The first "biker" movie to click with the public was "The Wild One" starring Marlon Brando in one of his most iconic roles. Released in 1953, the film set the template for the biker films that would follow: the motorcycle gang was rebellious and sometimes violent. They ignored laws and looked on young women as prey. But the script would usually provide a sympathetic side to them, as well, just so the audience didn't find itself cheering for protagonists who were irredeemable cretins. Despite the success of "The Wild One", it took until 1966 for the next major biker movie to emerge with the release of Roger Corman's "The Wild Angels". The success of that film shocked the movie industry and before long studios were churning out low-budget copycat productions. Most were crudely made and instantly dispensable but one of them, "The Born Losers", would introduce the character of Billy Jack, played by Tom Laughlin, who took on a gang of cutthroat bikers. Dennis Hopper's "Easy Rider" became a landmark film in 1969 but it was unique in that it centered on two individual bikers and didn't involve the traditional Hell's Angels clones. The biker movie fad was popular and profitable but by the early 1970s it had already pretty much burned out. One of the last films in the genre, "J.C.", was unknown to me until a screener copy turned up. The film was the brainchild of one William McGaha, who I was equally unfamiliar with. McGaha, who obviously thought of himself as the Orson Welles of the dying biker film cycle, directed, produced, wrote and starred in the film. What emerged was one of the most bizarre biker films imaginable.
McGaha plays the title character J.C., a troubled young man who is trying to live down the shame of his father having been a fanatical preacher. There are instant analogies to Jesus Christ aside from his initials. He is an avid biker who has a group of dedicated followers who he regards as his disciples. Get it? When we first see him, he's working as a carpenter until he quits the job after being bullied by a hippie-hating foreman. In some reviews of the film, it has been speculated that he's supposed to be Jesus Christ himself reincarnated as a hippie. I don't recall that being spelled out specifically and besides, those who believe in Jesus Christ being the son of God would find it difficult to fathom that a man who would willfully endure the horrors of crucifixion would, in his modern guise, throw in the towel on his profession because his boss tossed a few insults his way. Early in the film, J.C. announces that he suddenly has a desire to visit his small hometown in Georgia with the intention of seeing his estranged sister, Miriam (Joanna Moore). As J.C. was despised by the redneck townspeople many years ago, he's advised that the visit will be ill-fated. However, during a drug-fueled hallucinogenic "trip", he announces that God has spoken to him and he is an all-knowing prophet. That's all it takes for the disciples to follow him on his dramatic bike journey home. At first, things go well and J.C. enjoys catching up with his sister. But pretty soon, the town's bigoted sheriff (Slim Pickens) and his deputy (Burr DeBenning) decide to show those hippies they aren't welcome in a traditional "family values" community of racists. They arrest a black member of the gang, David (Hannibal Penney) on a trumped-up drug charge and beat him to a pulp while he is in jail. When word gets to J.C. that a committee of good citizens intends to lynch David, he rallies his disciples like John Wayne did his ranch hands in "Chisum'" and they engage the locals in a battle royale.
By any measure, "J.C." is an unsatisfying film. The cinematography and editing are erratic and the script is choppy and episodic. But for all its flaws, you have to admire the fact that McGaha got the movie made despite having only two even more obscure films to his credit. He shot largely on location, eschewing studio sets for obvious budget reasons. It would be easy to mock his efforts, but I have great admiration for aspiring filmmakers from the pre-digital era in which shooting even a low-budget movie required financing clunky equipment and expensive film stock that left precious few opportunities for retakes. As an actor, McGaha is adequate at best but he does get a terrific performance from Slim Pickens in a refreshingly non-comedic role. Equally good are Hannibal Penney and Burr DeBenning, especially in a tense jailhouse discussion in which the tortured man and his torturer almost reach a level of humanity between them. McGaha's budgetary problems are all-too-apparent in the climax of the film when action scenes are cut abruptly and the lack of coverage makes it appear as though he barely had enough film stock to complete the scene.
The Kino Lorber transfer is as good as one could expect, given the surviving elements it was mastered from. The bonus extras consist of the trailer and an assortment of trailers for other KL releases.
"J.C" is not a film that merits a recommendation, but it is one I have to admire for simply never being as bad as I had expected. For that, Bill McGaha (who seems to have vanished from society) deserves praise. If he is still alive and well, I hope he enjoys seeing his film get the Blu-ray treatment. (An amusing aspect of the movie's packaging is the use of the original poster art that proclaimed "J.C. and his disciples were a gang of broads, bikes and blacks", which was obviously meant as an inclusive message in 1972.)