This was the first film directed by 70s action and blaxploitation movie legend Jack Starrett (Slaughter, Cleopatra Jones, Race With the Devil) and despite a minuscule budget and a 13 day shooting schedule, it manages to hold up fairly well today, thanks in large part to its sharp cinematography and innovative editing. Starrett made clever use of split screen compositions to energize the action, and the often rapid-fire editing keeps things moving along briskly. Run Angel Run was also the first starring role for Big Bill Smith, and the one that made him a 70s action movie icon. As Angel, fugitive biker, Smith's chiseled features, macho mustache and bulging biceps get a lot of screen time. In fact, at times I found myself wondering why Smith was running from his gang - he looks like he could punch out every biker in California single-handed, then bench press their hogs. Anyway, the essentials of the movie - lone biker on the run, menacing bike gang giving chase, fast action on the road and lots of fights - made Run Angel Run a surprise hit and one of the few true classics of the short-lived biker genre, alongside Easy Rider, Angels Die Hard, and The Born Losers. Finally out on DVD from Media Blasters, the folks responsible for the Tokyo Shock DVD label, Run Angel Run features introductory commentary by Joe Bob Briggs and a title song by Tammy Wynette.
9 Reviews
Chased by an Outlaw Motorcycle Gang
Uriah4328 November 2016
"Angel" (William Smith) is a biker who is wanted by an outlaw motorcycle club known as "the Devil's Angels" for spilling their darkest secrets to a magazine for $10,000. But in order to retrieve the money he and his girlfriend "Laurie" (Valerie Starrett) have to drive from Los Angeles to Frisco and his old motorcycle gang is quite aware of his destination. So to buy some time Angel stops off along the way and gets a job with a sheep rancher named "Dan Felton" (Dan Kemp) who needs some help. The problem is Angel doesn't know anything about sheep and even less about settling down. Meanwhile, rather than giving up, the outlaw motorcycle gang continues to look for him and they are willing to do whatever it takes to find him. Now rather than reveal any more I will just say that this film started out pretty good but seemed to lose steam about halfway through before picking up again towards the end. That said, William Smith performed fairly well and all things considered I suppose it wasn't too bad as far as "biker movies" are concerned. Average.
Bill Smith's best biker movie
pmullinsj1 April 2004
'Run Angel Run'is the first of Bill Smith's biker movies, and is probably the best of them--a simple, surprisingly moving tale. There's a great title song by Tammy Wynette--how can you beat that? And Smith looks smashing as he always did in that period.
Joan Didion's essay on biker movies in 'The White Album' collection is worth reading. I agree with her about the excellent photography of the West-and the best may have even been in the subsequent 'Angels Die Hard', which has some good songs behind the scenes of the bikers riding on the highway.
'Run Angel Run'is referred to in Smith's 1976 'The Hollywood Man', where he plays an actor similar to himself in many ways--and exactly insofar as both had made 'Run Angel Run'.
The supporting players, including Valerie Starrett as his girlfriend, are also excellent.
Joan Didion's essay on biker movies in 'The White Album' collection is worth reading. I agree with her about the excellent photography of the West-and the best may have even been in the subsequent 'Angels Die Hard', which has some good songs behind the scenes of the bikers riding on the highway.
'Run Angel Run'is referred to in Smith's 1976 'The Hollywood Man', where he plays an actor similar to himself in many ways--and exactly insofar as both had made 'Run Angel Run'.
The supporting players, including Valerie Starrett as his girlfriend, are also excellent.
Bland to the Bone
skullislandsurferdotcom10 May 2010
Warning: Spoilers
The opening credit sequence (making up for backstory) shows the cover of a fictional LIFE-esquire "LIKE MAGAZINE" adorned with the face of William Smith's character, Angel: he's been interviewed and told-all about his biker gang.
So the film starts with his former-fellow marauders chasing he and his girl down the highway and onto a moving train (the best filmed sequence, using split-screen nicely).
