Precisett This movie is magnificent!
BlazeLime Strong and Moving!
SpuffyWeb Sadly Over-hyped
TaryBiggBall It was OK. I don't see why everyone loves it so much. It wasn't very smart or deep or well-directed.
Wuchak Released in 1969, "The Cycle Savages" starts off like it might be a decent cheap biker flick in the manner of, say, "Angel Unchained" (1970). The opening credits sequence is effective and the pre-heavy metal rock theme is simple, but enjoyable, particularly the energetic percussion. On top of this, Bruce Dern is effective as Keeg, the ee-vil leader of Hell's Chosen Few, Chris Robinson is solid as the courageous protagonist and there are a few quality gals -- Dern's brunette babe, Sandy (Maray Ayres), and two blonds, Lea and Janie (Melody Patterson and Karen Ciral). It's also cool to check out the late 60's California locations.Unfortunately these are the only good things I can say about this flick. The plot is really really DUMB; like it was conjured up by a 12 year-old. It involves Keeg getting upset over a sketch artist for making drawings of his gang in wild revelry. Apparently, Keeg believes the sketches can be used to convict him and his gang (Why sure!). The dialogue and acting are just as bad. At one point they put the artist's hands in a vice, threatening to crush them, but it's clear that he can remove his hands at any time.BOTTOM LINE: I can't tell you how awful this "film" is. At least a cheapo biker flick like "The Tormentors" is entertaining and has a semi-interesting story, but "The Cycle Savages" can't even do that. It's only worthwhile for a few good-looking late 60's "chicks" and as a period-piece oddity.The film runs 85 minutes.GRADE: D- PS: If you want to see a great late 60's/early 70's biker flick, catch the very first one, the infamous "The Wild Angels" from 1966 starring Peter Fonda, Bruce Dern, Nancey Sinatra and Diane Ladd. "The Wild Angels" is simultaneously shocking and profoundly brilliant (yes, even though it's essentially a Roger Corman 'B' film). See my review for full details.
internationaldave I collect "cheap biker movies" and this qualifies. There is a lot to be said, but, most others out there covered it all. I thought I would throw in a few (of many) bloopers. When Romko's hands are in the vise, they are obviously loose (not being crunched). Check out how many times the cast accidentally bump the vise handle and spin it. If the vise was under tension, the handle would be tight. Another blooper was when a biker hops on his bike that is backed to the curb. Watch the exhaust pipes. Before he even "Kicks it over" there is a very obvious belching of smoke, indicating the bike was running at idle before he even got on it.(not to mention in need of valve guide work). Comical stuff. Thats why I love these cheap biker movies. Notice the sky high exhaust pipes on one bike? Cool. The leaders of most real outlaw biker clubs (not gangs) ride a Harley Sportster (for quicker handling and speed while being pursued by the law) not any English bike(s) like "Keeg" (what's a Keeg?) The purple Triumph of "Keeg" is cool, but not authentic. Outlaw clubs rode Harleys, not Limeys. It is just that cheap biker movies can't afford an all Harley cast, I guess. All in all, one great "Cheap Biker Movie". VERY racy for it's time. These movies were meant to terrify the viewers. Maybe at the time, but comical, now.
MisterWhiplash The problems do abound in The Cycle Savages, but it could have possibly been a better movie. I did get into the sheer artificiality, and unbelievability, of the movie at times just on the basis of kinda, sort of buying into it. But it's also got a central problem in that there is really nothing 'there' in the side of the 'good guys'. Not that this is a totally bad thing really, for it is the mean dirty rat-bastard bikers that really are the show for anyone seeing the film today. And it's almost luck that first time writer/director Bill Brame has Bruce Dern to fill the part of Keeg, one of the sleaziest of the kind of totally immoral, however with a kind of Little Alex ala Clockwork Orange style of immediate intelligence. Even in all of his occasional mania and outright outbursts getting into the over-dramatic, Dern has this character completely down. It's actually best in the scenes where he ends up being most provoking by having the most controlled, almost calm voice. A lot of his 'wit' in the film is scabrous, and not really funny, but on the side of giving a convincingly deranged sociopath with a penchant for intimidation and girls it makes the film usually watchable.It's a shame then that Brame isn't able to match him up with more competent actors. Or even, despite having a couple of good 'exploitation' style scenes of violence and nudity and rape, having not enough for what the rest of the material is asking for. The group, Hell's Chosen Few (strange for a half biker/half prostitution ring club), spends a lot of the movie waiting, and carrying on with side-stuff, while the main story involving the artist who previously drew the bikers who now gets drawn into the deceiving clutches of the decoy is weak and unconvincing. The motives most of the time, even for a B-movie, seem to shift and not seem very solid aside from the man's 'I love you' phase even after fighting with a slashed abdomen wound. The ending (coming all too quick and with a lackluster climax) and the musical accompaniment (likely the most annoyingly generic riff repeated in any film from the period) are along with some of the acting the weaker points of the picture, sometimes embarrassingly so.So it does say a lot, however, that I could possibly recommend it on a bad movie level, where some parts become so crazy it's hard not to enjoy it. And Bruce Dern helps bring a good, tiny change of pace to the proceedings of the very typical ten-cent biker production, which by the way doesn't have a big abundance of throughout the film. In a career full of playing antagonists, this one is unnerving and realistic enough to be of note.
Mike Bruce Dern stars as Keeg, a real slimeball who runs a prostitution racket for his brother. Everything is going perfectly except when Romko, the new artist in town begins drawing pictures of Keeg and his gang, he wants to break his hands using a vice. That basically sums up the whole movie, I'd just see it to watch Bruce Dern.
