The Wild Angels
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| The Wild Angels | |
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 The Wild Angels DVD cover |
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| Directed by | Roger Corman |
| Produced by | Roger Corman |
| Written by | Charles B. Griffith |
| Starring | Peter Fonda Nancy Sinatra Bruce Dern Diane Ladd |
| Distributed by | American International Pictures (AIP) |
| Release date(s) | July 20, 1966 (U.S. release) |
| Running time | 93 min |
| Language | English |
| All Movie Guide profile | |
| IMDb profile | |
The Wild Angels (1966) is a Roger Corman film, made on location in Southern California. The Wild Angels was made three years before Easy Rider and was the first film to associate actor Peter Fonda with Harley-Davidson motorcycles and 1960s counterculture.
The Wild Angels, released by American International Pictures, stars Fonda as Hells Angels San Pedro, California chapter president "Heavenly Blues", Nancy Sinatra as his girlfriend "Mike", Bruce Dern as doomed fellow outlaw "the Loser", and Dern's real-life wife Diane Ladd as the Loser's screen wife, "Gaysh."
Small supporting roles are played by Michael J. Pollard and Gayle Hunnicutt, and according to literature promoting the film, members of the Hells Angels from Venice, California. Members of the Coffin Cheaters motorcycle club also appeared.
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[edit] Story
In between sprees featuring drugs, fights, sexual assault, loud revving Harley chopper engines and bongo drums, the Angels ride out to Mecca, California in the desert to look for the Loser's stolen motorcycle. They blame a group of Mexicans in a repair shop, and the two groups brawl. The police arrive, chasing the Angels on foot, and the Loser escapes on a parked police motorcycle. After a chase on mountain roads, one of the officers shoots the Loser in the back, putting him in the hospital.
The Angels sneak him out, but not before sexually attacking a black nurse. Without proper medical care, the Loser goes into shock and dies. His cohorts forge a death certificate and arrange a church funeral in the Loser’s rural hometown. They interrupt the service and, at Blues’ urging, have a "party." The Angels remove the Loser from his Nazi flag-draped casket, sit him up and place a joint in his mouth, knock out the minister, place him in the casket, and among other things, drug and rape the Loser’s grieving widow, Gaysh.
Later, the Angels proceed to the Sequoia Grove cemetery to bury the Loser. There, the locals throw stones at the Angels and provoke a fight. As police sirens approach and everyone scatters, Mike begs Blues to leave immediately, but he refuses. Before burying his friend on his own, Blues says resignedly: "There’s nowhere to go."
[edit] Impact and influence
Film critic Leonard Maltin called The Wild Angels "OK after about 24 beers." It opened the Venice Film Festival in 1966, to tepid response. Corman took chances with this subject matter and the Charles B. Griffith-authored screenplay, without being overly graphic, which paid dividends commercially: The Wild Angels was the 12th biggest box-office hit of 1966, earning US$ 5,500,000.00 in domestic (U.S. and Canada) rentals.[1]
While promoting another of his 1960s counterculture movies, The Trip, and autographing a movie still from The Wild Angels depicting Bruce Dern and him sharing one motorcycle, Fonda conceived the film Easy Rider. Easy Rider was also about two men, but with each riding his own motorcycle.
The Wild Angels made a small but lasting impact on several indie rock bands. Davie Allan and the Arrows scored a hit with the fuzz guitar-laden instrumental "Blues Theme", which opens this film. Also, the bands Primal Scream (in their song "Loaded") and Mudhoney (in their song "In and Out of Grace"), and others have sampled parts of Heavenly Blues’ "eulogy" at the Loser’s funeral, reinforcing the cult film status of The Wild Angels:
| “ | We want to be free! We want to be free to do what we want to do! We want to be free to ride. And we want to be free to ride our machines without being hassled by The Man. And we want to get loaded. And we want to have a good time! And that’s what we’re gonna do. We’re gonna have a good time. We’re gonna have a party! | ” |
[edit] Trivia
- A black and white pop culture poster depicting Peter Fonda, in costume as Heavenly Blues, straddling a Harley Davidson motorcycle has sold 30 million copies.
- Diane Ladd became pregnant with her daughter, actress Laura Dern, during shooting.
- Peter Bogdanovich appears in the opening credits as "Assistant to the Director."
- During filming, female cast members wore police whistles to ward off unwanted advances from biker extras.
[edit] References
- ^ Gebert, Michael. The Encyclopedia of Movie Awards (which includes listings of 'Box Office (Domestic Rentals)' for 1966, taken from Variety, St. Martin's Paperbacks, 1996. ISBN 0-668-05308-9
