The Cycle Savages

Bruce Dern stars as Keeg, a real slimeball who runs a prostitution racket for his brother. Everything is going perfectly except when Romko, the new artist in town begins drawing pictures of Keeg and his gang, he wants to break his hands using a vice. That basically sums up the whole movie, I'd just see it to watch Bruce Dern.

"Keeg" (Bruce Dern) is the psychotic leader of a motorcycle gang, which pretty much does whatever it wants because the people in a certain community are terrified to testify against them. This is especially true for a beautiful woman named "Lea" (Melody Patterson) who would love to tell the police everything she knows. Unfortunately, her sister happens to be in a prostitution ring run by Keeg's older brother and is deathly afraid of what might happen to her. So like everybody else, she remains silent. Then one day, Keeg catches a glimpse of a young man by the name of "Romko" (Chris Robinson) who spends his time sketching everything he sees, and that includes some of the activities of the motorcycle gang. This infuriates Keeg, who roughs up Romko and destroys all of the sketches involving him and his gang. However, Keeg soon becomes obsessed with the idea that Romko might begin drawing more sketches, and because of that, he begins to make plans to prevent that from happening. Now, rather than reveal any more, I will just say that this turned out to be a rather dramatic biker movie due in large part to the performance of Bruce Dern. Likewise, the scene involving the brutal gang-rape of the attractive blonde by the name of "Janie" (Karen Cirol) was also quite shocking and intense. Be that as it may, I thought that this was one of the more explicit and realistic biker movies out there, and I have rated it accordingly. Slightly above average.

Wow, is just one of the many words used to describe this movie. A terrific 60's independent sound track that make you want to take the nearest drug available. Also, the supporting cast is amazing. So amazing, that it makes the leads in this film terrible. Melody Patterson makes her first feature since leaving her days on F-Troop as the beautiful Wrangler Jane. Yes, she gets naked, but we don't see much. This may be one of the biggest reasons why people actually paid money to see this back in 1969. Then again, we see Bruce Dern's talents as a wonderful actor in this movie. One of the most original and outrageous characters in independent cinema, Dern's performance gives the audience another reason to keep watching.

Cycle Savages has one of the most ridiculous premises of any of the late 60s biker cycle. To wit: these biker bozos actually believe that they can be taken to court because a local artist has drawn some pictures of them in action. Not photos, not film, pencil line drawings. Bruce Dern froths at the mouth in an appropriate manner as the leader of the Numbskulls, or whatever the gang is called.

Bruce Dern's performance in this drive in piece of drek proves that cream does rise to the top. He reminds me of how a young Jack Nicholson stole the film Hell's Angels on Wheels from its star Adam Roarke (does anybody remember him?).

The film is a grade Z flic with possibly the worst movie score in the history of cinema. It is so bad that Scott Brady, a relatively well known star at that time, appeared unbilled. Was he altruistic & shy (not) or did he hope no one would remember he took a pay check for his two minutes on screen as a Vice Officer. This film redefines melodrama.

The only reason to watch this is for Dern's performance, which shows how he rose to become one of Hollywood's most respected actors. This man can act! It's too bad no one else in the film could.