The Wild Angels

Part of the special series NACHTBLENDE

Nachtblende: TRIBUTE TO THE KING OF CULT // In a double feature with THE TRIP

‘After careful consideration I have decided I have no interest in joining the Hell's Angels. These guys are total dipshits.’ brendanross on Letterboxd

Roger Corman proved that he not only had a knack for fantastic cinema with this well-researched and great-looking milieu study about the Wild Angels, who are modelled on the Hell's Angels. In a double feature with THE TRIP, with which he set the course for Dennis Hopper's EASY RIDER.

The counterculture and subculture depicted here is already disillusioned and cynical in 1966. The Wild Angels' defiant desire for freedom does not interfere with the fetishisation of Nazi symbols or the use of racially motivated and sexual violence. But the outlaws do have great names: Blues, Loser and Frankenstein, for example. After Ugly - another member - stole a police motorbike and was shot while fleeing, the group wants to show solidarity. But how do they get the gunshot victim out of the heavily guarded hospital? And is it even wise to kidnap a man fighting for his life from there?