jaybee-9 Review of Hells Angels on Wheels

Hells Angels on Wheels (1967)

Cheesy 60's fun, with a plot haphazardly tagged on at the end.

[2/10 · 24 August 1999]

I really found this to be quite a joke of a movie. Even Jack Nicholson can't save this meandering, plotless dreck from the 60's. I'm assuming most people who have seen this movie did so only because Jack's in it, not counting anybody who saw it during it's original theatrical run (Did it have one?). Jack's character gets caught up with the Hell's Angels after he meets them at his dead end gas station job. They fight, party, harass locals and ride their bikes for the first half hour of the movie it seems. One brawl scene in a bar early on in the movie seems to take forever and it appears to be almost entirely ad libbed. Jack's character falls for the leader of the Angel's girlfriend, which sets up the climactic finale. It is mostly a cheap throwaway flick meant to glorify the freedom of bike gangs while at the same time trying to chastise their violent image. I would only recommend it to Nicholson fans because at times it is so bad, it's good, ala "Plan 9 from Outer Space". Okay, maybe not that bad.