Angels Hard as They Come (1971)

User Rating:

4.7/10   

Director:

Joe Viola

Writers:

Jonathan Demme (screenplay)
Joe Viola (screenplay)

Release Date:

September 1971 (USA)

Genre:

Action | Drama

Tagline:

An eye for an eye... a piece for a piece.

Plot:

Sex, violence and bikers on an action filled ride, in this film produced and co-written by Jonathan Demme.

Plot Keywords:

Violence | Drug | Sex | Biker | Ghost Town

Cast

Scott Glenn	...	Long John
Charles Dierkop	...	General
James Inglehart	...	Monk
Gilda Texter	...	Astrid
Gary Littlejohn	...	Axe
Gary Busey	...	Henry
Don Carerra	...	Juicer
Brendan Kelly	...	Brain
Janet Wood	...	Vicki
Dirty Denny	...	Rings (as Dennis Art and Dennis 'Dirty Denny' Art)
Neva Davis	...	Clean Shiela
Cherie Latimer	...	Lucifer's Girl Cheri
Marc Seaton	...	Louie
Steve Slauson	...	Magic
John Taylor	...	Crab

Also Known As:

Angel Warriors (Europe: English title) (UK)
Angels
Angels as Hard as They Come (UK)
Angels, Hell on Harleys

Runtime:

85 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Metrocolor)

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Norway:18 (video) (1982) | Sweden:(Banned) | USA:R | UK:18 | Iceland:16

Filming Locations:

Paramount Ranch - 2813 Cornell Road, Agoura, California, USA

Company:

New World Pictures

Trivia:

Gary Busey's first film.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Wanderlust (2006) (TV)

Makes taking a nap look like Mardi Gras

Jonathan Demme, who wrote the script for this, went on to become one of Hollywood's most prominent directors. There's no indication of his talent whatsoever in this, his first work. "Angels Hard as They Come" is possibly the dullest, least interesting biker flick I've seen. Its not bad enough to be funny and not good enough to be noteworthy. Its just boring all the way through. The back of the DVD I got says its a satire of the genre. If thats true, its an accurate (if unfunny) depiction of the biker films. If not, its the most clichéd biker film I've seen in a while. Demme originally planned for the film to be a "biker 'Rashomon'". If that original concept had panned out, this may have been like his later interesting (if overrated) take on the women-in-prison film "Caged Heat". Unfortunately it didn't, and we were stuck with this.

People don't watch biker films for quality acting or good direction. They watch them for some exploitation thrills. The standard rumble scenes are in "Angels", but they offer no excitement at all because the characters are so uninteresting and hard to differentiate from one another. I realize that biker films don't have multi-dimensional protagonists, but the ones in this aren't even amusing stock types. Plus, the film is pretty tame outside of some brief nudity (its not wall to wall with sadism). To be fair, some of the acting is decent (in particular Scott Glenn) and its fun to see cult actor Larry Tucker ("Shock Corridor", "Blast of Silence") in a small role in the beginning. Still, if you want a good biker flick check out "The Wild Angels" or "The Born Losers". "Angels Hard as They Come" makes taking a nap look like Mardi Gras. (2/10)