The Wild Angels (1966)

Director:

Roger Corman

Writer:

Charles B. Griffith (writer)
(more)

Release Date:

20 July 1966 (USA)

Genre:

Drama | Action

Tagline:

Their credo is violence...Their God is hate...and they call themselves 'The Wild Angels'

Plot:

Peter Fonda plays 'Heavenly Blues', the leader of Hell's Angels chapter from Venice, California while Bruce Dern plays 'Loser'...

Plot Keywords:

Hospital | Hell's Angels | Gang | Funeral | California

Awards:

1 nomination

Cast

Peter Fonda	...	Heavenly Blues
Nancy Sinatra	...	Mike aka Monkey
Bruce Dern	...	Joe Kearns aka Loser
Diane Ladd	...	Gaysh
Buck Taylor	...	Dear John
Norman Alden	...	Medic
Michael J. Pollard	...	Pigmy
Lou Procopio	...	Joint
Joan Shawlee	...	Momma Monahan
Marc Cavell	...	Frankenstein
Coby Denton	...	Bull Puckey
Frank Maxwell	...	Preacher
Gayle Hunnicutt	...	Suzie
Gina Grant
Art Baker	...	Thomas - Mortician
Dick Miller	...	Rigger
Kim Hamilton	...	Nurse
Hal Bokar
Jack Bernardi
Frank Gerstle	...	Hospital Policeman
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Peter Bogdanovich	...	Townsman in Fight at 'Loser's' Funeral (uncredited)
Barboura Morris	...	Mother (uncredited)

Directed by
Roger Corman

Writing credits (in alphabetical order)
Peter Bogdanovich		uncredited
Charles B. Griffith		writer

Produced by
Samuel Z. Arkoff	....	executive producer
Roger Corman	....	producer
Laurence Cruickshank	....	associate producer
James H. Nicholson	....	executive producer

Original Music by
Mike Curb
Davie Allan		(uncredited)

Cinematography by
Richard Moore
Peter Bogdanovich		(uncredited)

Film Editing by
Monte Hellman
Peter Bogdanovich		(uncredited)

Production Design by
Richard Beck-Meyer		(as Rick Beck-Meyer)

Art Direction by
Leon Ericksen

Costume Design by
Polly Platt		(uncredited)

Makeup Department
Jack Obringer	....	makeup artist

Production Management
Jack Bohrer	....	production manager

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Paul Rapp	....	assistant director

Stunts
Gary Littlejohn	....	stunts (uncredited)
Polly Platt	....	stunt double: Nancy Sinatra (uncredited)

Music Department
Joe Leahy	....	composer: additional music

Other crew
Peter Bogdanovich	....	assistant to director

Production Companies

• American International Pictures (AIP)

Distributors

• American International Pictures (AIP) (1966) (USA) (theatrical)
• Astral Films (????) (Canada) (theatrical)
• Gloria (1967) (West Germany) (theatrical)
• Embassy Home Entertainment (????) (USA) (VHS)
• MGM Home Entertainment (2001) (Canada) (DVD) (Midnite Movies collection)
• MGM Home Entertainment (2001) (USA) (DVD) (Midnite Movies collection)
• MGM Home Entertainment (2005) (USA) (DVD)
• MGM Home Entertainment (2005) (USA) (VHS)
• MGM Home Entertainment (2007) (USA) (DVD) (widescreen)
• MGM Home Entertainment (2007) (USA) (VHS) (widescreen)
• MGM/UA Home Entertainment (2001) (Italy) (DVD) (widescreen)
• MGM/UA Home Entertainment (2001) (USA) (VHS) (widescreen)
• Orion Home Video (????) (USA) (VHS)

Also Known As:

All the Fallen Angels (USA) (working title)

MPAA:

Rated R for drug-related material.

