Bury Me an Angel (1971) User Reviews

Really good

[BandSAboutMovies · 6/10 · 8 March 2023]

Barbara Peeters, who would go on to direct Summer School Teachers, Starhops and Humanoids from the Deep, came up with the idea for this movie while working as a script supervisor on Angels Die Hard. Once actress Rita Murray told her she was looking to produce, Peeters pitched and wrote this film in days. This would make Peeters the first female biker film director.

The six foot tall Dixie Peabody had been in Angels Die Hard in a small part and wouldn't make many movies past this starring role (she's also in Night Call Nurses and was a production assistant on Peeters' Summer School Teachers). She plays Dag, who isn't just a girl riding the back of the bike, but instead someone who rides for revenge on her own cycle.

As the film begins, we see her brother Dennis (Dixie's real-life-brother Dan) get shot in the fact with a shotgun blast by a stranger (Stephen Whittaker), an event we see replayed in Dag's head throughout the film. She grabs Jonsie (Terry Mace), Bernie (Clyde Ventura) and a gun of her own and they all head out north to kill that man, a fact lamented by her mother who realizes there's no way she can stop her daughter. Maybe no one can.

Yet this isn't the expected revenge film. The trio meet a witch in the desert who reveals to Dag that the revenge isn't going to take away her grief and pain. An encounter with a hippie art teacher (Dan Haggerty) that turns into a red lit lovemaking scene which causes Dag to run rather than face up to the emotions she's running from shows that our heroine maybe has some demons of her own. This is confirmed by the drug trip flashback she has and the ending, which drops some gasoline on the fire of this film and confirms the real reason why Dag's brother's death destroyed her.

Top it all off with some great songs by East-West Pipeline - their "Let It Be" isn't The Beatles' song but it's super hot - and this film stands out from the rest of the biker pack. I wonder why Dixie Peabody didn't do more, because she had the charisma to be somebody big and by that, I mean she'd be the villain torturing Cheryl "Rainbeaux" Smith or Claudia Jennings in some dank prison somewhere in the jungle, which I see as making it big.

Only If You Have Nothing Better To Do

[GrandpaBunche · 3/10 · 20 June 2008]

Despite its much-discussed feminist slant, this film is a slow-moving, amateurishly-made bore whose trailer is all you need to see of it. Nearly everything worth watching in the full-length movie is found in the trailer, and its punctuated by some of the most hilariously overripe narration in history. BURY ME AN ANGEL sucks out loud, but I give it a 3 out of 10 solely for its idiotic and horrendously-staged bar fight that's less exciting that watching two eight-week-old kittens slapping each other around with their paws. That fight may be pitiful, but it inspires a certain awe when one considers the balls it took to put something so pathetic onto the screen and actually expect people to shell out good money to see it. And let us not forget the incredible turn by star Dixie Peabody; her loony expressions and acting when she gets crazy while reminiscing about her murdered brother are amazing in a way that calls to mind a fusion of Edy Williams and Susan George at their most over-the-top.

Easy Rider meets Plan 9

[actionfilm-2 · 2/10 · 14 November 2010]

Fans of outlaw biker films heads up. Those who dig the revenge genre gather round. If you enjoyed Plan 9 From Outer Space this... wait a minute, where did everyone go?!

Well it begins with an overlong scene of 30 or so young hippie folk laying around a garage (literally, there are no chairs!) getting drunk, smoking herb, and making out. There is no dialog so it serves to establish that.... well I suppose that the biker heroine of the film is one groovin' party host. Anyway, she and her brother go into the house to replenish the supply of brew when there's a knock at the front door. Brother biker opens the door and has his head blown off by a dark figure with a shotgun. At this point one might question whether this is a comedic effort due to the technical expertise here, we see what is clearly a fake dummy head explode, followed by a shot of the actor falling to the floor with head intact! And so begins Bury Me An Angel, as biker chick Dixie P. bids farewell to her mother with a nod, a spit in her direction, and some choice expletives (endearing her even more to the audience) and speeds away on her bike towards revenge.

Along for the ride are 2 male friends, and the three encounter some zaniness along the way. Most notably a strange lady living in what is maybe a desert hotel or restaurant, really not sure what it was supposed to be, but in the film it looks like a 2 car garage with curtains. At any rate, desert lady shows them love and hospitality and then declares she's a witch. The group is not hip to this and show skepticism, so the black magic broad starts with the psychic hot-line talk, "you have revenge in your heart" she tells Dixie. Well Broom Hilda might as well have described Dixie as 40 miles of bad road because she and her 2 pals go after the witch with a vicious verbal assault. The witch is unaffected by their tongue lashing, so Dixie snatches her spell writing hand and shoves it into the burning fireplace, but Zowee! Nothing Happens! She really is a witch they suddenly realize. For some reason the witch's love, hospitality, and passive attitude angered the group, but the realization that she is actually a witch endears her to the three. It's either that or the marijuana joint witch Zelda immediately produces saying "here, save this for the road, I have more" and they form a circle, fire up some wacky tabaccy, and all is well. The lesson learned? Nothing diffuses a dangerous situation from savage pothead bikers like an cannabis offering.

Parts of Bury Me An Angel are indeed dullsville, but there are enough oddball moments to recommend the film. The acting is what you might expect from a very low budget effort. Dixie Peabody's performance is so so throughout, but she pulls one out of the hat with the final confrontation and it becomes a powerful moment believe it or not.

Don't. Don't do it. REALLY not much there.

