The Rebel Rousers

This film was in the cult section at the local video store, and I've come to find that "cult" films are often one of two things. They are either masterpieces which are over-the-top/bizarre/cryptic/left-of-center and can be watched again and again, or they are very lame films with little-to-no redeeming qualities which have gained a cult following because people get a kick out of unintentionally bad films. This film falls into the latter category. I can't imagine anyone would think this was actually a decent film. Everything about it is lame. The best (best meaning worst in this case) part of the film was when one of the men escaped from the biker gang, got a car, and drove into town to the police station. When he comes into the police station, he's out-of-breath and fatigued. Wasn't he just driving? He's worn out from driving? This film is awful.

1/10

This late carefree, but crudely gruff low-cost b-grade biker exploitation (that was shelved for a couple of years before being released because of the fascinating performance of Nicholson in the 1969's biker flick 'Easy Rider') is nothing more than a minor curious piece for its well oiled cast, who would go onto better things. Namely Jack Nicholson and Harry Dean Stanton. Really they only have support parts. Stanton who engages with his little screen time (one of the rowdy bikers who are far from threatening with their clown-like appearances), looks totally out of place though. However there's something oddly captivating (strange in stupidly oddball and ditsy sense) about this feature, even though it's overly talky and demonstrates plenty of posing about to stall out the time. Watch as there's conflicting confrontations, trivial exchanges, more conflicting confrontations…. Again the usual conflicting confrontation rears its ugly head. Boy how exciting (well it would've been if there was some fiery interest inserted) and sometimes it just goes on for too long. Many of the dialogues are awkward, stiff (although a spirited Bruce Dern admirably tries his best to infuse life) with the padded nature only making the short running time meander even more. A sombre Cameron Mitchell could be mistaken for a wooden plank and Diane Ladd is there too look all worried. Nicholson (in some eye-boggling pants) laps it up as the low-brow, cruel biker, but his performance is pretty much on the fringe. An unhinged, funky-dory score hits its cues with force and there's a few striking scenic views. The story is quite sparse and scratchily old-hat. A couple is terrorised by bikers and the town's folk want nothing to do with it when the husband escapes looking for help. In the couple of action sequences, the scrappy direction is laughably staged when it does happen and it's the mugging filler that takes the spotlight. Maybe worth a geeze for the names, but the glaring problems are hard to digest.

Many times as I sat watching this god-awful film it sure looked like there really wasn't a script. In many places, it looked as if the director, if there was one, just told everyone to 'wing it'--and often the actors talked over each other, spouted gibberish or just talked to hear themselves talk. In addition, sometimes the actors did things that made almost no sense--giving further evidence to the idea that there was no script...or even plot. This is especially true for at least the first half hour of the film where most of it just involves a biker gang running amok. Amidst all this, there is a plot that keeps trying to appear that involves Cameron Mitchell trying to get his pregnant girlfriend to marry him. Eventually the two plots intersect as the two are eventually terrorized by the evil bikers--but in the interim there is still more rambling and pointless prattle. All this makes up the last 2/3 of the film. Not a whole lot more to it than this. Amateurish and silly throughout but not outlandish or silly enough to make it fun for bad movie buffs.

As another commenter stated, I believe this film sat on the shelf for a while, not being able to get a release since it was so bad. Then, once Jack Nicholson's career break-out occurred, this was rushed out to the drive-in circuit.

The 74 minute running time of the film gives away its intentions: classic B movie fare, bottom-of-the-bill, baby. Okay, for 1960's drive-ins, and not the 1940's neighborhood Bijoux, but the same principle is at play. This film looks like it was shot in two days on a budget of two cents. They drag a film camera, about ten motorcycles and a ten-year-old Ford out to some blot on the map out past Barstow, then start filming. There were about six locations, and most of them were outside, including a beach. Half of the dialog sounds improvised. Much of it is incoherent yelling.

Nobody actually says it, but I think this is supposed to take place in Mexico. And what a horrible, stereotyped version of Mexico it is. (Call me "politically correct" all you want, this film is ridiculous). All the Mexican characters are played by Gringos with "seester" type of phony accents, if they even tried to fake an accent at all. A lot of lazy, siesta-taking, serape-wearing caricatures. Pinatas hang from every ceiling. They have no modern technology; the "sheriff's office," a crumbling adobe hut, has a hand-cranked telephone! No wonder this hasn't been out on DVD.

The plot, what little there is of it, is highly simplistic. Bikers, led by Bruce Dern, menace Cameron Mitchell and pregnant ex-paramour Diane Ladd, taking her prisoner and beating him up. But Dern doesn't like it. He tries to keep his sadistic buddies in line, he just wants to ride around and party and doesn't like all this violence, man. So how did he end up leading a group of violent bikers? "It's a long story, man." That's it? That's all the back story we get?? Lame!

The only positive thing I can say about this movie is the acting. Watch Nicholson, you'll begin to see why has the legendary career he has today. Dern is quite good, coming across as his usual jittery, manic self, tempered with sincerity and gentleness. Diane Ladd is quite believable as The Post-Feminist Woman Who's Gonna Have Her Baby By Herself, Dammit. Harry Dean Stanton is also around, providing some goofy charm. Also seen are Robert Dix and the omnipresent (if you watch genre movies) John "Bud" Cardos, later director of the William Shatner clas-sick "Kingdom of the Spiders"!!

I give this movie a four only for the acting. Unless you are a biker movie completist, you should give it a pass. Other biker movies I would recommend: The Wild Angels, The Tormentors, Satan's Sadists.

The strange behavior of various characters in this movie made me wonder if this might be a parody of biker movies. It was funny when the stereotypical dumb, lazy and cowardly Latino deputy was on screen. He and the sheriff were the only law, and at one point even the sheriff wasn't around. The bikers could have taken over and terrorized the town. And yet they weren't as mean as they could have been, which was never really explained. It was like there was an on-off switch deciding whether the bikers were going to be violent, or funny, or whatever. Some of them were more peace-oriented than the others and tried to get the meaner ones to behave.

What really made no sense was the reaction of Cameron Mitchell's character to the bikers. At first I thought he and Diane Ladd were giving good performances. Now I have to wonder. I can say this much: I enjoyed the music that was played in the scenes where Cameron Mitchell and Diane Ladd were together, and of course the funny deputy.

Other than that, what was this?