The Wild Angels.

Review #1423: The Wild Angels.

Cast: 

Peter Fonda (Heavenly Blues), Nancy Sinatra (Mike), Bruce Dern (Joe 'Loser' Kearns), Diane Ladd (Gaysh), Buck Taylor (Dear John), Norman Alden (Medic), Michael J. Pollard (Pigmy), and Frank Maxwell (Funeral preacher) Produced and Directed by Roger Corman (#368 - The Little Shop of Horrors, #684 - It Conquered the World, #852 - The Terror, #931 - Not of This Earth, #1007 - Attack of the Crab Monsters, #1039 - Five Guns West, #1042 - War of the Satellites, #1136 - Gas-s-s-s, #1147 - X: The Man with the X-ray Eyes, and #1186 - A Bucket of Blood)

Review: 

What has been said about Roger Corman that hasn't been said before? He is a trailblazer of independent cinema, one who has directed, wrote, and produced numerous films over in over six decades of work, whether through American International Pictures or through New World Pictures (which he founded) or through various ventures. He has collaborated with several people who have gone on to have careers of their own such as directors Francis Ford Coppola, Jonathan Demme, and Peter Bogdanovich (who served as production assistant and un-credited writer that modified Charles B. Griffith's script). He made films in a variety of genres for studios, whether that meant Westerns, horror, or exploitation features like this. He was inspired to do this film from a photograph in Life magazine that depicted a group of the Hells Angels motorcycle gang on their way to a funeral for a member. It wasn't the first film to depict a motorcycle rampage (popularized by The Wild One (1953) and subsequent exploitations films), but it would attempt to show its gang from the inside, since Corman saw them as "riding free as a modern-day cowboy." (this was of course before they were profiled by Hunter S. Thompson in 1967 and events such as the Altamont disaster). Actual members of the club were utilized for the film, paid $35 a day for cooperation and $25 for use of the bikes. Dern found himself with a role for the film when George Chakiris could not ride a motorcycle (imagine wanting a stunt double for a film about outlaw bikers as a focus), so Fonda went from a supporting role in the Loser character to the main focus.

This is the kind of film that has an aim for freedom with its characters, what with its climatic quote near the end from Fonda about said desire for freedom without trouble from "The Man" and have a good time doing it. The fact that this is said during a funeral only makes it amusing (particularly since it was later sampled for a song). There is a sense of ridiculousness with how it tries to balance its nihilism with a wavering focus and pallid pace at 93 minutes. I suppose this is the best example of a film fitting the project management triangle: It can be good, fast, or cheap, but one can only pick two of those options. In this case, it is evident that the latter two fit this film to a T. One could've made a film with less dialogue and probably come out better for it than what happens here. On the one hand, it is an interesting piece for the late 1960s that shows some promise in the beginning, but ultimately it can't quite live up as anything other than mild exploitation at best, something that aims for riding free but ultimately coming up short of anything really meaningful. Fonda, a different kind of leading man that would become a counterculture figure for the era, pulls off a subdued performance that has a small edge of calm collectedness in leading a band of misfits to whatever point seems necessary, whether that means raising trouble or not. Sinatra, a singer (best known for her hit song "These Boots Are Made for Walkin'" in 1966) and occasional actor, proves to be a quiet calm presence that seems in need of more to do (the same could be said for Ladd). Dern, who would go on to a career of his own with usually villainous supporting roles, is rough but interesting to view in the time he is present, even if his last scene is just him acting dead and being given a cigarette in a ruckus. The others come and go with a line or so, and a lack of conflict (no, arguing with a preacher over how the funeral should be doesn't count) makes things teeter on tediousness, with a dispiriting ending that I suppose is meant to mean something about not having anywhere else to go. Perhaps that is an apt metaphor for an average film that never really seems to go anywhere to begin with. To me, it seems too dated to really rise to something worth checking out, unless one really needs a raucous biker film from way back when or want to see a selection from Roger Corman in his prime decade.

Overall, I give it 6 out of 10 stars.

They Live.

Review #1298: They Live.

Cast: 
Roddy Piper (John Nada), Keith David (Frank Armitage), Meg Foster (Holly Thompson), Raymond St. Jacques (Street Preacher), George Buck Flower (Drifter/Collaborator), Peter Jason (Gilbert), Sy Richardson (Black Revolutionary), Susan Blanchard (Ingenue), and Norman Alden (Construction Foremanst) Directed by John Carpenter (#068 - Halloween (1978), #634 - Escape from New York, #712 - The Thing, #732 - Escape from L.A., and #1221 - Dark Star)

Review: 
It should only make sense that the only way to see aliens of the subliminal kind are a pair of sunglasses. The idea for the film came from the 1963 short story "Eight O'Clock in the Morning" by Ray Nelson, which he subsequently adapted with artist Bill Wray into a graphic comic named "Nada" in 1986. As such, the screenplay credit went to Frank Armitage, a pseudonym for Carpenter (who naturally also co-wrote the music score with Alan Howarth). In any case, it really is a variation on Invasion of the Body Snatchers (why else would you have the aliens shown in black-and-white for most of the film), only if the aliens were already here and ready to help people sell out and obey in the vein of an sci-fi action thriller. In that sense, it works out pretty well in the film's favor, one that is packed with plenty of entertainment that is derived from clever subversive material and a mold of action and humor to go alongside it that never seems dull or too convenient. The film holds itself on the every-man in Piper, who signed onto the film after Carpenter met with him in the middle of his run as a professional wrestler. He can play the parts of the action hero like one could see in a b-movie (with that noted bubble-gum line seeming right out of his one-liner notebook) that comes in handy when needed that surely paved the way for other wrestler-turned-actors, but he plays himself with careful simplicity that seems just right for a guy like him. David does a fine job with a quasi-sidekick kind of role, where he can join alongside the action against sellout aliens or even the fight just to believe there even is one needed, which leads to the key highlight for both actors: a five minute fight scene between the two where they just take it to the other. It really does prove astounding how one can make such a scene that is so memorable (imagine having to rehearse that for three weeks) while not leaving the film off balance during the other parts of its 94 minute run-time. Foster is fair and subtle, and the other castmates pull their momentary plays on screen with interest in making a small environment like this seem like one to look at for a while and think about. The effects involving the aliens (resembling ghouls) looks pretty neat for the intent that the film wants to do. The action is also pretty well-done with blending with the rest of the film without suffocating it, and the climax is a nice touch. Of course a film that is meant to be subversive has its shares of political devotees, which are either people who understand the film or partisan ghouls for a certain supremacist side (I only include this sentence lest someone actually think this film is about anything but yuppies and unrestrained capitalism) or nearly as annoying Marxist hacks. In any case, one can enjoy the film for either its action content or its attempts at saying something about the nature of our society when it comes to commercialism through the lens of science fiction that delivers plenty of thrills and thought to go around.

Overall, I give it 8 out of 10 stars.