[jbar19 · 3/10 · 25 December 2007]

Only interesting from a historical standpoint as it is written and directed by a women and has a strong woman as the central character.

There is more padding in this movie than in box of cotton.

There are long sweeping shots of three people riding motorcycles through beautiful vistas... over and over again. I was able to fast forward through 40% of this movie without missing any dialogue. In fact, we were making fun of it. It was like the actors drove about 2 miles, stopped, changed their clothing and drove another 2 miles, etc to make it look like the movie took place over a longer period of time.

The chick is pretty and she does a passable job, but there's just not that much there. Almost no action. Even the ending is vague and silly.

I LOVE bad movies. I love biker flicks and flicks from the 70s. I can usually find something positive about any movie... But this one... Ooooffff.... Just avoid it if you can.

Keep Moving... Nothing to see here.

Painfully overlooked biker film shows off its feminist strength.

[emm · 7/10 · 13 April 1999]

You can complain all you want about low budget production values, but BURY ME AN ANGEL is a lot better than most biker pictures of the age, telling a "revenge-on-the-go" story that satisfies. Best of all, it defines both revenge and attitude at the same time! This is as solid as it gets with writing a feminist statement into an exploitation movie that doesn't require a single damsel going under a lot of painful distress. Many drive-in movies have copied off this tiring idea numerous times before (like the women-in-prison idea), so this movie was obviously going into a new direction. The key word is revenge, and it defines exactly what this movie is about, not withstanding the pressure of most filmmakers who still haven't learned how to make good exploitation.

This damsel, by the way, falls under the name of Dixie Peabody, certainly knowing how to show who's boss throughout the whole film. Her style of character stands out extremely high and sticks with it. You can tell that she has that mean, emotionless personality inside, and never gives up trying. And you know what she's going after. Revenge, and nothing short of sweet! It's not bad to have two accompanying buddies to join her for the ride. It would almost be certain that it rips off EASY RIDER, but thank goodness this one isn't exactly an action film carrying the "femme fatale" label. Who needs it, anyhow?

Bottom line: this IS serious biker hash that doesn't need to go over the border with lousy creativity demonstrated in SATAN'S SADISTS. You wouldn't want to miss Dan "Grizzly Addams" Haggerty in a movie like this, a guy reasonable in a dark-haired beard that Nu-Hart later hired. As obscure as BURY ME AN ANGEL has become, so does the actress Dixie Peabody who should have been best remembered for her solid performance on both motorcycle and turf. Where is she today? An overlooked (and perhaps lost) drive-in experience could someday rediscover itself again, if you took my word on this page.

Totally lied to by the cover art on the box

[hkronin · 1/10 · 11 August 2008]

It had it's moments, like brother getting his head blown off, and Dag bouncing in the water naked... other than that.....arghhhhh! The box shows a hot blond wearing a short tied top, and daisy duke short, and shows her side-kicking a guy in the head. She's not blonde(at least not that blonde), she never wears that top (or anything close to it), never wears shorts, and never kicks anyone in the head. As far as the tag line of taking on a whole gang... she is going after one unarmed nerdy guy who is scared out of his wits.

The cover of the box should show a brown haired girl dressed like Han Solo, riding on a bike. That's pretty much the movie.

A bit before its time, and still before its time

[drystyx · 9/10 · 18 July 2012]

The movie is about a biker chick who wants revenge for the murder of her brother. She goes on a quest with two guys, which is good, because they're somewhat more interesting than she is. Not that they're "angels", or even "mature", but they're "kids", so it is understandable that they're immature.

The movie seems to be full of "slices" of little parts of the journey. It's supposed to show character, and it does to some extent.

In 1972, there were some characters that you see here, but there are some stereotypes, especially at the school where adults cower to the bikers.

It's obvious that the film maker wanted to have a mix of "stereotypes scenes" like the bar room brawl and the pool hustling, but those are the weaknesses of the movie. However, the powerful punch of the film makes this weakness fit in a bit.

Using a "witch", although a very modern witch, to show the "wisdom" also makes this weak, and smacks of propaganda. The "witch" is the "mouthpiece" of the work.

However, the "witch" is the sane character in this mix.

Though it is obvious the lead woman is a maniac, the movie does a good job of leading the more naive viewer into the final outcome, where that becomes blatant.

There are many saving graces to the movie. The ending reveals much that some more sophisticated viewers will suspect much earlier, but it probably isn't obvious to the more naive. The ending will be sure to disappoint the kids who think vengeance is "cool". And the ending will even be a pleasant surprise, though a sad one, for the sophisticated viewer.

The two sidekicks are more interesting than the lead, as are some of the people she meets along the way. In a way, these two are the film, as they represent what "somewhat saner" people do when their friend is a psychopath.

This could have been a memorable film. In fact, the climactic scene does make it worthwhile. A good turnabout. Look for this film to some day be one of the classics of this era, for the very reasons it is unpopular with IMDb today. It dares. It is the ultimate in the iconoclastic.

A Howling Hellcat Humping a HotSteel Hog on a Roaring Rampage of Revenge

[kennywest1 · 8/10 · 25 April 2001]

Dixie Peabody stars as "Dag" in this hypnotic biker film. Dag and her two male biker friends search for the murderer of Dag's brother, who was shot during a party. The film marches the trio into constant trouble,and a friendly encounter with Dan"Grizzly Adams"Haggerty as a young hippie. The music in the film reflects the times of free love and peacenik joy, but the background score in the flashback scenes invoke a witchy pride to the story that itself is dreamy and illusionary.