Pretty Good

Powerful

Memorable, crazy movie

There's no way I can possibly love it entirely but I just think its ridiculously bad, but enjoyable at the same time.

Two young men who bear a physical resemblance to Peter Fonda and Dennis Hopper perform a slow-motion home invasion while on-the-lam from a crime so despicable as to get them ejected from an erstwhile biker gang. Somehow the writers discovered a way to start at the bottom and go downhill from there. The victims are as helpless, unsympathetic and cooperative as possible which is important as the perpetrators are as hapless as they could be. It begins as a "biker-gang" movie made just two years after "Easy Rider" hit the big screen and could have been named "Queasy Rider" as the bikes these "gangsters" use appeaar to be 75cc miniature ponies rather that the big ole Harley hogs used in similar productions. In terms of technical achievement continuity wasn't a big issue for the movie-makers so it better not be for those of us who are watching. If you are inerested in a derivative "B" movie from the very early 70s this is your cup of COORS (product placement).

This low budget b-movie is very much on the sleazier end of the exploitation spectrum. It was released by those dependable purveyors of good time schlock, Crown International Pictures. In advance, this one looks like it's another in the biker film cycle that followed in the wake of the big box office success of Easy Rider (1969). But despite its title, poster and two central characters, there is actually little in the way of biker action to be found here. Instead, it is a very early example of a type of movie which would become more popular as the 70's went on and would go on to be one of the most controversial sub-genres, namely the house invasion movie. In this respect, Wild Riders is quite clearly ahead of the curve and this does make it interesting.It's about two biker thugs, who are exiled from their gang for killing a girl, they go on to conduct a house invasion of an affluent suburban home; their victims are two unfortunate women. From the outset this one makes it clear how it means to go on with a savage opening scene where a girl is nailed to a tree. Later there is more nastiness in the form of rape, murder and verbal abuse. It crescendos with a violent finale that was not only satisfying but also very funny. Despite how it may sound it's really not as disturbing as most films of this type that followed it but it definitely has a mean streak to it quite a bit of the time. It was after all refused a certificate in the UK when initially released and then re-refused again when it was submitted for home video in the late 80's. Definitely one of the tougher films released by Crown and one well worth checking out if you enjoy 70's exploitation.

Part of the "Savage Cinema" collection from Mill Creek... this one opens with a violent nude scene, where someone is attacking a woman, and we're not sure just what is taking place. The group of bikers talks about where they are heading... some are headed to California, and some are not. Pete (Arell Blanton) & Stick (Alex Rocco) meet up with some girls that are sunbathing on a roof-top, and trouble comes calling when Stick starts some serious trouble, and they don't want to leave. The plot just gets more and more strange from there, so you'll have to watch it for yourself. Be sure to make the kids leave the room first. Co-star Elizabeth Knowles made a whole bunch of these rad rebellion danger-chick flicks in the 1960s and 1970s. Written and directed by Richard Kanter, who wrote and directed seven other films in the same time period.

This typically trashy Crown International Pictures release may not be the foulest, single most scuzzy and revolting biker movie ever made (Al Adamson's cartoonishly repellent doozy "Satan's Sadists" gets my vote for that particular dastardly dishonor), but it still rates pretty highly as a real sleazy slice of wonderfully rancid drive-in cinema schlock just the same.Vicious, quick-witted dirtball Harley hound Pete (sneerfully played to the hissable hilt by Arell Blanton, who also co-wrote and sings the hideously slushy folkie theme song) and his brutish, mangy, unshaven, garbage-eating rapist retard buddy Stick (a terrifically odious and ferocious let it all hang out greasebag performance by Alex Rocco; Moe Greene in "The Godfather") get tossed out of a Florida motorcycle club after they murder a woman by nailing the luckless screaming lass to a tree (ouch!). En route to California the deadly disgusting duo seek refuge from the authorities in a remote hillside mansion. In said fancy abode resides bored buxom brunette thrill-seeker Elizabeth Knowles and repressed ravishing redhead Sherry Bain (who also appeared in the excellent, underrated AIP biker item "The Hard Ride" the same year), who not surprisingly wind up being savagely victimized by our twisted sicko outlaw twosome.Director Richard Kanter gleefully rubs the audience's noses in a virtually nonstop graphic orgy of coarse violence, raw fisticuffs, abject degradation and stirring last reel harsh retribution, thus making this so-nasty-it's-downright-gnarly nugget a must-see for hard-core fans of lowdown gritty early 70's exploitation swill. The spirited performances, unceasingly gross and seedy subject matter, and especially the rough, unpolished production values -- shaky cinematography, ragged editing, a raunchy sub-Davie Allan fuzztone guitar burning score -- add immensely to this grungy marvel's substantial scroungy appeal.