Runtime:

Germany:86 min | USA:93 min | USA:87 min (TCM print)

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Pathécolor)

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Finland:(Banned) (uncut) (1973) | Finland:K-16 (cut) (1990) | Finland:K-18 (uncut) (1992) | Finland:K-18 (heavily cut) (1973) | Iceland:16 | Australia:M | West Germany:18 (f) | Netherlands:12 (2008) | UK:15 (video) (2008) (uncut) | UK:18 (video) (1993) (uncut) | UK:X (theatrical release) (1972) (cut) | Canada:R (Canadian Home Video rating) | Norway:18 (1971) | Sweden:15 | USA:R

Filming Locations:

Hollywood, Los Angeles, California, USA

Company:

American International Pictures (AIP)

Trivia:

George Chakiris was originally hired by Roger Corman to play "Black Jack" (later changed to "Heavenly Blues" by Peter Fonda), but insisted that a stunt double do his motorcycle riding, so Corman replaced him with Fonda, who was originally cast as "Loser".

Goofs:

Factual errors: A nurse that is assaulted by a biker wearing wraparound sunglasses is asked to identify him by looking through a book of mugshots. She finds his mugshot and he's wearing the same wraparounds in the photo. No police department would ever allow someone to wear such a disguise while being photographed.

Quotes:

Heavenly Blues: We wanna be free! We wanna be free to do what we wanna do. We wanna be free to ride. We wanna be free to ride our machines without being hassled by The Man! ... And we wanna get loaded. And we wanna have a good time. And that's what we are gonna do. We are gonna have a good time... We are gonna have a party.

Movie Connections:

Featured in Edge of Outside (2006)

Soundtrack:

Wild Angels Chase

Classic Motorcycle Western

This early Roger Corman (thus, low-budget) biker film is a classic because it was made before all sorts of film-making conventions were established and became calcified and inviolable. It also gives an interesting look at California before urban sprawl destroyed it. But most of all, it is wildly amusing with lines that simply can't be taken with a straight face nowadays.

This movie breaks all the rules. The glorification of Nazi regalia is just plain over the top. Not only does the title actually include a Swastika (!), but the climactic funeral is adorned with quite possibly the largest Nazi flag in the State of California. Forget simple innocuous Iron Crosses, this film goes all the way and practically brings Goering and Himmler back to partake in the festivities. And Peter Fonda, as the leader of the pack, is made to look as Germanic as possible. Why? Well, that must have been the biker standard in 1966.

The dialog is just hilarious. "We have the power," Fonda yells to nobody in particular. "It's the Man," the Bruce Dern character Born Loser warns the others when the cops arrive during a weird gang fight. Every other line of dialog is a classic, lines delivered in completely un-ironic fashion that can't possibly be said with a straight face now. But the best is the impassioned speech the Peter Fonda character gives at the concluding funeral, when he sums up his gang's credo as, "We want the right to be free. Free to go where we want without being hassled by The Man. Free to have fun. And get loaded." And he says this as if he is demanding the right to vote or something! It's hysterical! I realize times have changed, but the film is chock full of treasures like that.

But it doesn't end there. Nowadays, you couldn't possibly have a rape scene where the rapists aren't punished and the social niceties observed. But here, just the opposite happens, and instead of the obligatory they-must-be-punished conclusion, everybody just goes on with their activities, which happen to be a wild orgy in a church. There is early drug use, primarily amyl nitrate, that presaged the more open view put forth in Fonda's later "Easy Rider." If you want to see a film that truly is not politically correct, and not one that pretends to be but actually still observes all the unwritten laws of Hollywood, this one fits the bill.

The story itself is pedestrian, sort of an updating of "The Wild Ones," where the outlaw biker gang goes around terrorizing quiet little towns because, you know, they just want to be free. It could have been filmed with horses and stagecoaches and been just as logical set in the 1880s. And despite all the now-forbidden imagery such as the rape scene, there really isn't anything truly offensive beyond that, no graphic nudity and little swearing.

I know some folks probably revere this film as reflecting the times and such, but modern viewers without any investment in the history of the 1960s will probably find this film a hoot for all sorts of unintentional reasons. And there's nothing wrong with that. It also provides an interesting counterpoint to the much more laid-back "Easy Rider." A great unconventional film for a quiet night.