Sun 11 Dec 2016
A Movie Review by Jonathan Lewis: THE CYCLE SAVAGES (1969).
Posted by Steve under Action Adventure movies , Reviews[8] Comments
THE CYCLE SAVAGES. Trans American Films, 1969. Bruce Dern, Melody Patterson, Chris Robinson, Maray Ayres, Karen Ciral, Mike Mehas. Written and directed by Bill Brame.
Bruce Dern is at his unhinged, psychologically disturbed best in The Cycle Savages, a mediocre biker movie with a threadbare plot. Filmed on location in the Silver Lake and Echo Park neighborhoods of Los Angeles, the movie is a rather downbeat affair. Dern’s portrayal of Keeg, the leader of a biker gang engaged in the white slavery racket, is so viscerally raw and cruel, that one forgets that one is even watching a fine actor at work.
But it takes more than a dastardly villain to make a movie work. It also takes a hero. In Cycle Savages, we really don’t get much. The only person in the neighborhood who seems willing to stand up to Keeg is Romko (Chris Robinson), a pensive, sensitive artist originally from the Eastern Bloc. Unfortunately, Robinson’s portrayal of Romko doesn’t exactly leave one feeling inspired. At least he has a pretty girl at his side. Lea (Melody Patterson) is playing both ends against the middle. She’s working for Keeg, but also falling in love with Romko. If this doesn’t seem to entice you, then I’d suggest that you’re not going to find much in the plot to keep you interested.
What makes this film somewhat worth a look – aside from Dern’s over the top madman portrayal – is the fact that it’s very much a slice of life from a specific place at a specific time. One imagines that the filmmakers had some sense of the sleazy biker counterculture that existed in late 1960s Los Angeles and how a biker gang could really ruin a neighborhood. There is actually a great deal of meanness on display here, including an implied gang rape scene that would be difficult to put on screen today.
But is there a message in the movie? Or is it just sheer exploitation? If it’s the latter, the movie could have benefited from some more memorable characters and better music. One can thoroughly appreciate Dern as an actor, but a movie needs more than a vindictive, misogynistic villain to make it worth the price of admission. Caveat emptor.
December 11th, 2016 at 6:37 pm
I walked out of THE WILD ONE, and with the exception of two films never watched another biker movie. I don’t think I missed much.
December 11th, 2016 at 8:17 pm
I liked THE WILD ONE, GREASE 2, CHROME SOLDIERS, MURDERCYCLE and TORQUE. One has to agree though that there are not dozens and dozens of classic motorcycle flicks.
December 12th, 2016 at 2:35 am
I’m with David when it comes to biker films. I might watch this one to see what the Silver Lake and Echo Park areas of Los Angeles looked like in the late 60s, but I have a feeling that if it ever came down it, I’d realize that when I say that, I’m just kidding myself.
There’s no other connection between the two, but I don’t watch Women in Prison movies, either.
December 12th, 2016 at 4:33 am
I could have added BORN TO RIDE, RED SKIES OF MONTANA and COOL AS ICE. Plus the TV series STREET HAWK. “The man, the machine, Street Hawk!” Cue the Tangerine Dream music:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CCItnKrXvMM
There is a whole tradition of high-brow European art films with motorcyclist characters: ORPHEUS, THERESE RAQUIN, DIARY OF A COUNTRY PRIEST from France, THEY CAUGHT THE FERRY from Denmark. These are a million miles away from what we consider as “biker flicks”.
In theory, I agree with everyone. Biker films are not a major genre. But in practice, one starts seeing exceptions. This film is OK and that film is fun… Before you know it, you have a list of entertaining movies.
Most of the biker flicks listed have motorcyclist Good Guys. I don’t like films about evil biker gangs either, typically. THE CYCLE SAVAGES sounds terrible.
December 12th, 2016 at 10:29 am
Red Skies of Montana is about firefighting in a forest…?
December 12th, 2016 at 4:39 pm
Jeffrey Hunter, the young firefighter in RED SKIES OF MONTANA, tools around everywhere on his motorcycle. Maybe its a stretch, but it showed how bikers were sometimes portrayed positively before THE WILD ONE changed their image.
December 12th, 2016 at 5:56 pm
It is a stretch. Not a biker picture, anymore than I Was A Male War Bride or Roman Holiday.
October 12th, 2020 at 5:14 pm
[…] One more thing you should know. The person hot on his trail, the very same person who is the real murderer is portrayed by none other than Bruce Dern. One could not help but compared Dern’s performance in the 1963 episode of The Fugitive with that from this Lancer episode from 1969. Dern had, by this point, definitely come into his own as an actor. Here he had all but perfected the sneering, quasi-psychotic villainy that was so disturbingly effective in The Cycle Savages (1969) which I reviewed here. […]