Biker gang leader Kisum (Adam Roarke) loves waitress Marcia Little Hawk (Joanna Frank). Her brother Johnnie Little Hawk (Robert Walker, Jr.), the leader of a group of American Indians disapproves. At various times these two groups are adversaries and allies. The two groups join forces but crooked businessmen scheme to have them at each other's throats again. The theme song "Anyone for Tennis" is by Cream. The Iron Butterfly are heard playing their classic "Iron Butterfly Theme." Producer Dick Clark and director Richard Rush made "Psych-Out" earlier in the year.
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Reviews
How sad is this?
Excellent but underrated film
A waste of 90 minutes of my life
It's fun, it's light, [but] it has a hard time when its tries to get heavy.
The most misogynistic movie of all time? Not to mention by '68 shouldn't they have moved beyond white people in brown face playing the "Indians"? My favorite parts though have to be when the girls giggle and blush as the bikers drag them off to gang rape them. Rape is fun! Who knew? Let's see, then there's the blatant rip-offs of "The Hustler" (fat boss character actually plays pool while scheming to destroy the Indians with the lead rebel dude), the horrific acting, the so-on-the-nose-they-might-as-well-have-just-told-you-what-to-think music cues, the lack of ANYONE WHO'S ACTUALLY Indian in this movie. And who are we supposed to be rooting for? I have to say it figures that Quentin Tarantino loves this movie. Even though his movies tend to champion strong women, I've heard from at least one source that in real life he's a misogynistic idiot. Why did I watch it, you ask? Don't ask.
In fact I would have gave it higher a rating but for the genre '8' will do. If you've'e seen some truly awful murdersickle gang movies and you want to be entertained and amused this is the one for you. Not that it has a morally life changing ending. In fact the ending is a little sad, with the bikers hired to do away with the Reservation only to find out the rednecks who hired them are working both ends against the middle.To me the best tagline is when the redneck drops into a karate stance and yells, "hai, KARATE", and the biker scoops up a barstool and yells, "Hai, CHAIR!!" and clobbers the redneck...Put the kiddies to bed, whip out some popcorn, and set back to be entertained...
This starts out to be one of the best biker films (which ain't saying much, since most are pretty horrible), but like another good one (The Hard Ride), it falls on it's backside, in the end.Rourke and Walker both elevate this film to a much higher level than it would be, with lesser actors. There's lots of action and the Indian story is a nice change of pace. What kills the effect is what happens in the end of the film, and the following will contain spoilers:..........Spoilers.............1. Johnnie gets shot in the back, but somehow ends up with a belly wound. 2. Does he live? No one knows, because it's not indicated. 3. After Fat Jack is killed, what happens to Seely? He just disappears. Did he escape? Did he fall dead from some unseen wound? Did he plan on killing his boss, or was it unintentional? 4. Kisum leaves his mortally wounded future brother-in-law, as if he means nothing to him. What happened to the ambulances? Wouldn't someone have called from the Indian reservation once the killing started? 5. Kisum finds Marcia, and it's over....just like that. Boo! With a tighter, better thought-out ending, this one could have been a winner. It's still worth seeing for Walker and Rourke's performances, as well as the early performances of "Lavern" and Billy Green Bush, but if only they had had a decent ending for it.
Except for one bloke, who is unfortunate enough to resemble Gerard Depardieu, this is a gang of uncommonly cute bikies. But don't let their looks fool you. They just love their violence, and they're torn between fighting the fat ugly exploitative white man and his henchmen or fighting the spunky indigenous Johnnie with his collection of trendy shirts.Of course, they just pick fights with anyone they meet for a while, but in the end they'll have to choose.