Riders stretched out across a sun-baked valley – you could be harking back to the heyday of the John Ford cavalry western instead of the biker picture, the first in the American International series, that sent shockwaves through society and laid the groundwork for the more philosophical Easy Rider (1969) a few years later. Long tracking shots are in abundance. You might wonder had director Roger Corman spent a bit more on the soundtrack, the bikers just worn beads instead of swastikas, and been the victims rather than the perpetrators of violence how this picture would have played out critics- and box office-wise.
The Wild Angels set up a template for biker pictures, one almost slavishly followed by Easy Rider, a good 15 per cent of the screen time allocated to shots of the Harley-Davidson riders and scenery, and a slim plot. Here Heavenly Blues (Peter Fonda), trying to recover a stolen bike, leads his gang into a small town where they beat up a bunch of Mexican mechanics, are pursued by the cops, hang out and indulge in booze, drugs and sex, and then decide to rescue the badly-injured Joe (Bruce Dern) from a police station. This insane act doesn’t go well and after Joe dies they hijack a preacher for a funeral service that ends in a running battle with outraged locals and the police.
There’s an odd subplot, given the lifestyle of freedom and independence, of Monkey (Nancy Sinatra) trying to get a romantic commitment out of Heavenly. Conversely, Heavenly, rejecting the traditional shackles of love, finds himself trapped by grief, eventually and quite rightly blaming himself for Joe’s death, and apparently turning his back on the Angels to mourn his buddy. The decline – or growing-up – of Heavenly provides a humane core to a movie that otherwise takes great pride in parading (and never questioning) excess, not just the alcohol and drugs, but rape of a nurse, gang-bang of Joe’s widow (Diane Ladd), violence, corpse abuse, and wanton destruction.
A ground-breaking film of the wrong, dangerous, kind according to censors worldwide and anyone representing traditional decency, but which appealed to a young audience desperate to find new heroes who stood against anything their parents stood for. In a decade that celebrated freedom, the bikers strangely enough represented repression, a world where women were commodities, passed from man to man, often taken without consent, and racism was prevalent.
Roger Corman (The Secret Invasion, 1964) was already moving away from the horror of his early oeuvre and directs here with some style, the story, though slim, kept moving along thanks to the obvious and latent tensions within the group. If he had set out to assault society’s sacred cows – the police, the church, funeral rites – as well as a loathing of everything Nazi, he certainly achieved those aims but still within the context of a group that epitomized some elements of the burgeoning counterculture.
In retrospect this appears an ideal fit for Peter Fonda, but that’s only if viewed through the prism of Easy Rider for, prior to this (see the “Hot Prospects” Blog) he was being groomed as a romantic leading man along the lines of The Young Lovers (1964). Bruce Dern (They Shoot Horses, Don’t They, 1969) was better suited, his screen persona possessing more of the essential edginess while Michael J. Pollard (Bonnie and Clyde, 1967) was the eternal outsider.
Rather surprising additions to the cast, either in full-out rebel mode as with Nancy Sinatra (The Ghost in the Invisible Bikini, 1966) or hoping appearance here would provide career stimulus as with movie virgins Diane Ladd (Chinatown, 1974) and Gayle Hunnicutt (P.J. / A New Face in Hell, 1968). Sinatra certainly received the bulk of the media attention, if only for the perceived outrage of papa Frank, but Hunnicutt easily stole the picture. Minus an attention-grabbing role, Hunnicutt, long hair in constant swirl, her vivid presence and especially her red top ensured she caught the camera’s attention.
Charles B. Griffiths (Creature from the Haunted Sea, 1961) is credited with a screenplay that was largely rewritten by an uncredited Peter Bogdanovich (The Last Picture Show, 1971).
The Magnificent 60s 
Peter Fonda must have been auditioning for The Joker based on that middle pic…
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Found this:
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On 16 Mar 1966, Var production charts reported the 7 Mar 1966 start of principal photography in Palm Springs, CA. The film was listed by its working title, All the Fallen Angels. Director Roger Corman told the 13 Sep 1966 LAT that production was completed in three weeks, “entirely on location.” He revealed that the bizarre, often violent incidents depicted on screen were based on true stories from the history of the Hells Angels Motorcycle Club. He described club members as “all the stupid, ignorant people of the world” rebelling against modern society. In the article, actor Bruce Dern argued that his Hells Angels co-stars were “not a bunch of people with real low IQs,” noting seven of them were military veterans. According to Dern, he was chosen for the role of “Loser” based on a performance he gave years earlier with the Actors Studio. After meeting Dern’s wife, actress Diane Ladd, Corman hired her as well. The 10 Aug 1966 Var noted that the Hells Angels appearing in the film were eligible to join the Screen Actors Guild (SAG), under a provision of the Labor Management Relations Act of 1947, known as the Taft-Hartley Act.
