offensive or insulting. Dramatically, the film is fairly well-organized, of its kind. It reminds us of an episode of "Dragnet 1967", with its economical dialogue and the no-nonsense attitude of Lieutenant Watson. In one of the film's early scenes, a regular meeting of Alfalfa's club is being held (Randy, who has just become acquainted with Terry, invites her to come; a skeptical Terry derisively refers to the meeting as one of those "organized klatches"). During the meeting, Lieutenant Watson begins discussing the upcoming Regionals race, when Nick - who has been kind enough to invite himself to the meeting for no other reason but to make trouble - starts mouthing off about all the new rules and regulations. This burns Watson's bacon, and he tells Nick off in front of the whole club:
Watson: He [Rogers] wants the good old days back again, when every kid on a motorcycle was looked on as a criminal with a loaded gun. And it was - he should know that! You know why he really liked things as they were? Because you let him throw his weight around, be a somebody...he's nowhere, and he knows he's nowhere in this kind of setup!
Rogers [gets up, angry]: You and your cop psychology!

Most of the movie is occupied with Terry running back and forth between Randy and Nick, Mr. Good and Mr. Evil respectively. In a gutsy feminist statement (well, at least for the 50's) she declares herself single and free; then wrestles with Nick as he attempts to shove his tongue down her throat. She flirts, she pouts, she feels guilty after causing a major accident on a dare. The chicks prove equals to the guys as they double-dog dare each other one afternoon in the warm California sun racing their Triumphs and such, doing a sort of "Simon Says". So there is quite a lot of screen time of roaring Triumphs, even brawling fellows bashing each other INTO Triumphs. Those parts made me wince.

But our squeaky-blonde do-gooder hero Randy manages to survive the crash that Nick tricked him into doing (a headlong drop into a ravine with his Triumph landing on top of him!), and quickly heals (as so does his bike!) and after a charter-altering club meeting, makes it to the big race. (As Shawn pointed out, "how the hell could this guy win a race on a single?")

Nick, still whining from being tossed out of the social circle, shows up at the Regionals anyway and Randy, that nice guy, lets Nick race along with him just for kicks. Sheesh. Lots of nice shots of what seems to be a real race through the dirt and hills of California. Anyway, Nick tries to bump Randy off his bike and then takes his gang of ruffians and gets hammered and terrifies a town of about 5 people. The biker cop Watson overhears of the trouble on his radio and they leave the race to round up Nick and stop their motorcycle bad-boy mentality from spreading. Back at the clubhouse, Randy sadly celebrates his "victory" (he lost the race but gained respect!) and Terry finally chooses good over evil. Alfalfa's character Speed gets whacked in the face with a pie and says "Frapta-gooched again!" which left me dumbfounded and confused. Fade to "The End".

What? That's it? All that preachin' and no truly happy ending? No trophy raised high into the air? All in all, there's lots of nice black and white action of classic bikes and some bike shop talk (a biker babe declares she has problems with her clutch plates, watch the men go running!) and it's good to see a motorcycle flick with positive messages. The D.A. greasy hair, the leather jackets and the pointy bras definitely give the film a time-capsule look into the "biker" past.

But what I want to know is how they keep their hair so immaculate after riding through the dirt and wearing a helmet? ~ Reviewed by Hopey

Nick, a troublemaker recently released from jail, returns home only to find his old tearaway pals have joined a supervised motorcycle club. Friction erupts between him and the new leader. They decide to sort out their differences in a clandestine race. Fuelled by their rivalry over the gang and the charms of gang moll Terry, the race is run, with near disastrous results. - nbdtv.com

THE LEATHER BOYS (1963) - NOW ON DVD!
U.K. Bold and engaging film. Decadent motorcycle clubs in '60s England. Sexual frankness and harsh realism. Rita Tushingham, Colin Campbell, Dudley Sutton, Gladys Henson, Avice Landone, Betty Marsden. And LOTS of Triumphs!!! The Ace Café! Decent acting!

