Angels Hard as They Come

Tuna's notes in white:

Angels Hard As They Come (1971) is a motorcycle gang exploitation film from Roger Corman, written by Joe Viola (who also directed) and Jonathan Demme (who co-produced). It pits the Dragons against three Hell's Angels, whom they invite to a hippie commune ghost town they have more or less invaded for a drunken, drug crazed orgy. When one of the hippie chicks is killed, the Dragons blame the Angels.

This was one of the first, and probably the rawest of the biker exploitation genre, and shows an interesting clash between the pacifist hippies and the outlaw bikers.

NUDITY REPORT

Janet Wood shows her breasts in two lengthy scenes
Nina Davis shows her breasts in a drunken dancing scene
Becki Cross shows her breasts briefly.
Gilda Texter shows her breasts in very poor light in a rape/murder scene

DVD info from Amazon

No features, no widescreen, crappy film, but you can't beat the price. This is part of a 5-disc set which includes 10 movies, and you can buy it for as little as ten bucks used (eighteen bucks new). A buck a movie.

Scoop's Notes in Yellow:

Shit movie. Typical second or third feature from 70s drive-in market.

Interesting only because of the extreme violence and nudity by the standards of that era, and because it featured a lot of people who became famous later.

It was Gary Busey's screen debut (above left)
It was Scott Glenn's first time at the top of the bill. (above right)
It was the first film ever written and produced by Jonathan Demme, who later directed The Silence of the Lambs.

The Critics Vote

no reviews online

The People Vote ...

IMDB summary. IMDb voters score it 4.2/10, which is bad, but about double what it should be.

IMDb guideline: 7.5 usually indicates a level of excellence, about like three and a half stars from the critics. 6.0 usually indicates lukewarm watchability, about like two and a half stars from the critics. The fives are generally not worthwhile unless they are really your kind of material, about like two stars from the critics. Films under five are generally awful even if you like that kind of film, equivalent to about one and a half stars from the critics or less, depending on just how far below five the rating is.

My own guideline: A means the movie is so good it will appeal to you even if you hate the genre. B means the movie is not good enough to win you over if you hate the genre, but is good enough to do so if you have an open mind about this type of film. C means it will only appeal to genre addicts, and has no crossover appeal. D means you'll hate it even if you like the genre. E means that you'll hate it even if you love the genre. F means that the film is not only unappealing across-the-board, but technically inept as well.

Based on this description, this film is a C. It's a poor movie to be avoided if you aren't into bikesploitation, but a solid effort for those who like biker films, with a better than average script and cast for the genre.