6.3 | / 10 |
Users | 0.0 | |
Reviewer | 2.5 | |
Overall | 2.5 |
When his friend Loser dies while trying to recover his stolen motorcycle, a biker named Heavenly Blues and his fellow Angels bury him and have a party in his honor.
Starring: Peter Fonda, Nancy Sinatra, Bruce Dern, Diane Ladd, Buck TaylorDrama | Insignificant |
Adventure | Insignificant |
Video codec: MPEG-4 AVC
Video resolution: 1080p
Aspect ratio: 2.35:1
Original aspect ratio: 2.35:1
English: DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0
None
25GB Blu-ray Disc
Single disc (1 BD)
Region A (locked)
Movie | 2.5 | |
Video | 3.5 | |
Audio | 4.0 | |
Extras | 0.0 | |
Overall | 2.5 |
The allure of biker gangs has been a staple of both film and television for decades, as evidenced by everything from The Wild One to Sons of Anarchy. Something about the combination of America’s wide open spaces with (typically) very bad boys speaks to something universal and has tended to spark a significant amount of interest from audiences. Easy Rider (also available from Criterion in America Lost and Found: The BBS Story) is traditionally recognized as the paradigm of “biker movies,” even if it subtly altered some of the tropes of this subgenre, making its anti-heroes at least relatively sympathetic and palatable. Three years before Dennis Hopper’s film pretty much reinvented the movie business (at least for a little while), Hopper’s co-star Peter Fonda appeared in what might be seen as Easy Rider’s cinematic father, or at least stepfather, the 1966 Roger Corman opus The Wild Angels. The Wild Angels was yet another kind of weirdly unexpected feather in American International Pictures’ already distinctive cap. As I recently mentioned in our Muscle Beach Party Blu-ray review, for such a relatively small studio, American International had a remarkably vital impact on 1960s cinema, from the vaunted horror films (many from Corman himself) to the odd “beach party” franchise that sprung up at around the same time. The Wild Angels became a huge hit for American International Pictures, ushering in a wave of films featuring desperados on hogs, usually in a viscerally graphic manner that made earlier efforts like Marlon Brando’s 1953 biker opus look positively quaint by comparison. The Wild Angels is a pretty turgid experience from a dramatic standpoint, but it contains some fantastic second unit location work (reportedly done by Corman acolyte Peter Bogdanovich, who also evidently contributed to the screenplay) and of course offers the chance to see a coterie of fascinating performers like Fonda, then real life marrieds Bruce Dern and Diane Ladd, and Michael J. Pollard (about to explode in another counterculture zeitgeist capturer, Bonnie and Clyde) at relatively early points in their careers.
The Wild Angels is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Olive Films with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 2.35:1. Once you get past the really grainy credits sequence, this is by and large a very commendable looking transfer, though elements have a bit of age related wear and tear, with "usual suspects" like small specks of dirt and white flecks. There's also a very slight fade in evidence, tending to push flesh tones slightly toward brown at times. There's a bit of an overall color space difference between the bulk of the film and some of the second unit footage, which is notably cooler looking. Detail is very good, though some sequences, like the day for night party scene that plays like a biker version of one of those "beach parties" in American International's other films featuring wayward youths, are pretty murky looking. There are no issues with compression artifacts, and Olive's typical "hands off" approach provides an organic looking presentation that should please the film's fans.
The Wild Angels' lossless DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 mono track provides ample support for the roaring hogs and the propulsive score. Credits aficionados may get a kick out of the fact that this film's music supervisor was Mike Curb, the former MGM Records executive who shepherded acts like The Osmonds into superstardom and who made headlines in the 1970s for dropping a bunch of artists from his label whom he felt were drug users, two facts that seem somewhat at odds with this particular film's ambience. (Curb became Lieutenant Governor of California later in his career.) Fidelity is excellent and dynamic range is wide in this problem free track.
No supplements are offered on this Blu-ray disc.
The Wild Angels may have helped to usher in a rather unlikely subgenre in American film, and it could be seen as either the witting or unwitting cinematic parent of Easy Rider, but the fact remains it's a fairly turgid and at times distasteful exploitation flick that nonetheless does offer some fantastic second unit footage and an especially good performance from Ladd. Technical merits are generally quite strong for those considering a purchase.
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