For many Americans there is nothing like the freedom of riding a motorcycle. One the open road they are unique among the major forms of transportation. Unlike most vehicles the motorcycle allows the wind to blow all around you as you speed down the open road. Unlike any car, even a convertible the bike has an intimacy between vehicle and driver. You are straddled on the engine feeling all the power that it provides. Of course there is often an intimate relationship between the rider and the road during a crash. One popular name for a motorcycle in a hospital’s emergency room is ‘donor cycle’. After World War II many soldiers returning from the war purchased army surplus bikes and took off on the growing number of road that crisscross the country. Many were seen as outlaws in the purest sense of the word. They lived outside the normal conventions and morals of society. This spirit of freedom mixed with criminal behavior was just perfect for movies. Audiences love to live vicariously through the villains in crime thrillers and they have usually proven to be fan favorites. As far back as 1953 the film ‘Wild Ones’ staring Marlon Brando helped to create an image of biker gangs that would persist in the collective consciousness of the American public. Now an increasing number of middle aged men are buying bikes and forming ad hoc road clubs; not exactly the Hell’s Angels but they might like to believe so. While this is just the latest response to a mid life crisis it demonstrates that the biker lifestyle is still a matter of fascination for many in this country. Film makers are continuing to explore this topic and one of the latest in the trend is ‘Hell Ride’. The movie is pure cheese but there are times when that is exactly what you may want to watch. This is an old school biker flick that would have been just right back in the day when drive-ins were all the rage. It would be well at home in any grindhouse that we used to visit in our misspent youths. The DVD of the flick is part of the growing thriller and horror collection provided by the Dimension Extreme branch of the Weinstein Company and Genius Productions. They usually specialize in some of the better independent films of these genres. In this case this is not a great movie by any standards but it fills a niche in the market for those you love cheese on their pizzas and their flicks.

Larry Bishop wrote, directed, produced and stars in this movie. He is a veteran of several biker flicks of the sixties and has been a rider for many decades. Ironically much of his career was in television on shows such as ‘Laverne & Shirley’, ‘Love American Style’ and ‘I Dream of Jeannie’. He also had a featured role in the mod generation political opus ‘Wild in the Streets’. If a casting director was after someone who looked like a tough guy biker Bishop was their go to guy. When Bishop worked on the two ‘Kill Bill’ flicks he became friends with Quentin Tarantino and Michael Madsen. Since Tarantino is the ultimate film buff he was very familiar with Bishop’s resume. He encouraged him to write, direct and star in his own homage to the sixties biker movies. Madsen agreed to co-star and Tarantino would executive produce. The result was ‘Hell Ride’. A lot of people looked down on this flick and from the standards of a discerning modern fan I can understand that reaction. You really have to have been a fan of those campy old flicks from forty years ago to get into this one. The plots are not just simplistic they are barely there. All they have to do is provide some frames of film between the often gross action sequences and the inevitable explicit female nudity. Considering the venues that these films were shown the audience wasn’t there for great cinema. They wanted shocks and thrills. This film delivers in that old time fashion both. You just can’t consider this movie with the same criteria as your would a modern crime thriller. There is no sophistication to the movie; none was intended or required in this case.

As the director Bishop is obviously trying his level best. He tips his hat to Tarantino frequently but nothing here has the flair and style of a Tarantino movie. The movie is heralded as ‘A Quentin Tarantino Production’ but there is little of the master contained here. Sure there is some of his influence shown here. He studied all the old films while Bishop was busy acting in them so a form of symbiotic relation most likely did occur. There is a reason that many of us talk about the advances that have been made in the art of cinema over the last forty years. Every aspect of a movie is now slicker, more sophisticated and polished. This movie is such a perfect example of sixties schlock that it suffers from each and every flaw of a grindhouse flick of that day. For the more refined audience of this new millennium it comes across as just another bad movie. I can understand what Bishop was trying to do and applauded his effort but he brought back the bad movie along with the fun Saturday night flick.

The basic premise of the film, and I mean basic, a war between two rival biker gangs; the 666ers and the Victors. Heading up the Victors is the older and much grizzled Pistolero (Larry Bishop). Helping to keep his gang in line are his two lieutenants The Gent (Michael Madsen) and Comanche (Eric Balfour). The Gent is older and got his name from his perchance of wearing a ruffled dress shirt under a tux jacket with gang emblem sewn on it. Considering his predilection for violence there are not many men who would taunt him about his apparel; at least none that are still alive. Also there to help out is the one time right-hand man of Pistolero, Eddie Zero (Dennis Hopper). He has more than a few grey hairs on his head but is still lethal. On the other side the leader of the 666ers is Billy Wings (Vinnie Jones). He enjoys nothing more than riding the open road and bringing the greatest amount of pain to people as is possible. Gitmo would be a tame environment for this sicko. Fundamentally he is just the front man. The real power behind the gang is another old timer, Deuce (David Carradine). He has a somewhat legitimate business now but is still a biker gangster to the core. There is some attempt to build a story about betrayal and revenge that is typical for the genre but too amorphous to realistically consider any details. There are plenty of women in the flick but not a whole lot of money was budgeted for their wardrobe. If they do bother to put some clothing on it doesn’t leave much to the imagination. They are good for only two things; sex and torture. One lamentable young lady has her throat slit and then is set ablaze. At least she got out of the flick fairly early on.

The acting here is true to form and virtually non-existent. Bishop is doing what he does best, being a bad dude. Madsen seems asleep most of the time and tries too hard to project ‘mean’ when he actively takes place in a scene. Carradine seems to get the joke and plays along well with it. The real treat was seeing Hopper back on a bike again. He was part of film History with ‘Easy Rider’. Now that was a bike movie should be written, directed and acted. Perhaps Bishop should have had more talks with Hopper than Tarantino. The young ladies here don’t have to act. They parade around like the day shift in a low end strip club out near the airport.

True to form Dimension Extreme does a great job with the DVD release. This is not the best example of what they have to offer so please don’t judge them too harshly. The video is well done and the Dolby 5.1 audio is reasonable good. There are also a lot of extras into the production of the film. This would make a fun pizza and beer night if you and your friends still remember the sixties.