Death Riders

This is a fairly early effort in feature length documentary film-making. It focuses on the daredevil travelling show called the Death Riders who perform all manner of dangerous stunts mostly with motorbikes and cars. They jump over lines of people, crash cars, drive through fires and even lie in enclosed wooden boxes that are blown up with dynamite in a stunt known as the human bomb.

These daredevils are all very young guys who are in their teens or early twenties. While the documentary follows them around, we really learn very little about the motivations of the individual riders. They mostly come across as fairly monosyllabic and reticent of saying very much. Nothing wrong with any of that, as they are young boys and their actions speak considerably louder than words but it's possibly a sign of the low tech nature of this film that little attempt was made to get their inner thoughts. The stunts themselves are obviously pretty dangerous, with little safety measures in place really; the film actually begins by naming various daredevils who died attempting the stunts the Death Riders carry out. In the current climate of today where health and safety regulations are taken so seriously, it is very interesting to watch lines of spectators being allowed to volunteer to be obstacles for the riders to jump over on their bikes! So, it's pretty obvious that this whole culture is from a bygone era and can now be viewed pretty much a sunny time capsule nowadays, a show that simply could not be allowed to exist anymore.

Its very rawness and low key nature does mean that we don't see as much as we would probably like and it seems a bit haphazardly constructed a lot of the time. Yet it does capture a certain feeling of a time and place and that is rather a good thing. It's probably one as much for those with an interest in the 70's as it is for fans of bike or car stunts.

The director of photography for this film was Vilmos Zsigmond. The photography of the film is one of its strongest points. It hardly represents the work of an amateur "learning on the job". The lack of multiple cameras is most likely a result of budget constraints. This film is worthy in many respects. The time capsule aspect, the photography, and the place it sits in the history of documentary film making. It is interesting to know that the same director of photography shot both Sugarland Express and Close Encounters of the Third Kind. The human bomb act is especially interesting in the light of modern times. Just thirty years ago people were blowing themselves up for entertainment. The addition of car bombs and suicide bombers in current society adds to the dating of this film. This film is also reminiscent of Endless Summer.

Summer on the road with The Death Riders, a group of motorcycle and car daredevils. The group is made up of guys in their late teens and early twenties. They travel around in vans and cars going from state fair to state fair and race track to race track. They jump motorcycles, jump and crash cars, drive through burning tunnels, blow themselves up with dynamite and do assorted other stunts.

This is an interesting look at a brand of entertainment thats pretty much gone the way of the wind. Not so long ago automotive thrill shows used to criss cross the US doing wild stunts and providing an evening or afternoons entertainment, usually in conjunction to the state fair or as part of an evenings program of races. But as safety and insurance concerns grew and the places where you could put on these type of shows diminished they disappeared or changed into something else. If you've ever wanted an idea of what it was like to barnstorm the country this film will give you some idea.

To be honest time has not been kind to this film. The one or two camera set ups used often miss a great deal, one crash in the hometown of one of the Riders is not caught on film because the camera was covering the crowd, in particular the grandmother of the one who crashed. We watch as she becomes so upset paramedics have to be called in. At other times the night time filming obscures a good deal of the action. Things get better as the film goes on so its as if the film makers were learning on the job, however it makes some of the early parts of this film slow going. There are other problems, the Riders tend to blend together and the music, while good, never allows for any excitement to creep into the proceedings.

Still this is an interesting time capsule of days "long" gone. Anyone interested in racing or motor sports will get a good look at how safety has changed over the years, and how there really was no safe distance between the track and the crowd.The safety equipment for the riders is non-existent. Many of the stunts, such as the people jump, will probably not be done again with such a care free attitude. Its amazing how times have changed.

No, this is not a great film, its probably only barely a good one. Certainly if you're looking for just spills and chills and stunts its very disappointing, however if you can accept that this is a time capsule of days gone by, made by guys who had nothing even remotely high tech or flashy, then you will probably enjoy yourself for the hour and a half or so that the film runs.