Despite the initial getting used to of less quality film, and filming techniques, this movie is a couple days in the life of the Hells Angels of the 60's. This is a good movie to have a beer to. The movies highlight is the party sceen at the bohemian like house. It just shows everyone partying having a good time.
share The house was actually part of the Bakersfield (CA) Community Theater. It was used to store equipment in and they didn't mind the crew turning it into a hippie house. The party was a 1 day shoot. First they shot everything that had any dialogue, and then they told the bikers to drink all they wanted and to give them a party, No Problemo!. The girls we painted up were Hollywood bit-players but we had permission to be a bit inventive. Yes, we did have a good time. The room was so small that we could only fit in one camara. Each time they wanted to shoot from a new angle, they would have us repeat what we did. No Problemo! We had a ball, got blitzed on free beer, and got paid for it. Only in the movies. When we shot the big outdoor party, it was the same thing only we got drunk before they shot the scenes with dialogue. We got to gettin' loaded and throwin' our own party inbetween takes. When we rolled one of the bikers through the bonfire for fun, the director told us to drink all the beer we wanted and give him a party, No Problemo! We rolled the biker through the fire again. After about an hour, the director asked us if we could get a bike up on the roof (not in the script). Now, here's a bunch of blitzed scootertrash faced with a challange, naw, it was more a dare. Well, they formed kind of a human ladder next to the wall and the bike was up on the roof in a matter of seconds. The bike and rider came down the same way. No Problemo! And we got paid to do this. Biker life wasn't anywhere near as much fun as makin' that movie. But it was only a 13 day shoot, then back to the life of a real biker. The first part of the movie that the opening credits rolled over, used real HA. When the really crappy music ends and it shows the bikers riding down a street in town, that is Bakersfield and from that point on, no HA's were used, only the local guys in the Madcaps MC. It's nice to know that beer can make this movie palatable. That's my story and I'm stickin' to it.
Keep your Weed dry,
Dirty Denny (I'm the biker that was bullfightin' the motorcycles in the park)
Groovy story Dirty Denny! Great movie!
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Sonny Barger, president of the Hells Angels starred in and was a technical advisor on this film. When the two groups of bikers meet up at the intersection, that's Sonny who jumps off his bike and gives the other biker leader a big kiss! On my DVD version Sonny appears in the bottom right hand corner of the cover. Fans of this film should read 'Hells Angels' by Hunter S Thomopson (RIP), it gives excellent background to the bikers of that period and after reading it you're able to tell just how well the film depicted these men and machines.
shareIs that the only scene with Sonny? I didn't notice him throughout the rest of the movie. Great bike flick. Some of those scoots are boss!
Sonny was not the star and the scene you described was the only one you see his face in. The next scene showed bikers riding in the city. That was the Madcaps MC playing HA in Bakersfield, CA. The rest of the movie was shot In Bakersfield using Madcaps, even though there were HA on the set.
Love, Dirty Denny
I have nearly 30 Jack Nicholson movies on DVD and this has to be the poorest of all those, more often than not, great movies. The only Jack movie I've ever fallen asleep during (the orgy/drug party sequence). I asked my wife what I'd missed after that point and she punched me in the head and told me never to speak of this movie again.
Damn, I've got 'psych out' to sit through but surely that can't be as bad as this?
Agree...kick back with a cold one and enjoy. Jack Nicholson, need I say more.
shareSee ''The Rebel Rousers'' with Jack, Bruce Dern and Diane Ladd. It makes ''HAOW'' look like ''Gone With The Wind''.
shareI agree with you 100%. HAOW was not Jack's best, but then again, the plot line really sucked. The plot line was written by a non biker. It's hard to believe a biker movie could be substantially worse than HAOW, staring Jack. We need to remember that Jack was not the star in HAOW when it was released in 1967. He wasn't even a co-star. He was "...and Jack Nicholson as Poet". Then they gave him a weak part, on top of it all. He got better billing in Rebel Rousers (#4 from the top), but you can be no better than what the script and director says you can be. Plus you're being paid to do what you are directed to do. Can't blame Jack for either movie. With Jack's star status, Hollywood then made Jack the star in these 2 memorable movies. Again, not his fault.
Dirty Denny
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