The wild angels

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Movie
German title The wild angels
Original title The Wild Angels
Country of production United States
original language English
Publishing year 1966
length 86 minutes
Age rating FSK 16
Rod
Director Roger Corman
script Charles B. Griffith
production Roger Corman
music Mike Curb
Davie Allen and The Arrows (Songs)
camera Richard Moore
cut Monte Hellman
occupation
synchronization

The Wild Angels is an American rocker film directed by B-movie director Roger Corman from 1966 . Peter Fonda played a rocker for the first time three years before the legendary Easy Rider .

action

The rockers Heavenly Blues and Losers are close friends. Heavenly Blues, the boss of the Gang Angels , is accompanied by his girlfriend Mike. Loser's motorbike, who is married to Gaysh, has been stolen. The gang goes to Mecca , California to get the motorcycle back. They get into an argument with a rival Mexican rocker gang. When the police want to end the mass brawl, Loser flees on a police motorcycle. The police shoot Loser and seriously injure him, and a police officer is killed in this chase. Loser is transferred to a hospital. There the friends try to free him. They rape a nurse and kidnap losers from the hospital. Loser dies on the way, and the gang organizes a funeral service. The pastor is provoked and tied up by the rockers. The funeral turns into a sex and drug orgy. When the police finished the funeral on the cemetery grounds, the friends fled. Only Heavenly Blues remains and surrenders to its fate.

background

  • The idea for the film came when Roger Corman saw a photo in Life magazine in January 1966 about a funeral of a member of the Hells Angels . Corman contacted American International Pictures (AIP) and the film received the working title " All the Fallen Angels ". Jack Nicholson , a friend of Corman's, found the working title unsuitable for the film and recommended the title The Wild Angels .
  • Charles B. Griffith was commissioned by Corman to write a script. Griffith went on the research and visited u. a. in South Los Angeles some bars that were run by the rocker scene. In one of these locations he met the Hells Angels Chapter Leader from Venice Beach. The members of the Hells Angels loved the movie. However, the members asked for financial compensation for their support. According to Corman, each rocker was paid $ 35  a day, plus an additional $ 20 a day for the motorcycle and $ 15 a day for their wife. The rocker women in particular provided Corman and Griffith with important information about the rocker scene, which was incorporated into the film. For example, the kidnapping of a rocker member from the hospital is said to have actually taken place. The members took on the extra roles of the Angels rockers.
  • George Chakiris was actually intended for the planned lead role of "Jack Black", but he could not drive a motorcycle. Corman didn't want to hire a double or use a rear projection . He then offered the lead role to Peter Fonda, who was originally supposed to play the role of the "loser". However, the lead was only accept Fonda when his role "Heavenly Blues" would mean the name of a sky blue-purple Morning Glory , whose seeds psychotomimetic and hallucinogenic contain active ingredients that "a fantastic loud Fonda Tripp promise". Bruce Dern , who was probably intended for another supporting role, then took on the role of "Loser".
  • The film had a budget of around 360,000  US dollars , which already for that time low-budget film was, and was shot in March 1966 within three weeks. It took film editor Monte Hellman six weeks to edit.
  • The film was shot in Southern California. The opening sequence was filmed in the canals of Venice , a borough of Los Angeles . The final act was filmed in Idyllwild (exterior shots) and at The Little Country Church of Hollywood in Los Angeles (interior shots in the church). The cemetery area was a set at Idyllwild and did not take place in the real cemetery.
  • Not a single scene was shot in the studio, all interior shots were shot in real buildings.
  • Peter Bogdanovich assisted with the script, camera and editing, and he also took on an extra role.
  • Actress Gayle Hunnicutt , who played the supporting role "Suzie", was Corman's girlfriend at the time. A scar was made on her right cheek because Corman found it too beautiful.
  • The film premiered in the USA on July 20, 1966. The film was first released in Germany on April 28, 1967.
  • For the German theatrical version some scenes have been cut or left out. The original version was never dubbed completely in German. The DVD and Blu-Ray publications available in Germany contain the original version, the unsynchronized scenes are provided with a subtitle. On the Blu-Ray release, which appeared in 2018, the German theatrical version is also available as an extra.
  • By the 1970s, the film grossed around $ 15–20 million - including around $ 5 million in the first year - making it the most successful low-budget independent film. Only Easy Rider , with roughly the same low budget, was able to trump financial success with around 50 million US dollars in revenue in the years that followed.
  • The Hells Angels filed a defamation lawsuit against Roger Corman amounting to approximately four million US dollars for denigrating their reputation. Your lawsuit was dismissed.

synchronization

role actor Voice actor
Heavenly blues Peter Fonda Jürgen Thormann
Mike Nancy Sinatra Ilse Pagé
Joseph "Loser" Kerns Bruce Dern Randolf Kronberg
Gyash Diane Ladd Beate Hasenau
Dear John Buck Taylor Claus Jurichs
Medic ("the quack") Norman Alden Michael Chevalier
Pigmy Michael J. Pollard
Frankenstein Marc Cavell Gerd Martienzen
joint Lou Procopio Christian Brückner
Suzie Gayle Hunnicutt
Undertaker Thomas Art Baker Klaus Miedel
Pastor Frank Maxwell Paul Edwin Roth

Reviews

source rating
Rotten tomatoes
critic
audience
IMDb

The film received mixed reviews, earning a 63% rating on Rotten Tomatoes based on 19 reviews and 46% from the audience with around 1,800 votes. At IMDb , the film received 5.7 out of a possible 10 stars with around 2,400 votes. (As of October 18, 2019)

“The realistic film is psychologically insufficiently motivated. He treats the generation problem only superficially and is largely exhausted in depicting the brawls and orgiastic parties of the young people. But despite its speculative elements, the film conveys, in narrative and staging, a little of the lifestyle of the rebellious youth in the 60s. "

“The attempt to portray the problems of California beatniks falls by the wayside with the ostensible portrayal of brawls and orgies. A coarse-colored company that does not deserve a recommendation because of its primitive speculation. "

Awards

literature

  • Robert Zion: Roger Corman. The rebellion of the immediate . 320 pp., Norderstedt 2018, ISBN 978-3-7481-0101-7 . Pp. 219-228.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ A b Jeff Stafford: The Wild Angels. In: Turner Classic Movies . Retrieved October 18, 2019 .
  2. a b c d e f g h i j Mike Siegel . Audio commentary in Die Wilden Engel [DVD + Blu-Ray]. Koch Media GmbH. 2018.
  3. Die wilden Engel in the German synchronous card index , accessed on October 18, 2019.
  4. a b c The wild angels at Rotten Tomatoes (English), accessed on October 18, 2019
  5. a b The wild angels in the Internet Movie Database , accessed on October 18, 2019
  6. The wild angels. In: Lexicon of International Films . Film service , accessed September 19, 2016 . Template: LdiF / Maintenance / Access used 
  7. Evangelischer Presseverband München, Review No. 181/1967.