The Peace Killers

The film begins with an attractive young woman named "Kristen" (Jess Walton) walking into a small convenience store along the highway with her brother "Jeff" (Michael Ontkean). After buying some groceries Jeff notices a couple of bikers ride up and immediately realizes that they are from a motorcycle gang known as "Death Row" which Kristen ran away from months before. Realizing the danger she is in he advises to sneak out the side door so that he can pick her up in their van and drive off before they recognize her. Unfortunately, it doesn't work and the bikers then go to inform their leader "Rebel" (Clint Richie) that she is in the area. From that point on he makes it a priority to find her for the sole purpose of having her gang raped as a lesson to others who desert Death Row. Meanwhile, Kristen and Jeff return to their hippy commune and inform their charismatic leader "Alex" (Paul Prokop) of the danger only to be told that if the bikers show up he will resolve the situation by reasoning with them. Now rather than revealing any more I will just say that this was an okay biker film which makes up for its low-budget limitations by providing enough suspense to keep things interesting. Admittedly, some of the stereotypes were a bit exaggerated but all things considered I thought it was a solid picture for the most part and for that reason I have rated it accordingly. Average.

(1971) The Peace Keepers CRIME DRAMA

Directed and edited by by Dougas Schwart as a biker gang splitting up to get away from cops. While that was happening brother, Jeffrey (Michael Ontkean) and his sister, Kristy (Jess Walton) happen to stumble onto the same gas station as three members of a biker gang. When one of it's members recognize Kristy attempting to sneak behind the gas station who appear to recognize her as Rebs (Clint Ritchie) old flame. After Reb is notified about this who also appears to be the leader of the biker gang. He then directs them to go on a crusade to hunt her down. And through flashbacks we then see why Kristy had a falling out with the gang itself that involves an assault to which the gang had victimized. And that throughout the entire time she'd been away she had been hiding out by living in a commune, with the group's leader, Alex (Paul Prokop) who is a polar opposite of the biker gang. Kristy also happens to be girlfriend of the group's leader as well.

In this film, law enforcement are absolutely worthless with only a single hand gun happening during the main brawl toward the end, with only two women shown nude which is not exploitative enough. The other biker gang led by a scrappy African American lay by the name of Black Widow (Lavelle Roby) who try to motivate the commune to fight alongside with them is kind of worthless as well. It only scores points if some like the two breast scenes that should have been more.

A young woman (Jess Walton), who is the former "old lady" of the vicious leader of a motorcycle gang, is living in a rural hippie commune with her brother (Michael Ontkean) when she is spotted by several members of her former gang. The bike gang ("Death Row") shows up at the commune, "crucifies" the pacifist leader of the group on a peace symbol (some heavy symbolish here), and takes off with the girl, planning to "teach her a lesson" by gang-raping her. She escapes again with the help of a bizarre interracial rival biker gang, which is led by a black woman(!). They return her to the commune with the "Death Row" gang hot on their trail, and the brother tries to convince the pacifist leader to fight back this time.

This biker vs. hippie movie is no masterpiece, but it's surprisingly entertaining. Whatever message it is making about violence and pacifism seems a little confused, but I still find movies like this vastly preferable to the mindless, simplistic movies that have dominated the action/revenge genre since the era of Reagan and "Rambo". In real life, of course, the bikers actually got on pretty well with the hippies, despite their diametrically opposed politics and attitudes towards women, mostly due to their mutual interest in drugs (which said a lot about the priorities of the hippie movement). It's also a little hard to believe anyone still regarded hippies as naive, gentle pacifists after the Manson Family murders.

The lead actress Jess Walton is absolutely beautiful (and has nude scenes). She kind of reminds me of British actress/singer Jane Birkin. This is her only major movie, but she would go on to a long television career. The director Douglas Scwartz would also go to a long television, uh, career (he later created "Baywatch"--oh, the horror, the horror!). Michael Ontkean though is the most recognizable talent having appeared in both famous movies ("Slapshot") and TV series ("Twin Peaks"). This is definitely worth a look.

Kristy used to be the 'old lady' of the leader of a biker gang. However, after seeing another woman brutally raped, she'd had enough and ran off--even though they promised to track her down and kill her if she did. Some time has passed and by chance, a member of this old gang sees her in a general store--and not surprisingly, he goes to get the gang. As for Kristy, she's being hidden by a group of annoying hippies--annoying because they promise a lot but won't lift a finger to fight. What will become of her? I sometimes enjoy an old biker film--mostly because they are so cheesy. However, "The Peace Killers" was not a film I particularly liked since it went farther than most films in the genre. For most of the films, the gangs looked mean, talked mean and even did a few mean things. These folks, in contrast, really are evil--and the film is pretty vivid in its depiction of rape and nudity. I just felt uncomfortable with a film glamorizing or exploiting rape...and never actually finished watching this one. See it if you like--I just think it crosses the line from entertainment to sleaze. Not enjoyable--just nasty.

A commune of hippies run into trouble with a brutal gang of bikies, and their blissful pacifist future is in grave danger. As luck would have it, along comes another gang of bikies, who team up with the hippies, who discover a latent bloodlust, so we get to see a gory fight. The hippies even file their medallions so that they are sharp enough to slash throats. Heartwarming.