After finding solace at a rural farm, Mr. and Mrs. Smith learn to be "normal", which doesn't go without tons of arguments and forgiveness. This is the down-time of biker films, and has a "message" about the biker lifestyle selling out, perhaps because of the year-before blockbuster EASY RIDER: which this film borrows from in its flash-cut editing.
Smith's acting is good but he seems to be doing a Stanley Kowalski imitation. And Jack Starrett, who's classic leathery voice is used for an aged gas station attendant, has directed much better.
So the film starts with his former-fellow marauders chasing he and his girl down the highway and onto a moving train (the best filmed sequence, using split-screen nicely).
After finding solace at a rural farm, Mr. and Mrs. Smith learn to be "normal", which doesn't go without tons of arguments and forgiveness. This is the down-time of biker films, and has a "message" about the biker lifestyle selling out, perhaps because of the year-before blockbuster EASY RIDER: which this film borrows from in its flash-cut editing.
Smith's acting is good but he seems to be doing a Stanley Kowalski imitation. And Jack Starrett, who's classic leathery voice is used for an aged gas station attendant, has directed much better.
hampered with a tedious and mundane middle
movieman_kev15 October 2005
Biker film legend William Smith is outlaw biker Angel in this B-grade drive in film that has a pretty good beginning and ending, but the middle is death incarnate. Angel has to go on the lam from his former fellow gang members after they get mad at him for agreeing to tell the secrets of their group to a newspaper for a good sum of money (sizable for 1969 that is) He's where we get to the crappy middle part. Angel and his lady hide out with a farmer and help him with the farm work. And the film just seems content to spin it's wheels, just padding out the running time by showing mundane tedious farm & rodeo footage, it picks up again somewhat during the end with the eventual confrontation, but that's not enough to make this a good film. William deserved better.
My Grade: D+
Eye Candy: an extra as a topless dancer
DVD Extras: Movie Intro & Commentary by Joe Bob Briggs; 7 theatrical Trailers (including German & French); and trailers for "Hells Angels 69", "Hell High", "Warlock Moon", & "Hollywood Strangler meets the Skid Row Slasher"
My Grade: D+
Eye Candy: an extra as a topless dancer
DVD Extras: Movie Intro & Commentary by Joe Bob Briggs; 7 theatrical Trailers (including German & French); and trailers for "Hells Angels 69", "Hell High", "Warlock Moon", & "Hollywood Strangler meets the Skid Row Slasher"
Angel had the Runs
qormi30 November 2010
Warning: Spoilers
William Smith is a very capable actor, but it seems he never had an agent. He always got stuck in a lot of B movies like this one. This film was barely good enough for me to keep from falling asleep. The direction was bad, the script terrible, etc. It had a lot of potential and in the hands of a capable producer/director, it could have been a good film. The casting was good, except for the posse of bikers who were on Angel's trail. They seemed like a bunch of lightweights who were the only ones who showed up for the casting call. Everything was bargain basement here; all the scenes lacked intensity. the frequent use of the split screen was distracting and you could see why this technique has since been abandoned.The ending was inadequate and abrupt; a fitting tribute to a wasted effort.
much better than I expected
Quinoa198425 July 2008
William Smith was a very good casting choice for the lead, Angel is his name of course, for Run Angel Run. He's got a sympathetic side to his personality that somehow makes him work for Angel, who is sort of a rat talking to a magazine and getting a cover photo followed by the obligatory "I'm done with this, going legit" lifeline. He gets angry, sometimes in tantrum-mode, but he's also likable and attractive as a main leading man, as opposed to just another character actor (whom everyone else in the cast fills up either nicely or terribly).
But William Smith isn't the only reason to see the movie, and the guy who introduced the DVD I watched (I forget his name) would agree. There's a lot of guilty-pleasure stuff to the movie, to be sure, like the sheep-herding subplot, or the maniacally-shot bike-riding scenes early on and then later when they finally get to the action scenes. But, thankfully, Jack Starrett, the director, tries to tell a story here, and have some entertainment and drama run through what is mostly a paint-by-numbers thriller.
