The Choppers (1961)

Director:

Leigh Jason

Writer:

Arch Hall Sr. (writer)

Release Date:

30 November 1961 (USA)

Genre:

Drama

Plot:

A gang of teenage delinquents terrorize a small community by stealing cars and stripping them for parts, then selling the parts to a crooked junkyard owner. The police and an insurance company investigator set out to break up the gang. |

Plot Keywords:

Gang | Juvenile Delinquent | Hot Rod | Independent Film

Cast

Arch Hall Jr.	...	Jack 'Cruiser' Bryan
Marianne Gaba	...	Liz
Robert Paget	...	Torch Lester (as Robert Padget)
Tom Brown	...	Tom Hart
Burr Middleton	...	Tony 'The Snooper' Panilli (as Mickey Hoyle)
Rex Holman	...	Flip Johnson (as Roye Baker)
Chuck Barnes	...	Ben Shore
William Shaw	...	Police Lt. Frank Fleming (as Bill Shaw)
Bruno VeSota	...	Moose McGill
Britt Wood	...	Cowboy Boggs
Dee Gee Green	...	Gypsy
Richard Cowl	...	Mr. Lester (as Richard S. Cowl)
Patrick Hawley	...	Officer Jenks (as Pat Hawley)
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Carmella N. Hall	...	Tina (uncredited)
Arch Hall Sr.	...	Jim Bradford (uncredited)
Bill Rolland	...	Man handing Bradford a microphone (uncredited)

Directed by
Leigh Jason

Writing credits (in alphabetical order)
Arch Hall Sr.		writer (as Arch Hall)

Produced by
M.B. Collins	....	associate producer
Arch Hall Sr.	....	producer

Original Music by
Al Pellegrini

Cinematography by
Clark Ramsey

Film Editing by
Jack Ogilvie		(as Jack W. Ogilvie)

Casting by
Malcolm Eagle

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Elmer Decker	....	assistant director

Art Department
Richard M. Rubin	....	property master

Music Department
Al Pellegrini	....	conductor

Other crew
Bill Rolland	....	special car

Production Companies

• Rushmore Productions

Distributors

• Fairway International (1961) (USA) (theatrical)
• Sinister Cinema (1990) (USA) (VHS)
• Fang Video (1996) (USA) (VHS)
• Brentwood Home Video (2001) (USA) (DVD)
• Brentwood Home Video (2002) (USA) (DVD)
• Image Entertainment (2002) (USA) (DVD)
• Something Weird Video (SWV) (2002) (USA) (DVD) (special edition)
• Something Weird Video (SWV) (2005) (USA) (DVD)
• Alpha Video Distributors (????) (USA) (DVD)
• Globe
• Image Entertainment (2004) (USA) (DVD)
• Something Weird Video (SWV) (????) (USA) (VHS)
• Video Beat (????) (USA) (DVD)
• Video Beat (????) (USA) (VHS)

Runtime:

USA:66 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Sound Mix:

Mono

Company:

Rushmore Productions

Trivia:

Film debut of Arch Hall Jr.

Goofs:

Continuity: As the Choppers' truck is driving down the highway, a police car - a 1957 Plymouth - pulls up behind them and turns on its siren to have them pull over. However, when the car pulls alongside of the truck and forces it to the side of the road, it has turned into a 1959 Chevy.

Quotes:

Mr. Lester: [drunkenly, into microphone] I wanna tell the whole world something. Those cops, they ain't gonna take my boy Torch. There ain't enough cops in the whole world to take my boy Torch. You hear me? They ain't gonna take my boy Torch!
Jim Bradford: [taking away microphone] Ladies and gentlemen, when you pick up your morning newspaper and read about some youngster getting into trouble and wonder why... I think you've heard one good answer.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Wild Guitar (1962)

Soundtrack:

Monkey in My Hatband

Arch Hall, Jr. Debut Is Fun Junk!

Not in the league of THE SADIST or WILD GUITAR, this early Arch Hall, Jr. flick is fun, b/w, and low. Love Moose, junkyard mogul (great caricature of him on the sign as well). Whatever these guys were thinking when they made this type of exploitation film is okay with me. The slang dialogue is flowing and plenty of cheeseburgers to go around.

A 4 out of 10. Best performance = the guy who plays Moose. This is on DVD with WILD GUITAR so check it out, daddy-o! Lame songs which are perfect, chicks just good-looking enough to seem like they'd be around these guys, and nice locale where they filmed it. Arch Hall, Sr. must have been a strange dude, bankrolling his kid's career this way, but what the hey!