Hells Angels Forever

Having seen at least 50 biker movies in my life, I find it encouraging that the real Hell's Angels seem uglier, fatter, hairier, drunker and more violent than their movie counterparts. Well, maybe not more violent, the documentary kind of skirts around that part. But drunker, fatter and hairier for sure! The focus switches between a New York City chapter and random California ones frequently, which is a little confusing, but otherwise it's a real interesting first hand look at the Angels at play (they're constantly partying) and talking about their way of life, interspersed with bits on the club's history and the unsuccessful racketeering charges the federal government tried to pin on them several times in the late 70s. Also of note is footage of Hell's Angels-sponsored performances by The Jerry Garcia Band, Bo Diddley, Elephant's Memory, Willie Nelson and lesser-knowns. Well worth the watch if you're interested in the Angels and can track this down.

The Hells Angels rose to national prominence in the mid-1960s, due in large part to Hunter Thompson's reporting on the club in The Nation, which he later expanded into the book that made him famous. What followed was a deluge of negative press, police harassment, and God knows how many cheap biker exploitation movies (most with some variation on the club's name, i.e.: Satan's Angels and such) that cast bikers - all of us - in the worst possible light. By the 1980s the Angels were reportedly fed up with all that, so when NYC chapter president Sandy Alexander suggested telling the club's side of the story, his brothers got on board.

The result is not high art, but it is an interesting slice-of-life look at a subculture a lot of people only THINK they know about, and a valuable historical resource for those interested in understanding this authentically and unabashedly American subculture. Not that it's to be taken as gospel, but anyone with even a passing interest in the subject would do well to see this film.

And it must be noted that, in spite of the fact that this is a propaganda piece, the Angels, to their credit, did not shy away from some of the grittier aspects of their brotherhood and lifestyle. I'm thinking of the prominent face time given to club spokesmen like Vinny (RIP), who didn't exactly come across as goodwill ambassador to the world, or the interview with Jerry Garcia and his "violent spaces" remark. The Angels could have cut all of that and presented a squeaky-clean image of themselves. They chose not to, and I say "Good on 'em!"

And while the film suffers technical faults - poor-quality audio in places, and jittery hand-held cameras - it's actually fairly well made. It has a pretty good soundtrack and some great footage of the club on the road, partying, hanging out at the annual Laconia NH rally and such. It's a documentary, but it's also entertaining. I'm glad I have my copy - a passing fair transfer of the original VHS - but I'd love to see the film properly released on DVD, and I bet I'm not alone in that.

This movie was the hilariously inept attempt at "good P. R" from the Hells Angels MC, at a time when the club's president was facing a potentially heavy prison sentence, for a yet-to-be-determined laundry-list of criminal charges.

You can see that the director was TRYING to paint a positive (or at least, not TOO negative) picture of HAMC... but the Angels don't make that easy... Generally, they come off as habitually-violent thugs, indignant that they're expected to obey the same laws as the rest of us. Even in this (incompetently) white-washed version of HAMC, we see wife-beating, violence, strong implications of rape, and worse.

That said, although the HAMC are undoubtedly faaaaar from innocent, they also seem to be a magnet for drama- I wouldn't question that, in between the legitimate charges, there very likely HAVE been trumped-up charges levelled against HAMC. And both in the movie, and in real life, I've seen how wannabe tough guys love starting trouble with HA's and other 1%ers (which rarely ends well, for them). Buy hey, play stupid games, win stupid prizes, right? You go around talking about what a super-duper-bad-ass you are, and fly a patch that's basically a neon sign sayng "look at me!!", you can't complain, when you GET the attention you're asking for, can you?

But the timing of this movie was probably fairly good, really- The early 80s was the tail-end of the era when most Angels were still young enough to ride choppers and raise hell- If it was made 15 or 20 years later, you'd have a bunch of retirement-age guys, on stock bikes with big, cushy seats reminiscing about the era from the 60s to early 80s.

This documentary is about those famous soft lads, the Hells Angels. It's a fairly biased doc in fairness and paints the Angels a little bit better than I am sure they are in reality. That said, most of them still came across like violent, half-witted, misogynistic fascists; so, on second thoughts, maybe the film wasn't TOO prejudiced in their favour. If you fancy checking out a doc about hairy half-wits and 'Poison: Behind the Music' is unavailable, then this could be the film for you.

The highlight of this movie for me was an interview w/ Jerry Garcia. The interviewer asks Garcia if he was afraid of the Angels, and Garcia replies that he was. The interviewer then asks Garcia what the attraction was - and Garcia replies with a Smile - "They're really good in all the violent spaces."

It's interesting to note that Garcia personally put up a large portion of the money to help make this movie happen.

I had read Hunter Thompson's excellent book on the Hells Angels prior to watching this movie, which I think may have filled in some blank spots.

It's not a well-made film, but it is Well Done. If you've ever been curious about what Real Hell's Angels were like - this is a good way to start finding out without risking much.