The Wild Rebels (1967)

Mystery Science Theater 3000 has got a lot to answer for. Whenever I see a film with a highly disproportionately low user rating, on a large number of occasions it seems to have been as a result of the film in question being featured on this show. Many of the fans of this programme seemed to have felt almost duty-bound to deliver a one star rating for any of the movies riffed. I am not a fan of MST3K myself, and have only seen a couple of episodes, much preferring to watch the films 'unadorned' by the their (in my view) very unfunny riff-track. I will give some credit to the show, however, for bringing some very obscure films some prominence they otherwise would not have had but otherwise it's not for me. In any case, the ultra-low rating this one currently has must at least partially be a result of it featuring on this show, as Wild Rebels turned out to be a somewhat entertaining biker film with quite a bit of entertainment value I thought! The story in a nutshell is about a former stock car racer who is hired by the police to go undercover and infiltrate an outlaw biker gang who have been responsible for a series of armed robberies.This Florida set drive-in flick was one that must have clearly been surfing the biker film boom that occurred during the counter-culture years of the late sixties, early seventies. Its plot is pretty basic but it had a mix of agreeable ingredients I thought. It had a biker gang called Satan's Angels who have an unhealthy love of swastikas, it had a pop group called The Birdwatchers who knock out a couple of tunes, it had a sexy bad girl (Bobbie Byers) who, when required, dressed up all classy in order to rob the unwary, there is an extended shoot out at a…lighthouse, there is car and bike chases, there are a couple of armed robberies and there is even some drag racing and exploding cars. That's some of the things you get in this one and, all things considered, it's not such a bad selection of attractions to enjoy. So my advice would be to give this a whirl and treat the atrocious user rating with a pinch of salt. I was never bored, I was even rather entertained. Does that make me an idiot? Well maybe it does but I still totally recommend this whatever the case.

Rod "crash and burn" Tillman (Steve Alaimo) races super modified stock cars. While at a nightclub down on his luck he is approached by a biker gang of four, "Satan's Angels." They want him to drive a station wagon get-away car for a bank robbery. Guess how that goes? Check out the tires squealing on dirt.This is MST-3000 bad and is part of their series, the preferred way to watch this film. In one scene, Rod has a guitar. He is asked to play, consents, and then sings instead, setting the guitar down. It didn't really matter because none of the white folk were dancing to the music...they were dancing, but they didn't let the music affect them.Guide: No swearing, sex, or nudity.

Very little in this film makes any sense at all. It is pretty easy to laugh at, especially with how some of the characters are just goofy in appearance, especially Banjo. Wait, was he the guy with the sunglasses? It was hard to tell them apart. I admit to knowing little about illegal activities like this, but I assume it would be easier just to identify the bikers right away and arrest them. It turns out the female biker falls in love with the mole. Yep, pretty predictable. Another really weird thing was how they robbed a gun store. Yeah, they just took a gun and robbed it. Wouldn't the owner use his own guns? Most people would want more action in this. There is more action in the end, but it's pretty stupid. Even that seems to go on too long. I couldn't understand how the bikers were called "Satan's Angels". Was "Hell's Angels" under copyright? Was it meant to be ironic? Either way, it's pretty stupid. It goes on too long with relatively little happening. *1/2

Former stock car racer turned police officer Rod Tillman (a solid and likable performance by Steve Alaimo) goes undercover to infiltrate the biker gang the Satan's Angels, who have been terrorizing South Florida and are planning to hold up a bank. Writer/director William Grefe treats the amiably silly story with endearingly misguided seriousness and adds a few inspired inane touches that provide several major belly laughs (Tillman just happens to also be a singer, so he does a gloriously goofy number in a club and the head biker is strangely articulate for a one percenter). Moreover, the bikers are a colorful and entertaining bunch: Willie Pastrano as volatile brute banjo, John Vella as cunning and well-spoken leader Jeeter, foxy brunette Bobbie Byers as sexy motorcycle mama Linda, and Jeff Gillen as grunting crude slob Fats, who has been rendered mute after he got hit in the head with a surfboard. The Bird Watchers Band put in a neat appearance at a club backing Tillman when he belts out his number. (The groovy theme song is a swinging hoot, too.) Moreover, the climactic bank robbery and subsequent car chase and shoot out with the cops is so ineptly handled that it's unintentionally hilarious, with Banjo's ill-advised escape attempt on a police motorcycle proving to be the definite gut-busting highlight. Good dippy fun.