Despite the downbeat ending, this movie gives off a clear feeling that the cast really enjoyed making it. There is a sense of fun and playfulness about the bikers' way of life, in stark contrast with the grim, depressing storyline of Corman's The Wild Angels.
The conventional views of straight society are expressed by different characters bewildered by the bikers' aimless lifestyle. The go go dancer argues with gang leader Buddy about jobs and marriage, which he casually shrugs off with the remark that he's tried that already. Jack Nicholson's leading character Poet is continually ridiculed by biker girl Shill as being a square with a middle class set of values, when he tries to have a serious relationship with her. The movie honestly portrays both the attractions and the negative aspects of the freewheeling biker way of life without judging. Ultimately, Poet becomes disillusioned with the Hell's Angels and clashes with Buddy, as it becomes clear that Buddy expects unquestioning obedience from his followers, and imposes his own rules on them, not unlike the Establishment he's supposedly rebelling against.
This movie is a fascinating time capsule of a time and place most of us never knew in real life. Adam Roarke as Buddy and Jack Nicholson as Poet turn in two excellent performances in a meandering, casually thrown together movie that seems almost a documentary of the Hell's Angels lifestyle in the Sixties.
Worth seeing, even if you don't care for biker movies in general. More than one viewer has commented on the movie's strange, indefinable quality, as if the whole thing were a dream. See it and decide for yourself.
The conventional views of straight society are expressed by different characters bewildered by the bikers' aimless lifestyle. The go go dancer argues with gang leader Buddy about jobs and marriage, which he casually shrugs off with the remark that he's tried that already. Jack Nicholson's leading character Poet is continually ridiculed by biker girl Shill as being a square with a middle class set of values, when he tries to have a serious relationship with her. The movie honestly portrays both the attractions and the negative aspects of the freewheeling biker way of life without judging. Ultimately, Poet becomes disillusioned with the Hell's Angels and clashes with Buddy, as it becomes clear that Buddy expects unquestioning obedience from his followers, and imposes his own rules on them, not unlike the Establishment he's supposedly rebelling against.
This movie is a fascinating time capsule of a time and place most of us never knew in real life. Adam Roarke as Buddy and Jack Nicholson as Poet turn in two excellent performances in a meandering, casually thrown together movie that seems almost a documentary of the Hell's Angels lifestyle in the Sixties.
Worth seeing, even if you don't care for biker movies in general. More than one viewer has commented on the movie's strange, indefinable quality, as if the whole thing were a dream. See it and decide for yourself.