Motorcycle
Gang - DVD
1994/Rated R/Buena Vista Home Video
84 minutes
Cast:
Jake Busey,
Carla Gugino,
Gerald McRaney,
John Cassini,
Richard Edson,
Elan Oberon,
Marshall R. Teague,
Robert Miranda,
Julia McNeal
Director:
John Milius
What do you get if you combine the director of
Red Dawn
and Conan the Barbarian, two writers who never wrote a
screenplay before (or after it seems) and actors with a
whole range of talent as well as reputations?
Motorcycle Gang of course.
The story
focuses on the paths of two very different sets of characters
and the dire results when they cross.
Gerald McRaney heads up a
troubled family moving from
Oklahoma
to California in the 60’s consisting of his cheating wife (Elan
Oberon) and admiring daughter (Carla
Gugino). Daddy 'Cal'
is
responsible, traditional manner is countered by that of
Jake Busey’s role as the
leader of a small but deadly and most definitely evil ‘biker gang’.
 How do we know they’re evil? Because they're a
motorcycle gang and do all the awful things everyone knows an
evil motorcycle gangs does of course! They get high on both
drugs and alcohol, rob, kill, smuggle drugs and even
terrorizes a small Mexican village when they ride in to buy
their drugs, naturally.
Cal (Gerald
McRaney) on the other hand is so traditional that he looks
the other way about his wife’s affairs and politely refuses to
hang out with the ‘Beetnick’ hotel owners, saying, “They’re thinkin’ just ain’t
right!”.
Gerald McRaney is a good actor but neither the writing nor
his role really give him any room or direction.
On the other hand this was one of
Jake Buseys first roles, but
even the most seasoned of actors would have a hard time
selling a line like
"What is life other than a day at a time, baby?
You don't know nothin' 'bout tomorrow."
Actually the warning signs came
early on that this may not be a biker blockbuster.
Bearing in mind the subject matter is a
hardened motorcycle gang from the 1960’s, why would the
opening titles have a pink drop shadow effect on the
lettering?
There are a
few upsides though. Fans of
Carla Gugino (which would count the reviewer) are
in for a treat with this movie since she clearly flexes her
acting abilities and dominates the movie going from innocent
teen to kidnapped victim, with all the family strife in
between.
The motorcycles, riding and lifestyle
(except for all the criminal stereotypes of course) seem
remarkably genuine. No chrome on these bikes, black and dirty
working bikes obviously used to see America town by town.
When the movie does get going, there are some
well written twists and mild surprises that makes up for the
slow first half which was seemingly meant for character
development but somehow it got lost along the way.
At the right price this is a movie that wouldn’t look too bad
sitting in the DVD collection of a biker. Of course if I were
showing it to my biker friends I’d skip right over the pink
shadowed title sequence, but that’s just me.
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