2/5 "What's a groovy chick like you doing in the spy racket?"
  by cookieman108 (Inside the jar...)
Few have pushed the art of schlock filmmaking as far as producer/director/writer/actor Al Adamson, master of the 'cut and paste' style of filmmaking (Horror of the Blood Monsters, Dracula Vs. Frankenstein) ...in terms of trashy cinema, he was the master of stuffing ten pounds of crap into a five-pound bag. That's not to say it would actually fit, or the bag wouldn't tear, unceremoniously dumping the contents on an unsuspecting audience, but one has to give the man some amount of credit for carving his niche into the industry (by way of a rusty switchblade). I had heard of Hell's Bloody Devils aka The Fakers aka Swastika Savages (1970), but never had the opportunity to see it...until last night. The film stars John Gabriel, better known to soap opera fans as Dr. Seneca Beaulac from `Ryan's Hope', along with Broderick Crawford (The Private Files of J. Edgar Hoover). Also appearing is Anne Randall (Westworld), along with a slew of Adamson usuals including Scott Brady (Satan's Sadists, The Cycle Savages), Kent Taylor (Brain of Blood, Blood of Ghastly Horror), Robert Dix (Horror of the Blood Monsters), Jack Starrett, probably best known as the sadistic Deputy Sgt. Arthur Galt from the 1982 film Rambo: First Blood, and Vicki Volante (Blood of Dracula's Castle, Horror of the Blood Monsters).

The film begins with a biker montage and ends with the violent beating of two unsuspecting motorists...cue the credits, which look an awful lot like someone copying those of James Bond films of the time (more on this later). Three of the bikers, who, incidentally are donning swastikas amidst their more standard biker wear, meet up with a comely contact who's actually an emissary for a man named Count von Delberg, played by Taylor, doing what appears to be his Vincent Price imitation . Next we see a scene of an unconscious man in the back seat of a car (we later come to know him as Mark Adams, played by Gabriel), he comes to, and escapes in spy-like fashion (judo chops all around and then rolling dive out of speeding car). We then see the man in the hospital, where we're treated to a rather lengthy flashback relating a tale of how some Nazis are trying to sell counterfeit U.S. currency in order to fund their cause. They contact the mob, which sends Adams (the mob doesn't know Adams is actually a fed), and so begins a BS spy story that finally catches up to where we were at when the film started, with Adams in a hospital bed. From here the rest of the `story' plays out leading up to some rather lame gun battles and a pretty funky explosive climax involving some stock footage...listed above is the gist of the film, but be warned, there is plenty I left out, due to the fact it had nothing to do with the plot...

In terms of schlock features, this is definitely a five star film, but in terms of a watchable, understandable movie, its two stars. The film was actually started way back in 1967 and titled Operation M. What I suspect happened is Adamson ran out of the dough and shelved the project, reviving and re-inventing it three years later, selling it off as a biker picture (the biker gang genre was in full swing, and the ever thrifty Adamson had already cashed in once with his 1969 feature Satan's Sadists). Thing is, this isn't a biker flick, but a spy film with bikers included...along with Nazis, mobsters, feds, commies, Israeli agents, jailbait, among others. If you're familiar with Adamson's films, you'll know he was never really concerned with providing a coherent storyline as his films seems to be much like that of someone taking pieces from numerous jigsaw puzzles pounding them together and creating something that probably should have never been...the DVD case touts this as `Al Adamson's lost masterpiece'...yikes...looking strictly at the technical aspects of the film, it's a nightmare...shaky, unfocused shots, jarring, awkward transitions, cheap sets, among other things. The `story' is all over the place, with characters being introduced and then dropping out for extremely lengthy periods of time. And then there's the dialog...here's a choice bit, extolled during an extremely painful scene involving an Israeli agent unburdening herself to our star..."Have you ever hated? Really hated? I hate..." Check out Broderick Crawford as the head fed Brand, especially the scene near the end when he's ordering all of his three teams of field agents (two per team) into position...I thought the guy was going to bust a nut. The bikers were suitably sleazy, greasy, hairy, and just all around vile...too bad their screen time was as limited as it was, and I know this was a cheap affair, but when the felt material used to spell out `Bloody Devils' on the back of the bikers denim jackets starts falling off, I mean come on...there wasn't as much blood as I though there was going to be, but there are a couple of nekkid shots (a few more would have helped). The Nazis were a pretty poor bunch, most being overweight and sporting some really terrible German accents, but, I guess with this kind of production you take what you can get...there is are a couple of cameos to watch out for including John Carradine as a pet store owner and Harland `Colonel' Sanders playing himself uttering the immortal line `Isn't that the most wonderful chicken you ever ate?' They were able to work him in because our super classy hero Mark took his date out to lunch at Kentucky Fried Chicken...'oooh, can I get a side of coleslaw with that darling?' Whotta guy...I think one of my favorite scenes was when the bikers picked up some hitchhiking mod chicks and then proceeded in some sleazy, acid soaked sexcapades...look for the one biker to clean his glasses using the hair of one of these girls while she's getting it on with another biker. One bright aspect in the film was the musical score by Nelson Riddle...too bad the filmmakers took the same piece of music and played it ad nauseum.

The fullscreen (1.33:1) picture on the Media Blasters release is pretty shoddy, but I doubt anyone is rushing out to do a full blown restoration on this film, so this is probably the best we'll get...the audio is passable, but suffers as does the picture quality. There are some interesting special features including a grainy clip of Al Adamson on The Joe Franklin Show, an interview with John Gabriel, commentary track by producer Samuel M. Sherman, a theatrical trailer, and a small photo gallery. Also included are trailers for other Media Blaster releases including Run Angel Run (1969), Syndicate Sadists (1975), the Ray Dennis Steckler feature Las Vegas Serial Killer (1986), and the cannibal film Man from Deep River (1975).

Cookieman108


1/5 Defies Description (it's that bad)
  by Victor Hugo (Wisconsin)
I bought this movie with the idea that it was a late 60's biker movie, hoping for somehting like Born Losers. However this is not even close. It's not even a biker movie, it's a one camera, no re-takes, shot on a single Saturday afternoon wanna be FBI/SPY/Neo-Nazi/CrimeSyndicate/ClumsyBiker mosaic mess. I'm sure if Al Adamson had thought of it, he would have worked in Space Monsters and a talking dog.
The bikers "the Bloody Devils" are about as threatening and menacing as Harvey Lembeck and his gang in the Frankie and Annette beach movies. They were worked in to the movie as an afterthought/side show as they have absolutely nothing to do with the alleged "plot" and about 10 minutes of camera time in the film.
I'm guessing the budget for this movie had to be under $5000 and the script was probably written on the proverbial cocktail napkin in 15 minutes.
I can't imagaine ever wanting to watch this one again. It's a stinker.