It's not just a lot of nonsense and, also thankfully, the nonsense (i.e. bar fights, dancing, even the corny love scenes and a, gag, walk on the beach) isn't too distasteful or amateurish. It is dated as hell, and it's mostly for those who love a trashy biker flick. But for those looking to take a chance, Run Angel Run is one of the more pleasant (yes, pleasant) entries in the biker-movie sub-genre, where the trick was the look past the cheapness of the film-making for a good time, like eating a sweet Charleston Chew.
But William Smith isn't the only reason to see the movie, and the guy who introduced the DVD I watched (I forget his name) would agree. There's a lot of guilty-pleasure stuff to the movie, to be sure, like the sheep-herding subplot, or the maniacally-shot bike-riding scenes early on and then later when they finally get to the action scenes. But, thankfully, Jack Starrett, the director, tries to tell a story here, and have some entertainment and drama run through what is mostly a paint-by-numbers thriller.
It's not just a lot of nonsense and, also thankfully, the nonsense (i.e. bar fights, dancing, even the corny love scenes and a, gag, walk on the beach) isn't too distasteful or amateurish. It is dated as hell, and it's mostly for those who love a trashy biker flick. But for those looking to take a chance, Run Angel Run is one of the more pleasant (yes, pleasant) entries in the biker-movie sub-genre, where the trick was the look past the cheapness of the film-making for a good time, like eating a sweet Charleston Chew.
Classic Biker-Movie
wolfhell8822 July 2001
This is a real Biker-Movie Classic. I think it was the first leading part for William Smith and also his first biker-movie. He did a great job. Of course it is a B-Picture, but it has some good and unforgettable scenes. One year later Smith and director Jack Starrett did another classic together: Nam's Angels.
AWESOME!
BandSAboutMovies11 December 2020
Warning: Spoilers
I'm not saying that all movies should have William Smith in them, but I kind of am. This was the 17th highest grossing film in 1969, which sounds like hyperbole but I'd like it to be true. It also has a Tammy Wynette soundtrack, which is another way into my heart.
Smith plays Angel, a motorcycle gang member who sells the real story of what it's like on the inside to a magazine for ten grand - about $70,000 today - and earns the anger of every biker in the world. The word gets out - Angel is to be killed.
Unlike most biker films where the hero gets worse and worse, Angel actually finds a sheep farmer who gives him a brief moment to live a normal life off the road. Unfortunately, the gangs are never far behind.
Director Jack Starrett does some amazing things in this, like some incredibly dangerous shots of the gang on the road, shooting them with a camera that moves from biker to biker in the days before when a drone would make such a shot simple. He's also gone wild with multiple split screens and dropped out audio and made this a living, breathing comic book.
Starrett's wife Valerie plays Angel's old lady, while Dan Kemp plays the kind rancher and Margaret Markov is his probably doomed daughter. Markov lights up the screen in plenty of Corman-era movies like The Arena, Black Mama White Mama and The Hot Box.
I had a blast with this movie. It's filled with drama and shot in a way that you totally won't expect. Watch it and let me know what you think.
Smith plays Angel, a motorcycle gang member who sells the real story of what it's like on the inside to a magazine for ten grand - about $70,000 today - and earns the anger of every biker in the world. The word gets out - Angel is to be killed.
Unlike most biker films where the hero gets worse and worse, Angel actually finds a sheep farmer who gives him a brief moment to live a normal life off the road. Unfortunately, the gangs are never far behind.
Director Jack Starrett does some amazing things in this, like some incredibly dangerous shots of the gang on the road, shooting them with a camera that moves from biker to biker in the days before when a drone would make such a shot simple. He's also gone wild with multiple split screens and dropped out audio and made this a living, breathing comic book.
Starrett's wife Valerie plays Angel's old lady, while Dan Kemp plays the kind rancher and Margaret Markov is his probably doomed daughter. Markov lights up the screen in plenty of Corman-era movies like The Arena, Black Mama White Mama and The Hot Box.
I had a blast with this movie. It's filled with drama and shot in a way that you totally won't expect. Watch it and let me know what you think.
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