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Released by: Olive Films
Released on: February 17th, 2015.
Director: Roger Corman
Cast: Peter Fonda, Nancy Sinatra, Bruce Dern
Year: 1966
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The Movie:
Directed by Roger Corman in 1966 in a blatant attempt to cash in on the Hell's Angels motorcycle gangs that were making the news at the time, The Wild Angels is an early 'bikersploitation' picture that tells the seedy story of one Heavenly Blues (Peter Fonda). He's a wild man, and rather than work a nine to five he's instead committed to living his life on the road with his woman, Mike (Nancy Sinatra) hanging on behind him. He and his biker pals, The Wild Angels, get into trouble after one of their own, Loser (Bruce Dern) gets canned from his job and winds up on the outs with his wife, Gaysh (Diane Ladd).
See, Blues and Loser finger a rival gang of Mexican bikers as the ones who stole a motorcycle from them and decide to pay them a little visit. Their mission of retribution is broken up when the cops show up and the ensuing chase lands Loser in the hospital and a cop six feet under. Blues knows that Loser will wind up in police custody, so they get Mike in there to pose as his sister to spring him before that happens - and they make it out, but one not so well behaved Angel rapes a nurse on his way out. That's not good. It's also not good that they took Loser's IV out, because without those meds he quickly keels over and dies. Oops. They bury the poor sap but his funeral soon turns into a pretty crazy party where Loser's draped in a Nazi flag and Gayshe is raped by some of her dearly departed's fellow Angels. When they finally get around to burying Loser, the fed up townsfolk decide that now is the time to rid themselves of this biker menace that has been terrorizing their good citizens for far too long now!
Made by Corman for American International Pictures, The Wild Angels was a pretty massive hit on the drive-in circuit when it played initially. The rough and tumble picture was made on a low budget but definitely succeeded when it tried to strive for authenticity. The casting of actual Hell's Angels members as background characters probably helped a lot here as did the script, much of which was based off of actual accounts of Hell's Angels related nuttiness. Corman was also savvy enough to shoot pretty much all of the movie out in rural California, so the desert landscapes and weird small town atmosphere that makes this film look as cool as it does is definitely authentic - the movie is all the better for it.
Peter Fonda's love of motorcycles and biker culture has been pretty well documented by this point but it should still be said that he's quite good in the lead role here. As Blues, he's a tough guy, the type you don't want to mess with, but not a man without his own code. He plays the part really well, looking as cool as cool can be riding down the highway with the wind blowing in his hair, a super-hot Nancy Sinatra hanging off of his back and a bunch of burly bikers following in his wake. Sinatra doesn't get as much to do here but she looks great and has a few decent scenes of back and forth with Fonda that are fun to watch. Bruce Dern is great as Loser and Diane Ladd quite good as the woman who will become his widow later in the picture.
As good as the cast is, however, it's the scenes of bikers being bikers that make this so watchable. The movie is a fantastic snapshot of the biker culture of the era and, as it was on the rise, also the paranoia that it would instill in small town America. It might all seem mild, even campy, by modern standards but for its day, this one definitely packed a strong punch.
Video/Audio/Extras:
The film arrives on Blu-ray from Olive Films in an AVC encoded 1080p high definition transfer framed at 1.85.1 widescreen and it looks very good. Some minor print damage does show up now and again, but it's minor, never a real distraction. The film has an appropriately gritty look to it, accentuated by the grain inherent in the elements used for the transfer here - and that's a good thing. Colors are reproduced very nicely and there are no issues with digital tomfoolery like noise reduction or edge enhancement. We get nice, deep black levels here too - all in all, this is quite a nice looking release.
The only audio option on the disc is an English language DTS-HD 2.0 Mono track but it sounds quite good. Levels are nicely balanced and period rock music that is used throughout the movie is appropriately punchy sounding. There's good depth to the track and no problems with any hiss or distortion to note, and when those engines rev, the track has a solid low end.
Aside from static menus and chapter selection, there are no extras on the disc.
The Final Word:
Roger Corman's trashy biker classic The Wild Angels may not get much love in the extra features department with this release from Olive Films but it does get a really impressive high definition upgrade in the transfer department and lossless audio to boot. The movie itself holds up really well, a drive-in classic with a great case and some really memorable scenes.
Click on the images below for full sized Blu-ray screen caps!
