The Spikes Gang (1974)
After escaping home, three young friends form a dynamic alliance of untamed youth. They meet an old man named Spikes with the experience only a master gunfighter can offer. The gang of men go on a crime spree and are converted to outlaws with a price on their heads.
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I like Black Panther, but I didn't like this movie.
Strong acting helps the film overcome an uncertain premise and create characters that hold our attention absolutely.
Strong acting helps the film overcome an uncertain premise and create characters that hold our attention absolutely.
The film never slows down or bores, plunging from one harrowing sequence to the next.
I ran this film in my cinema as a double feature with a western called BILLY TWO HATS. I apologize. I shouldn't really because only 4 people came on the two nights it showed. BILLY TWO HATS featured Desi Arnaz Jnr as an Indian. It was filmed in Israel. Maybe Desi Jnr was making this in between takes of this glorious musical nobody saw either, called MARCO about.....Marco Polo. I am just aghast at all this. Anyway, THE SPIKES GANG is a rustic teenage crime drama from the B grade school of drive in movie-making that saw Bonnie and Clyde...Bloody Mama... Bullet For Pretty Boy...Boxcar Bertha or whatever. It has a good cast and solid production values. But nobody really wanted to see it and it was probably always doomed to be half of a double feature in a bumpkin drive in. Ron Howard in this and Desi Arnaz Jnr in the other. The local kids just thought this was nothing. In the 80s we had Matt Dillon films to take their place...like KANSAS.
Imagine, a movie that gives a lesson right from the bible, 'Those that live by the sword shall die by the sword'. It was amazing that none of the 3 boys ever said to one another, 'we were better off with our parents'. After doing some of the dumbest things imaginable for young boys and doing it badly you would thinkthey were smart enough to realize they weren't cut out for being out on their own. Anyhow, the movie was well done, gave you a real feel for what it musthave been like living in the 'Old West'. Plus how hard it must have been to be accepted by a community that knew every detail of every citizen that lived in the area. Maybe the reason for such a poor showing at the box office was the title. Lee Marvin plays himself and does it superbly.
A great cast, and a great idea, however the lack of character development makes this one a coulda-been great movie. The story and action flow along fast and furious, perhaps too much so, and we never really get to know the three wayward youths. When the first one is dusted, early on, it's hard to work up much emotion. A little more background and foundation on the character of the young ones would have made this a much better flick, otherwise it was a good watch.
A gem of a movie.Very realistic and exciting.A good combination of an established actor (Marvin) combined with up & coming actors (Grimes,Smith & Howard).It portrays the american west in a realistic manner (like most westerns from the late 60's & early 70's)