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Released by: VCI Entertainment
Released on: 5/30/2006
Director: J. D. Feigelson
Cast: Jim McMullen, Paul Lambert, Tobe Hooper, Joyce Taylor, Richard Everett, I. Van Charles
Year: 1971
The Movie:
Bobby Joe Smith (Jim McMullen of Assassination) left his small home town years ago to move to Hollywood where he found a new life and no small amount of success as an actor. Now, many years later, he's returned to his home a different man where he's been invited to give a speech at the local highschool. One of the first things he does after he cruises in on his motorbike is to look up his old flame, Jenny Jenkins (Joyce Taylor of Twice Told Tales). The two find a renewed interest in one another and before you know it, it looks like sparks are going to fly a second time for the couple.
Unfortunately for Bobby Joe, Jenny's father, Buford (Paul Lambert) is the reverend and he sees him as bad news - he doesn't like his long hair or his attitude! Not only does he want him to stay away from his daughter, he wants to run him out of town for good. In order to persuade Bobby to see things his way, the good Reverend pays off a few of the local tough guys to beat the crap out of Bobby in hopes of showing him he's not welcome here and sending him on his way. Bobby Joe doesn't want small town rednecks telling him what to do, however, and he doesn't intend to go down easy even if his parents (played by the late Jim Siedow of The Texas Chainsaw Massacre and Chris Wilson) are going to get upset!
Goofy, melodramatic and ripe with some cornyball dialogue, The Windsplitter is never the less an interesting curiosity item mainly because of the presence of not only Jim Siedow, but of Tobe Hooper himself who shows up here in a cameo role as a guy named Joby. Neither of them are all that memorable here, but it is interesting none the less to see them collaborating before they'd go on to make history with The Texas Chainsaw Massacre a year later.
Jim McMullen, who spent most of his career working in television, is fun in the lead as the long haired biker (who in fact only has marginally shaggy hair) who really does mean well. It's interesting to see him pushed as far as he is by the time the film ends and he doesn't do a half bad job with the material. His interaction with both Joyce Taylor and with Paul Lambert is sincere, perhaps too sincere in spots, and he does a good job playing the troubled Hollywood loner/biker hero. Lambert, on the other hand, chews a fair bit of scenery in the film, coming close to going over the top but never quite getting there. He's enjoyable in the performance even if he is a bit on the campy side at times.
Video/Audio/Extras:
VCI's 1.85.1 anamorphic widecreen of the film isn't bad at all. There are some moments of heavy grain and a few places here and there were you'll pick up on some print damage but thankfully for the most part the image is pretty clean. Detail levels aren't bad for an older, low budget film and although there are some slight mpeg compression artifacts in the darker scenes, overall the image here is good, even if it could have been better.
The English language Dolby Digital mono soundtrack is fine in that it gets the job done well enough, but it's a little on the flat side at times and there are a few spots where the dialogue is slightly muffled. It's a serviceable track, not a fancy one, but it works as well as can be expected.
An introduction is supplied by director J. D. Feigelson in which he speaks for just over two minutes, commentary style, over top of the movie and explains how it was shot in Texas, how the term Windsplitter is Texas slang for a motorcyle, and how they intentionally decided to introduce the counter culture elements of the film through one of their own. Rounding out the extra features on this disc is the film's original theaterical trailer, trailers for a few other VCI releases, some text biographies as well as menus and chapter stops.
The Final Word:
The Windsplitter isn't going to become the next undiscovered classic but it's an entertaining, if at times very melodramatic, biker movie with a decent story at its core and a few good performances. The Hooper factor adds some curiosity value to this one and while VCI's presentation is far from perfect, it's at least acceptable.