Hells Angels on Wheels

Hell's Angels on Wheels, if you're into the biker genre, is not a second-rate vehicle for its promoters, the Hell's Angels (Sonny Barger, reportedly at the time, said it was the "most accurate" of the films on them). Going by the sort of Roger Corman standard (not just for biker movies but for his brand of 'fast-food' style films, not very good for you but it goes down fast), of a fight or some other form of action happening every 15 minutes or so, the film is hip in its period way, and isn't pretentious in the slightest.

Even with the name of Jack Nicholson's character, Poet, nothing near the intellectual and philosophical realm of Easy Rider comes close (though Nicholson's main scenes are some of the best in the film, more comparable to Five Easy Pieces than the Wild Angels). It's about a guy, Poet, who is a gas station attendant who decides randomly to go along with the Angels. Some of the standard plot stuff happens; the hero's girl flocking to someone 'else'; shenanigans in a small town; beefs with the 'pigs'. Leading along the way, in a sense almost in an unintentional training form for a later triumph, Laszlo Kovacs is the DP and he takes down these images usually in more of a documentary form as they ride around, and there is an added (if of course all in good, violent biker fun) intensity to the fight scenes. Along with Nicholson, his usual brooding, cool self, is Adam Rourke, turning in not a bad performance as the leader of the gang.

Is it trash? Sure. Is it worth watching once? Absolutely, at least if you're curious about/into the period and sub-genre (the music isn't very good, by the way, a sign of what was needed in Easy Rider). Does it give a little room for Nicholson to give a little of his great B-movie gusto? No doubt about it. And is the story paper thin? No doubt about it. Hell's Angels on Wheels is stupid, rollicking good drive-in style fun, with some technical flair and character actor hipness to cover the tracks of the many flaws.

Hell's Angels On Wheels is the movie Hell's Angels president Sonny Barger recommends as the most true to life movie about the Hell's Angels in his autobiography, which is why I decided to rent it and see the movie for myself.

Buddy (Adam Roarke) is the Sonny Barger character of this movie and the leader of that particular chapter of Hell's Angels. The movie starts when Buddy and his crew are passing through a gas station when Poet (Jack Nicholson) gets fired from his job as a gas station attendant.

Eventually, Buddy takes a liking to Poet, after an altercation between Poet and another Angel over his broken headlight, and later when Poet backs Buddy up in a barroom brawl. Pretty soon, they vote Poet in as a prospect and he sees the way of life of the Hell's Angels. Buddy passes him his own woman and takes another from a club member. This seems strange to Poet at first, but he finally gets what is going on and decides he does not like it.

Plotwise, there is not much to this movie. It turns out to be mostly about the girl who gets passed between Buddy and Poet, named Shill (Sabrina Scharf). It is mostly just partying, bike riding and fighting, which I guess is what they are pointing out. Nicholson and Roarke did a great job acting and made the story better than if it would have been had they not been in it. As it is, I only give it about 5.5/10.

'Hells Angels on Wheels' is a surprisingly tough and entertaining b-grade 60s biker movie. Jack Nicholson plays a gas attendant named Poet who becomes involved with some Hells Angels. Their leader Buddy (Adam Roarke) takes a shine to Poet, and Poet is attracted to Buddy's old lady Shill (Sabrina Scharf). Nicholson went on to movie superstardom, Roarke to cult status and an untimely death, and Scharf a bit part in 'Easy Rider' and then a career in politics. Most people will probably watch this to get some cheap laughs out of early Nicholson. He is actually pretty good here, better than the material deserves, but the real star performance in the movie is from the seriously underrated Roarke. Roarke was often the best thing about the sometimes awful movies he had to appear in (see 'Dirty Mary Crazy Larry' for example), and he exudes charisma and intelligence here. Director Richard Rush obviously valued him, as he reteamed him with Nicholson in the hilarious 'Psych-Out' and even gave him a small role in his masterpiece 'The Stunt Man'. 'Hells Angels on Wheels' obviously isn't anywhere near as good as the latter, but it is much better than you'd expect and definitely worth tracking down.

Always like Jack Nicholson and some how missed this picture when he was very young and starting on a great career of acting. For some reason I did not feel like he fit very well in his role as a recruit of the California Hell's Angels. Jack gets roughed up and beaten by a bunch of swabbies in a carnival, who made the fight a Three Against One sort of battle. When his newly acquainted friends of the Hell's Angels find out, an all out war gets into progress. As you can expect, there are plenty of hot to trot sexual gals with the gang who seem to go from one guy to the next in order to please and make them comfortable, no one woman for each guy. However, there is an exception, a couple wants to make there love making official and practically drive their bikes right into a church near Las Vegas, Nevada. Just remember, this film was produced in 1967 and it was a big shocker in those DAYS !

Not to say I didn't enjoy this movie, I love the Hells Angels and all the books and movies about them. This was a good story, but it could have been told in 10 minutes. The other hour and 50 minutes, is silly, and boring. But it does have redeeming qualities, which makes it worth watching on late nite TV. Jack Nicholson is good in a very early role,(see what he was like before he started to take himself too seriously!) the girls were hot, hot, hot, and there is a great scene at the start, that shows Sonny Barger in his early days. But scenes of guys driving around in circles on their bikes, to the weirdest music I ever heard, shows that the director was a film school dropout!