"Dot (Rita Tushingham) is a girl who marries motorcycle maven Reggie (Colin Campbell) to escape her parents' influence. The marriage gets off to a rocky start and completely slides downhill after the honeymoon is plagued by bad weather. Dot refuses to have anything to do with household responsibilities and cooks only canned beans. Reggie loses interest in sex with Dot because of her actions, and after moving in with his grandmother, he begins to hang around Pete (Dudley Sutton). The two friends ride their motorcycles and begin to spend even more time together, and eventually Reggie realizes that Pete is a homosexual. Dot tells Reggie she is pregnant in an attempt to get him back - with no result, but when Reggie comes home to find his wife in bed with another man, he decides to go off to sea with Pete. Pete leaves Reggie shaken and alone when he goes off with a group of sailors out to satisfy their same-sex lust. The film was controversial at the time of it's initial release." ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide

THE CYCLE SAVAGES (1969)
Cast: Bruce Dern, Chris Robinson, Melody Patterson
Director: Bill Brame
Running Time: 82 minutes
Film editor Bill Brame directed this violent biker film featuring an intense performance by Bruce Dern as Keeg, the sadistic leader of a vicious gang of cyclists. When Keeg's girlfriend Lea (Melody Patterson) poses nude for an artist named Romko (Chris Robinson), the hooligan goes on a drunken rampage and rips up Romko's sketches, beating the artist severely. Later, Romko retaliates with some beatings of his own, leading to a grisly scene of revenge in which the artist's hands are slowly crushed in a metal vise. Brame's quickly paced film also includes the requisite drugged orgies and a gang-rape. Genre veterans Gary Littlejohn, Scott Brady, and Steve Brodie also appear in this brutal exploitation entry, which is fairly well-cast save for co-executive producer Casey Kasem's notion that he could be believable as Bruce Dern's brother. Trivia buffs should note that Kasem appeared in Brame's Free Grass the same year, and that his production partner for this film was California Lt. Gov. Mike Curb, who went on to lead the musical Mike Curb Congregation. ~ Robert Firsching, All Movie Guide

THE GREAT ESCAPE (1969)
Cast: Steve McQueen, James Garner, Richard Attenborough, Charles Bronson, James Coburn
Director: John Sturges
Running Time: 170 minutes

The Great Escape is based on the true story of a group of Allied prisoners of war who managed to escape from an allegedly impenetrable Nazi prison camp during World War II. At the beginning of the film, the Nazis gather all their most devious and troublesome POWs and place them at a new prison camp, which was designed to be impervious to escapes. Immediately, the prisoners develop a scheme where they will leave the camp by building three separate escape tunnels. Richard Attenborough is the British soldier who masterminds the whole plan, and who commands his motley squad - featuring Charles Bronson as a Polish trench-digging expert, James Garner as an American with a talent for theft, Donald Pleasence as a masterful forger, and Steve McQueen as an American rebel - through the construction of the tunnels and, eventually, their escape. An epic adventure film, The Great Escape runs nearly three hours, featuring a rousing Elmer Bernstein score and exciting action sequences - including a notorious motorcycle chase between McQueen and the Nazis - the likes of which had never been seen before in Hollywood productions. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine, All Movie Guide

C.C. AND COMPANY (a.k.a. CHROME HEARTS) (1970)
Immensely popular biker flick featuring Joe Namath, Ann-Margret, Sid Haig and William Smith. Color.

C.C. Ryder (Joe Namath) is a biker who rescues Ann McCalley (Ann-Margret) from a rape attempt by a gang of malevolent hippies. She makes love with him to show her appreciation, but their romance meets with obstacles when gang-leader Moon (William Smith) seeks revenge for C.C.'s interference. They battle for control over both the gang and Ann in this truly bad biker movie. Namath was chosen because of his hero status as a football player in the 1970 Super-Bowl upset by the New York Jets over the highly favored Baltimore Colts. Brash Broadway Joe predicted a win and made sure it was not an idle boast. One of the producers of this dog was Margret's husband Roger Smith which explains her appearance in this forgettable film. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide

C.C. Ryder - an honest grease monkey (played with "aw-shucks" good-naturedness by Joe Namath) - is thrust into the rapacious, swarthy world of hog-riding when he joins hell-bound biker gang "The Heads". Shortly after his induction into the sleazy club, he averts the gang rape of Ann McCalley (Ann-Margaret), a fashion reporter sent to cover a motor sports event. Ann and C.C. are on their way to falling madly in love, much to the chagrin of "Heads" leader, Moon (William Smith). Mayhem and an adrenaline-pumping, high-stakes race across the desert ensue. ~ www.rottentomatoes.com

