internationaldave I removed my first review and am "updating". I kind of gave it a scathing review first time. I just bought another $150's worth of "cheap biker movies" from White Horse Gear and this was one of them. It's the best "cheap biker movie" you can get and worth it. Real bikers instead of tattoo-free clean-cut actors. Tramp does an excellent job. Very nicely done. All he had to do was be himself! Keep your eye on "Tiny". Later in the movie, you can tell he's very drunk (no drinking on the set, Tiny!) He wobbles and staggers about but then again, just being himself. One scene, Sonny tries to start his chopper and kicks it while it's in gear. Good thing it didn't start! "Slatejer" said it was funny watching Angels on "tiny Japanese bikes" but there was only one in the desert scenes. Conny Van Dyke's character was on a Hodaka. The rest were vintage European and English bikes. Sonny's dirt bike was a huge Triumph (good choice, Mr. Barger!) You need this movie! It is kind of sad seeing the Angels in this movie who are not with us anymore.

merklekranz I'd watch "Hell's Angels 69" a hundred times before I'd watch "Easy Rider" again. If you are tired of stoner biker movies where essentially nothing happens other than perhaps several pretentious ego trips, then skip "The Wild Angels", and come along for a ride with the real deal, "Hell's Angels 69". This is a film that actually has a plot, infiltrating a biker gang to pull off a casino heist, while leaving the bikers holding the bag. Things don't exactly go as planned, ending with a desert chase on dirt bikes, and a final showdown. Sonny Barger and his authentic cycle gang buddies deliver realistic performances not found in other biker films. Recommended of it's type. - MERK

John Nail (ascheland) "Hell's Angels '69" takes the premise of "The Thomas Crown Affair" and re-tools it as a biker flick. It's a clever idea, and "Hell's Angels '69" is better than most biker flicks from this period, with a bit more story, character development and subtext. Unfortunately, it's still not much of a movie.The movie's first misstep is revealing its hand from the beginning: Tom Stern and Jeremy Slate are crooks, not "real" bikers. Knowing this from the get-go removes an element of mystery, and the story might have been a bit more interesting had this fact been revealed later. Then again, the moment Stern and Slate hook up with the Hell's Angels -- featuring actual members of the notorious biker gang -- it's obvious they're not the rough n' tough bikers they claim to be. A big tip off: Slate asks the gang's sole "old lady," Conny Van Dyke, if she's ever considered settling down, getting married and raising children. Van Dyke is too clean-cut looking to really pass as a jaded biker chick (she looks much more at home in the powder blue dress and low-heeled pumps she dons later in the movie), but since that's the role she's playing one would assume she'd become suspicious when Slate starts talking like a high school guidance counselor. Apparently, these Angels were so impressed by Stern and Slate's bike tricks ("Watch this!") they're willing to overlook the guys' square tendencies.Another misstep -- and one I'm surprised was allowed to happen -- is featuring real Hell's Angels and sanitizing them. In this movie, the gang just likes drinking Olys, riding their choppers and perpetrating vandalism, pretty much in that order. The guys get nasty in the final act, but for much of the movie they're presented as nothing more than 1950s juvenile delinquents with beards and a fondness for Nazi memorabilia.Finally, "Hell's Angels '69" makes the same mistake of almost all biker movies: overestimating the entertainment value of guys riding bikes. You get plenty of footage of the gang riding down two-lane highways, riding through Vegas, riding through the desert, and, of course, riding through town while frightened squares look on. Yeah, they're bikers, we get it, but a little goes a long way, and it makes "Hell's Angels '69" go on a little too long.

slatejer I was brought out to the Mojave desert, with my brother and sister, and our mom driving.We were going to watch our father act in a movie he had written with his then pal Tom Stern. I was 13 years old and I will never forget that weekend. (nor will my mother!)The scene of the club house fight was totally spontaneous. The cameras were still getting in position and the director was blaring over the megaphone telling everyone to stay in place until he yelled "action".And all of a sudden you could hear some loud swear words and a lady started yelling and before you could say action the fight began (for real). They just turned the cameras on and got as much footage as they could! I also thought it was funny watching the REAL HELLS ANGELS ride through the desert on tiny Japanese dirt bikes in the final chase scene!My dad is Jeremy Slate, and just passed away Nov. 18th. I will miss the life he was so full of.He found a place to fit in five decades of Hollywood. He did get into the b-biker films(were any of them A?)(OK....Easy Rider),check out "Born Losers",(the first Billie Jack Movie). He played many a bad man in hundreds of westerns,(True Grit..he cuts off Denise Hoppers fingers..yeah!) He played the suave second fiddle to Frankie Avolon(I'll take Sweden) and Elvis Pressly(Girls,Girls,Girls!).Anyway I give the movie a "10". My Dad wrote it and starred in it.What did you think I'd give it? Rest in peace dad, jer