By Richard Harland Smith
Devil's Angels
Brief Synopsis
Rival motorcycle gangs take over a small town and fight it out.
Cast & Crew
Read More
Daniel Haller
Director
John Cassavetes
Cody
Beverly Adams
Lynn
Mimsy Farmer
Marianne
Maurice Mcendree
Joel-the-Mole
Marc Cavell
Billy-the-Kid
Film Details
Genre
Crime
Release Date
Apr
1967
Premiere Information
not available
Production Company
American International Productions
Distribution Company
American International Pictures
Country
United States
Technical Specs
Duration
1h 24m
Sound
Mono
Color
Color
Theatrical Aspect Ratio
2.35 : 1
Synopsis
Two members of a motorcycle club called The Skulls become involved in a fatal accident, and their leader, Cody, decrees that the group will avoid a confrontation with the police by moving to Hole-in-the-Wall, a West Coast haven for renegade cyclists. After breaking a fellow member out of the local jail, they head for the outlaw sanctuary. En route they stop off at a small town where a carnival is in progress. Although most of the townspeople are frightened by the leather-jacketed pack, a young girl named Marianne joins them for a party on the beach. But, under the influence of too much liquor, she fears she will be attacked and races hysterically back to town. The sheriff mistakenly assumes she has been raped and orders Cody jailed. Upon learning the truth, the sheriff releases Cody with the understanding that he and his group will leave immediately, but another cycle club has arrived to exact revenge. Quickly taking over the town, the two gangs ignore Cody's pleas and embark on a night of wholesale destruction. Realizing that his hope of finding a haven has been destroyed, Cody mounts his motorcycle and rides off alone.
Director
Daniel Haller
Director
Cast
John Cassavetes
Cody
Beverly Adams
Lynn
Mimsy Farmer
Marianne
Maurice Mcendree
Joel-the-Mole
Marc Cavell
Billy-the-Kid
Salli Sachse
Louise
Nai Bonet
Tonya
Buck Taylor
Gage
Marianne Kanter
Rena
Leo Gordon
Sheriff Henderson
Buck Kartalian
Funky
John Craig
Robot
Kip Whitman
Roy
George Sims
Leroy
Mitzi Hoag
Karen
Russ Bender
Royce
Wally Campo
Grog
Richard Anders
Bruno
Paul Myer
Mayor
Lee Wainer
Cane
Roy Thiel
Ronnie Dayton
Deputies
Henry Kendrick
Store owner
Crew
Samuel Z. Arkoff
Executive Producer
Jack Bohrer
Production Manager
Karl Brainard
Prop
Richard Bruno
Costumes
Jack Cash
Prod associate
Roger Corman
Company
Kenneth Crane
Film Editor
Mike Curb
Music
Mike Curb
Composer
Ray Foreman
Hairstyles
Charles Griffith
Screenwriter
Guy Hemric
Composer
Dale Hutchinson
Assistant Director
Phil Mitchell
Sound
Richard Moore
Director of Photography
James H. Nicholson
Executive Producer
Jack Obringer
Makeup
Bonnie Prendergast
Script Supervisor
Richard M. Rubin
Prop
Al Simms
Music Supervisor
Ronald Steiner
Film Editor
Jerry Styner
Composer
Burt Topper
Producer
Videos
Movie Clip
Film Details
Genre
Crime
Release Date
Apr
1967
Premiere Information
not available
Production Company
American International Productions
Distribution Company
American International Pictures
Country
United States
Technical Specs
Duration
1h 24m
Sound
Mono
Color
Color
Theatrical Aspect Ratio
2.35 : 1
Articles
Devil's Angels
The success of Roger Corman's The Wild Angels (1966) spawned a new exploitation subgenre devoted to bikers, their bitches, their rivals, the forces of law and order, and the rest of the workaday world, while at the same time providing paychecks (and additional hands-on filmmaking experience) for the future architects of the New Hollywood. Before collaborating on Easy Rider (1969), Peter Fonda, Dennis Hopper, and Jack Nicholson all acted in low budget biker flicks aimed at the drive-in market and even John Cassavetes, needing postproduction funds for his 1968 film Faces, donned the colors of a road hardened one-percenter in Devil's Angels (1967). Reworking the fact-based particulars of Laszlo Benedict's The Wild One (1953) - which had concretized Marlon Brando's standing as an antiestablishment icon - while also drawing on a controversial 1965 court case in which members of the Hells Angels stood trial for statutory rape, Devil's Angels has the Skulls motorcycle club rolling into a desert burg "to flake off" and engendering with their rowdyism the enmity of the locals. The screenplay by AIP regular Charles Griffith localizes audience sympathy in the shared plight of Cassavetes' disillusioned rebel and tough-but-fair town sheriff Leo Gordon, neither of whom is able to prevent his people from surrendering to their baser instincts. Notable among the supporting cast are Beverly Adams (wife of celebrity stylist Vidal Sassoon) and Mimsy Farmer, who squeezed this one in between an ingénue role in Hot Rods to Hell (1967) and her debut as a leading lady in The Wild Racers (1968).
By Richard Harland Smith
By Richard Harland Smith
Devil's Angels
The success of Roger Corman's The Wild Angels (1966) spawned a new exploitation subgenre devoted to bikers, their bitches, their rivals, the forces of law and order, and the rest of the workaday world, while at the same time providing paychecks (and additional hands-on filmmaking experience) for the future architects of the New Hollywood. Before collaborating on Easy Rider (1969), Peter Fonda, Dennis Hopper, and Jack Nicholson all acted in low budget biker flicks aimed at the drive-in market and even John Cassavetes, needing postproduction funds for his 1968 film Faces, donned the colors of a road hardened one-percenter in Devil's Angels (1967). Reworking the fact-based particulars of Laszlo Benedict's The Wild One (1953) - which had concretized Marlon Brando's standing as an antiestablishment icon - while also drawing on a controversial 1965 court case in which members of the Hells Angels stood trial for statutory rape, Devil's Angels has the Skulls motorcycle club rolling into a desert burg "to flake off" and engendering with their rowdyism the enmity of the locals. The screenplay by AIP regular Charles Griffith localizes audience sympathy in the shared plight of Cassavetes' disillusioned rebel and tough-but-fair town sheriff Leo Gordon, neither of whom is able to prevent his people from surrendering to their baser instincts. Notable among the supporting cast are Beverly Adams (wife of celebrity stylist Vidal Sassoon) and Mimsy Farmer, who squeezed this one in between an ingénue role in Hot Rods to Hell (1967) and her debut as a leading lady in The Wild Racers (1968).
By Richard Harland Smith
Quotes
Trivia
Notes
Location scenes filmed in Arizona.
