Wednesday, March 5, 2014

DEVIL's ANGELS - Roger Corman Presents: (1967)

Welcome to Wide Open Throttle Wednesday, and tonight's feature film, "Devil's Angels!" I'm sure Roger Corman gave a special big bonus to whoever came up with that title!

The music used in  "Devil's Angels" was composed by record producer and former Lt. Governor of California, Mike Curb! Mike wrote the music for a lot of biker movies including "The Wild Angels," "The Glory Stompers," "The Born Losers," and "The Savage Seven," but it somehow never affected his conservative electability! Strange bedfellows indeed! Any of the guitar driven parts of the music are by the always phenomenal Davie Allan and the Arrows!

This shot pretty much says it all, one quite large stinking rancid vat!

"Devil's Angels" is by far not my favourite biker movie, but it is an interesting period piece!

The casting director should have been put out of his misery for deciding to choose John Cassavetes for the role of the leader of the biker gang, "The Skulls!" As good as an actor as he was, John was born in New York City, and there's nothing about him that makes you feel like he might be the leader of a West Coast motorcycle gang!

Nuthin' but pure unadulterated style! I'd be shocked if Coors Beer didn't pay for product placement, but then again, in California in 1967, it's probably what you would be drinking, either that or Olympia!

They look like a nice enough bunch of guys, maybe just a little misdirected!

Maurice McEndree had the role of the ridiculously dirty faced Joe the Mole!

Now this shot is a piece of work, to get that many bikes and people in one shot and still frame your subject is not a simple task, so kudos to cinematographer Richard Moore!

The gang is searching for a hole in the wall of happiness, but they're not exactly sure where they're going! The only real reason "Devil's Angels" is even a movie is because it was made as a follow-up to the successful "The Wild Angels," but that movie had Peter Fonda, Nancy Sinatra, Bruce Dern, and Michael J. Pollard in it, and it makes a big difference!

So where else would you look for a hole in the wall but smack dab in the middle of nowhere, and  a little burg called Brookville!

Brookville is celebrating their 27th Annual Picnic, and high up on the roster of things to do is go to the beauty contest!

Nobody's happy about a motorcycle gang showing up at this joyous event...............

....................But all the guys in the gang promise to be good!!!!

This is a great portrait of Sheriff Henderson as played by one of the hardest working men in show business, Mr. Leo Gordon! The Sheriff has agreed to let the bikers camp outside of town, as long as they don't cause any mischief! (Good luck with that one!)

New girl in town and beauty contest loser Marianne decides to take off with the cutest guy in the gang, thinking that he must be a nice guy!

Wrong! He's a biker, not Prince Charming! Stupid girl! They give her booze and pot and then after she's nice and comfortable with the whole thing, they decide to rape her!

In real life, Mimsy Farmer is a whole lot more interesting and intelligent than Marianne could ever dream of being! She was in The Outer Limits episode titled "Second Chance," and in the late 60's, she was in a greasy chain of youth in unrest flicks like"Hot Rods To Hell," "Riot On Sunset Strip," this movie, and "The Wild Racers," before traveling to Italy in the 70's and hooking up with Dario Argento and others in Giallo classics like "Four Flies On Grey Velvet" and "The Perfume Of The Lady In Black!" Although Mimsy's last acting role was in 1991, she still has Art Department credits in this decade as a sculptor for movies as diverse as "Charlie And The Chocolate Factory" and "Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides!" She even has more sculpting credits for a movie that is currently in production "Guardians of the Galaxy!" Needless to say, this is one talented lady, and she just had a birthday five days ago, so it's a little late, but Happy Birthday Mimsy!

As the gang rides off into the distance, I'll tell you that if you really want to see "Devil"s Angels," you can find it streaming on Netflix! End of story!

2 comments:

Unknown said...

Film is So So, but the soundtrack is pretty COOL. Dig!!!

Eegah!! and Tabonga! said...

Too true Mr. E, the music is the saviour once again!

Monster Music

Monster Music
AAARRGGHHH!!!! Ya'll Come On Back Now, Y'Hear??