BY TODD GARBARINI
The
1960s and 1970s had their share of genre films that were popular with
audiences. One of the most prolific was the biker film which, along with the horror
film, were showcased to many audiences through the beloved and nearly extinct
drive-in theatres. The genre reached a level of respectability in 1969 with the
release of Dennis Hopper’s Easy Rider which played at the Cannes Film
Festival and went on to gross an estimated 160 times its production budget of
$375,000. Little wonder why producers and filmmakers alike jumped on the biker
film bandwagon. Easy Rider helped put Jack Nicholson on the map
following his appearances in Richard Rush’s Hell’s Angels on Wheels
(1967) and the then-forthcoming The Rebel Rousers (1970) by Martin B.
Cohen.
Lee
Madden’s 1970 outing Angel Unchained came on the heels, or tires if you
will, of Easy Rider and tells a familiar story that dates back many
years, wherein one group helps a second group fight a third group when the
third group makes it known that they don’t like the second group. It’s a
familiar theme that was used to similar effect eleven years later in George
Miller’s 1981 futuristic action film The Road Warrior when the titular
hero, in desperate need of the now difficult-to-come-by gasoline, agrees to
help a group of oil refiners fight against a hostile band of marauders who want
their digs. The proverbial message of Angel Unchained is “Live and let live.â€
Angel, played with characteristic aplomb by Don Stroud, is in his mid-thirties
and is tired of being a rebel-rousing biker following a brutal fight inside an
amusement park. As part of the Exiles MC (short of “motorcycle clubâ€), he wants
to go off on his own and do his own thing, whatever that thing might be. Peacefully
relinquishing his colors to Pilot (Larry Bishop) he successfully leaves the
club and, while stopping for gas, encounters a group of hippies who are told by
the gas station attendant that the station is closed. Sensing disdain for the
hippies, he follows them to their commune and gravitates to Merilee (Tyne Daly mistakenly
wearing a tablecloth for a dress) and starts up a kinda-sorta relationship with
her. It turns out that the gas station thugs headed up by Tom (Jordan Rhodes) and Dave (Peter
Lawrence) don’t take nicely to the hippies and want them off the land,
threatening them with a fight if they don’t leave.
Prodded
into action by a member of the commune, Angel returns to his MC to ask his
former fellow riders to help him fight the thugs on behalf of the hippie
commune members who are, unfortunately, pacifists. They begrudgingly go along
with Angel who introduces them to the commune and what could have been a
serious and introspective look at interpersonal relationships and how factions
and group dynamics operate for a common goal instead becomes an excuse to show
off lots of destructive and adolescent-like behavior and a set piece that
includes, of all things, a battle on dune buggies!
Had
the film been placed in the hands of Monte Hellman this might have been an
existential under-the-microscope look at a drifter meandering around pondering
the meaning of life and trying to figure out what to do next, but his thoughts
and feelings are back-burnered for the ritualistic violence that takes place as
a result of the segue to the storyline dealing with the fighting factions. The
film has a tragic ending that makes the audience wonder if this hippie commune
lifestyle is worth it. Let’s be honest, however; despite any ambitions the
script purports to offer, this is a biker film, one that rises above most
others in strict entertainment value. Bill McKinney is always a joy to watch
and here he’s a dude having a tough time keeping his libido in check. Unfortunately
for Ned Beatty, Mr. McKinney would have the same problem with him in
John Boorman’s Deliverance two years later! Yikes! Another biker looks
like the winner of the Bob Ross Look-a-like Contest. Some of the film takes
place at night and it looks like it was shot day-for-night, which is not
unusual for a film on a low budget and fast-paced shooting schedule.
Scorpion
Releasing has offered up the movie on Blu-ray and the transfer is sourced from
a theatrical print. The image is in very good condition and doesn’t suffer from
the sort of print fade and banged up condition one would associate with a
drive-in print. There are speckles and some wear and tear and reel change cues,
but in a way, this gives it the feel of a drive-in experience.
The
extras on this disc are minimal and consist of:
An
interview with Jordan Rhodes, the actor who plays Tom in the film, who bears a
slight resemblance to Dennis Weaver in Steven Spielberg’s Duel (1971). The
interview runs about 14 minutes. Mr. Rhodes is engaging and discusses the
necessity of leaving the confines of Baltimore for New York and then Los
Angeles in order to try and obtain work for television and film, respectively. He
also describes: locking horns with Larry Bishop as they were both vying for the
affections of a female member of the cast; an accident involving Don Stroud;
and the intense heat of working in Arizona. I’ve been there and 102 degrees in
the shade isn’t fun for the uninitiated.
An
interview with actor Larry Bishop which runs just shy of 16 minutes. Mr. Bishop
talks about how he managed to get into the film business, scoring a six-film
deal(!) with American International Pictures (A.I.P.). This is almost on the
level of the deal that the late Sid Sheinberg made with Steven Spielberg in the
early 1970’s. He also mentions how real bikers were cast in the film and the
camaraderie that he had with the cast.
Last
of all is the requisite theatrical trailer which lasts just over two minutes.
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