"The Hellcats" is the very archetype of a 60's exploitation movie.
Driven by a wafer-thin plot about a guy who goes undercover with a biker gang to find his brother's killer, this movie is really just an excuse to shoot endless scenes of people riding and riding and riding and riding their motorcycles until you develop sympathy saddle soreness yourself. When the camera isn't pointed at someone riding a cycle, it's filming a drunken blow-out where various members insert heroin into various orifices, shot-gun beer bongs, dance the 'jerk', and grope each other (in a PG fashion); meanwhile the soundtrack plays random cheesy songs by bands who make the "Loving Spoonful" and the "Small Faces" sound like Motorhead.
To tell the truth, none of it looks like a lot of fun. Seriously, I think I'd rather do push ups on Parris Island in the blazing sun than lie wasted on cheap beer on a scabby couch in the middle of a meadow while listening to Davey Jones babble on about "Mass Confusion", at least the way "Hellcats" portrays it.
Back to the plot...Ross Hagen plays a 'Rent A Center' version of either Steve McQueen or Paul Newman; he wins the gangs' respect by um, I'm not sure...it has to do with breaking up a fight and not being torn in half by a motorcycle three-wheeler, and generally coming across like Motorcycle Biker-Gang royalty, so he's really like Tarzan of the Apes (another white boy who beat the Poor Dumb Natives at their own game). He finds the Mr. Big Mafia type who supplies the gang, and when the chips are down, the Hellcats come to the rescue and turn on the Mafia guys either because they like Hagen or because they figured out that the Mafia guys shot their original leader (I still can't figure out which).
The movie also features Lyle Waggoner in a confusing bit part (similar to his role as a heavy in 'Catalina Caper'). I guess this is how he paid the rent before the "Carol Burnett Show". There are also a bunch of people who showed up in the Coleman Francis movies.
While this movie is at LEAST as stupid as "Five The Hard Way" (another Ross Hagen vehicle from that era), this movie at least has a lighter touch, a less claustrophobic story line, and features a happy ending of sorts.
Still it's for fans of the genre only - I can't imagine anyone who isn't into 60's biker films and exploitation movies enjoying this. Quentin Tarantino, are you listening????
Driven by a wafer-thin plot about a guy who goes undercover with a biker gang to find his brother's killer, this movie is really just an excuse to shoot endless scenes of people riding and riding and riding and riding their motorcycles until you develop sympathy saddle soreness yourself. When the camera isn't pointed at someone riding a cycle, it's filming a drunken blow-out where various members insert heroin into various orifices, shot-gun beer bongs, dance the 'jerk', and grope each other (in a PG fashion); meanwhile the soundtrack plays random cheesy songs by bands who make the "Loving Spoonful" and the "Small Faces" sound like Motorhead.
To tell the truth, none of it looks like a lot of fun. Seriously, I think I'd rather do push ups on Parris Island in the blazing sun than lie wasted on cheap beer on a scabby couch in the middle of a meadow while listening to Davey Jones babble on about "Mass Confusion", at least the way "Hellcats" portrays it.
Back to the plot...Ross Hagen plays a 'Rent A Center' version of either Steve McQueen or Paul Newman; he wins the gangs' respect by um, I'm not sure...it has to do with breaking up a fight and not being torn in half by a motorcycle three-wheeler, and generally coming across like Motorcycle Biker-Gang royalty, so he's really like Tarzan of the Apes (another white boy who beat the Poor Dumb Natives at their own game). He finds the Mr. Big Mafia type who supplies the gang, and when the chips are down, the Hellcats come to the rescue and turn on the Mafia guys either because they like Hagen or because they figured out that the Mafia guys shot their original leader (I still can't figure out which).
The movie also features Lyle Waggoner in a confusing bit part (similar to his role as a heavy in 'Catalina Caper'). I guess this is how he paid the rent before the "Carol Burnett Show". There are also a bunch of people who showed up in the Coleman Francis movies.
While this movie is at LEAST as stupid as "Five The Hard Way" (another Ross Hagen vehicle from that era), this movie at least has a lighter touch, a less claustrophobic story line, and features a happy ending of sorts.
Still it's for fans of the genre only - I can't imagine anyone who isn't into 60's biker films and exploitation movies enjoying this. Quentin Tarantino, are you listening????