I thought it was pretty bad, myself. ~ submitted by Dave Harrison

MAD MAX (1979)
Cast: Mel Gibson, Joanne Samuel, Hugh Keays-Byme
"This stunning, post-apocalyptic action thriller from director George Miller stars Mel Gibson as Max Rockatansky, a motorcycle policeman in the near future who is tired of his job. Since the apocalypse, the lengthy, desolate stretches of highway in the Australian outback have become bloodstained battlegrounds. Max has seen too many innocents and fellow officers murdered by the bomb's savage offspring, bestial marauding bikers for whom killing, rape, and looting is a way of life. He just wants to retire and spend time with his wife and son but lets his boss talk him into taking a peaceful vacation and starts to reconsider. Then his world is shattered as a gang led by the evil Toecutter (Hugh Keays-Byrne) murders his family in retaliation for the death of one of its members. Dead inside, Max straps on his helmet and climbs into a souped-up V-8 racing machine to seek his bloody revenge. Despite an obviously low budget and a plot reminiscent of many spaghetti westerns, Mad Max is tremendously exciting, thanks to some of the most spectacular road stunts ever put on film. Cinematographer David Eggby and stunt coordinator Grant Page did some of their best work under Miller's direction, and crafted a gritty, gripping thrill ride which spawned two sequels, numerous imitations, and made Mel Gibson an international star. One sequence, in which a man is chained to a car and must cut off a limb before the machine explodes is one of the most tense scenes of the decade. The American version dubbed all the voices - including Gibson's - in a particularly cartoonish manner. Trivia buffs should note that Max's car is a 1973 Ford Falcon GT Coupe with a 300bhp 351C V-8 engine, customized with the front end of a Ford Fairmont and other modifications." ~ Robert Firsching, All Movie Guide

This movie was made in Australia over 22 years ago on a shoe string budget with no name actors and sets stolen from road side stores. Who would have thought it would hold up this well over this amount of time? Yep, this movie was the launching point for careers such as Mel Gibson, put Australia on the map in the world of movie making and did some things on the screen that nobody dared to do anywhere else. The car and motorcycle chase scenes were all done at high speeds (just look at the speedo on Goose's bike when he's flying down the highway after he gets laid). The amount of violence was amazing and they even put a little kid out in the middle of a road and had cars narrowly missing him at over 100 miles per hour! And lets not forget the scene where Max's wife Jessie (Joanne Samuel) and their baby are run over by motorcycles and killed. Yep, this was a pretty graphic movie in it's time and still is. How many times have you seen it over the years and still find yourself fixated when it's on? I know, you've seen it dozens of times right? Ya right. But now we have a version available on DVD that's never been seen here in the states before. What's so special about this new version you ask? The soundtrack, yes, it's the original soundtrack with all the voices and sounds that we've always expected and dreamed of. That familiar face of Mel Gibson is now matched to the voice we are so accustomed to hearing and the sharp cracks of the exhaust on the police interceptors and bikes are just breath taking. Now hold on, don't get all fussy about my excitement over the soundtrack. I don't expect everyone to agree with me. I mean it's only a movie right? True enough but if you are really a movie fan and appreciate this movie like I do, then you also feel the injustice that I've felt for 20 plus years of terrible audio. Now the movie is complete and can be viewed like it was intended. I swear this is a new movie now... It's a must see again with the sound system cranked up. And if you have friends that have never seen it before (shame on them), be a real friend and invite them over to experience Mad Max the way it was intended to be. Just make sure they bring some beer and munchies for you... ~ jackasscritics.com

http://www.madmaxthemovie.com

Modern day version of the Camelot story, directed by George Romero ('Night of the Living Dead'). A group of MC enthusiasts stage medieval style festivals with their bikes, including cycle jousting and more. Starring Ed Harris, Tom Savini and Amy Ingersoll. Watch for Stephen King in a cameo. Color.

Knightriders may well be the only cycle flick ever to be played out in suits of armor. A hardcase motorcycle gang led by Ed Harris has found itself a neat money-making gimmick. Dressed as the knights of the round table, the cyclists pick up a few bucks at local "renaissance" fairs, selling handicrafts made by the more talented members of the gang. Harris' great rival is Tom Savini, who has his own band of "black knights." Keep an eye out for a chucklesome unbilled bit by novelist Stephen King. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

HARLEY (1990)
Lou Diamond Phillips stars as the title character, a Los Angeles motorcycle gang member sent to a Texas ranch for rehabilitation. ~ Jason Ankeny, All Movie Guide

This just makes me giggle... - Hopey

THE HISTORY OF THE HARLEY DAVIDSON (1990)
Running Time: 60 minutes
In 1903, three men put a motor on a bicycle and called it a motorcycle. A century later, the Harley Davidson is an American classic. This documentary, History of the Harley Davidson, traces the history of the company from the early days, when the Davidson brothers and William Harley first began their collaboration, through the 20th century. Along with an interview with Willie G. Davidson, the film also includes footage of Harleys from over the years, as well as several rare models. ~ Matthew Tobey, All Movie Guide

BORN TO RIDE (1991)
John Stamos (!!???!) leads a gang of young bikers against the Nazis during WWII. Color.

Please email me if you've seen this! ~ Hopey