A news item in the 8 Jun 1966 Var reported that American International Pictures (AIP) was abandoning its series of youth-oriented fare, which began with Beach Party (1963, see entry), in favor of “protest” films. The first of these, The Wild Angels, formerly The Fallen Angels and All the Fallen Angels, was scheduled for media and exhibitor screenings the following week. An “invitational preview” was also planned for the New York Studio Theatre, hosted by AIP chief executives James H. Nicholson and Samuel Z. Arkoff, and stars Nancy Sinatra and Peter Fonda, with a dinner reception at the Lincoln Center Philharmonic Hall.
The 20 Aug 1966 NYT noted that several edits were made to the version released in the U.S., particularly in the “orgy” scene, to avoid condemnation by the National Catholic Office for Motion Pictures (NCOMP), which declared the film “morally objectionable in part for all,” as reported in the 20 Jul 1966 Var. Corman disapproved, saying the cuts rendered his film “less meaningful.” The picture was already in limited release in several U.S. cities, and was beginning its second New York City engagement, with no advance advertising or press reviews.
The unabridged version of The Wild Angels was chosen to open the 1966 Venice Film Festival in Venice, Italy. An article in the 29 Aug 1966 LAT reported that the American representative to the festival did not attend the screening “as an expression of U.S. government disapproval of the film.” One day later, the 30 Aug 1966 LAT described audience reaction as lukewarm, while critics were offended by the picture’s “pointless brutality.” A news item in the 7 Sep 1966 Var reported that Arkoff, Nicholson, Corman, and Fonda attended the festival, during which all of The Wild Angels publicity materials were stolen.
The Wild Angels opened 28 Sep 1966 in Los Angeles, CA, followed by a 21 Dec 1966 re-release in New York City. Reviews were mixed. While the 22 Dec 1966 NYT described the picture as “an embarrassment,” the 1 Jan 1967 LAT listed it among the previous year’s best releases. The 18 Sep 1966 LAT reported an enthusiastic public response, with anticipated earnings of $6 million, approximately fifteen times its production cost. Prompted by the film’s success, Nicholson and Arkoff told the 22 Nov 1966 NYT of their plans for a similarly-themed production, titled Satan’s Angels, released in 1967 as Devil’s Angels (see entry). The film’s notoriety also benefited Roger Corman, who was hired by Twentieth Century-Fox Film Corp. to direct The St. Valentine’s Day Massacre (1967, see entry).
Controversy over the picture continued, as the 20 Dec 1966 LAT reported that twenty-two members of the Hells Angels were suing Corman and AIP for depicting the club “in a false and derogatory manner,” making it unsafe for them to wear their uniforms in public. One month later, Corman and Nicholson told the 18 Jan 1967 Var that neither had yet received a court summons. Meanwhile, Corman announced plans to meet with British and Danish censors to explain the presence of swastikas and other Nazi symbolism in the picture. Both countries suffered under German aggression during World War II. Despite Corman’s efforts, Denmark’s minister of justice banned The Wild Angels, as reported in the 3 Feb 1967 LAT. It was only the fifth picture to be banned by that office. However, on 29 Mar 1967, Var revealed that censorship boards in Austria, France, Israel and Greece were relenting in their resistance to admitting the film. A U.S. Senate committee investigating juvenile delinquency subpoenaed Corman to discuss the causes of crime among the nation’s youth. The filmmaker claimed he was “delighted” by the opportunity.
A news item in the 8 Mar 1967 Var reported that singer-actress Nancy Sinatra was suing Tower Records, a subsidiary of Capitol Records, for using her image on the film’s soundtrack album. Because Sinatra’s voice did not appear on the album, she charged “unfair competition” and “misappropriation of name and likeness,” demanding $100,000 in punitive damages, along with an accounting of profits. She was under contract to Reprise Records at the time.
According to the 2 Aug 1967 DV, AIP planned to capitalize on the success of The Wild Angels soundtrack albums by creating a band of the same name. While selection of band members was still underway, AIP had already arranged a recording contract with Tower Records, a management contract with broadcast personality Casey Kasem, and public appearances through Associated Booking Corporation. There were also plans for a sequel to the 1966 film, and a television series, both starring the band. Although the project was ultimately aborted, a rockabilly band called “The Wild Angels” was formed in England that same year, and continued to perform into the early twenty-first century.”
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Absolutely fascinating stuff especially as AIP was pivoting away from more innocent fare. I’ve got Born Losers coming up.
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