Devil's Angels (1967)

Sadly Over-hyped

I have absolutely never seen anything like this movie before. You have to see this movie.

At first rather annoying in its heavy emphasis on reenactments, this movie ultimately proves fascinating, simply because the complicated, highly dramatic tale it tells still almost defies belief.

One of those movie experiences that is so good it makes you realize you've been grading everything else on a curve.

First there are no Hell's Angels as in mentioned in the main summery, the MC is the Skulls for you trivia lovers. As is so often the case in many of these summaries their weakness makes me wonder if they actually watched the movie. The movie does have a common plot for the genre, the beat music and slang of the Sixties fills the movie. The leader, John Cassavetes, is one of the not really bad guys, just a guy trying to find his way. So his performance is above what one often sees in these types of movies. Over another normal 60s biker "gang" stereotypes in plot but without the why so common death ending so in so many of films. At least more of a more positive ending

An exiled band of Hell's Angels strike a bargain with the Sheriff of a local town, let them stay and the town is safe. But a local girl strays into their lair and sparks off a full scale Angel war.Nothing like a good old Arkoff-Nicholson-Corman production featuring bikers who are sick of "the Man" and want to fight, camp under the stars, and get crazy. Not a bad thing, but not really much in the way of originality here, either. I mean, after all, this was cashing in on their previous film, "Wild Angels", which was cashing in on the Hell's Angels' notoriety (and apparently the AIP guys ran into legal trouble for trying to put the Angels name in the movies... but who knows?) Now, besides the three guys mentioned above, we must mention the director: Daniel Haller. Probably not as well known as those guys, but he was the set designer for the AIP Poe films, so he was one of the family.I guess the film grossed $4 million, which is not bad for a low-budget flick with no big names -- with all due respect to John Cassavetes (who horror fans know from "Rosemary's Baby") and Mimsy Farmer (who worked with Italian horror masters Argento, Fulci and Deodato).

Devil's Angels (1967) ** (out of 4) AIP biker flick is yet another take on THE WILD ONE. Biker Cody (John Cassavetes) wants to find his gang a "Hole in the Wall" just like Butch Cassidy's gang but soon they run into a Sheriff (Leo Gordon) who they're able to make a deal with but the locals have their own plans. When AIP had a hit with THE WILD ANGELS they quickly threw this film into production and while it's far from a classic there's no doubt that it's at least entertaining and fans of the genre should have a good time with it. It's funny to think that the entire film we're supposed to be rooting for the bikers but when you view this film today, and I'm sure it was the same in 1967, you can't help but look at them as the bad guys. They're rude, loud, obnoxious and I don't see how anyone could agree with the stuff they're doing through the first hour of the movie. So, how did the producers try to make us like them? By throwing in equally dumb and obnoxious locals including a Mayor who decides to best way to teach the bikers is to accuse them of rape, which of course just leads to a whole 'nother battle. As with THE WILD ANGELS, the material is handled a lot more serious than most biker movies from this era. What violence is here is usually in the background and there's not even any nudity, profanity or other things like that. As straight as the movie is, there are a few campy moments including a bit with the boys filling up their gas tanks and then not having the money to pay for it. The final courtroom sequence also doesn't do anything but it's a pretty funny form of justice. Cassavetes is obviously way too talented for material like this but his performance certainly raised the quality of the film. Beverly Adams and Mimsy Farmer are both fun in their roles and Gordon does a nice job with the Sheriff. Non-genre fans might not find this worth sitting through but fans of the genre will want to check it out at least once and especially with dialogue like "When God created woman he made her pretty stupid."

Daniel Haller directs this campy low-budget biker film produced by Roger Corman. The biker gang The Skulls, are on the move after one of the members, Gage(Buck Taylor), accidentally kills a man stopped road side by a traffic cop. The morally conflicted gang leader Cody(John Cassavetes), makes the decision to move an already decimated gang to a newer "home". The rebellious followers are hard to keep in check; always wanting to raise havoc. On the way to a mythical "hole in the wall" hideaway, the riders look for a place to lodge and find a small town having a carnival. When barging in on a beauty contest some of the gang members claim to be insulted and going against Cody's orders decide to terrorize the little community with aid from another gang as payback for the citizens that offended them. Roaring cycles, the shimmy of dancing bottoms in bikinis and the soundtrack of fuzzy, twangy surf guitars...makes for terrific 1960s "drive-in" fare. The cast also features: Mimsy Farmer, Beverly Adams, Marc Cavell, Leo Gordon, Russ Bender, Buck Kartalian and Nai Bonet. There is some humor inside the very bad acting; and it appears Cassavetes took the budget and ran.