One of my personal favorite books from the Textploitation! page is A Whole Bag of Crazy: Sordid Tales of Hookers, Weed and Grindhouse Movies. This little odyssey of sleaze and debauchery by “42nd Street” Pete Chiarella chronicles his life growing up in the era not unlike the wild west. In addition, he gets into the many cult classic titles we hold near and dear like Cannibal Holocaust and Night of the Living Dead. Early on in one of the chapters, Pete name-drops the movie of the week we’re delving into. That being Bill Brame’s biker flick - The Cycle Savages.
Bruce Dern stars as Keeg, the leader of the gang who also operates a white slavery ring. An artist named Romko catches their attention on the grounds that he’s been sketching their antics with precise detail. They slash him up and steal his paintings to keep his mouth shut. Meanwhile, the good drawer falls for one of the followers named Lea who allows him to draw her nude a lá Kate Winslet. Plenty of other stuff follows like another girl being assaulted and Romko almost doing time in the slammer. Though it’s nothing compared to when the bikers torture via vice until Lea shows up to save the day.
As you can imagine, this is a pretty average movie. But I wouldn’t count it as something negative since it’s better than a bad experience. Plenty of stuff to get like the writing which can be sound in some places. Like the scene where Lea explains the difference between the nude women making love in Romeo’s book vs the ones that love. That was very poignant on the film’s theme of separating the ones wanting true love versus those only in it for the cheap sex.
When it comes to the acting, Bruce Dern steals the show as the villainous Keeg. He absolutely sells in on this character being an unhinged, tweaked-out scumbag. He shines like in the moment he slashes up Romko while the latter in question gray rocks him. Chris Robinson himself is fantastic in playing his role with a calm and cool demeanor. You can see this is a guy who takes the high road in contrast to the actual roadie who looks more banal than Romko. Melody Patterson is pretty cute as Lea, showcasing a woman struggling with being seen as person despite her past coloring her in a less-than-stellar light by others.
If there was anything to critique, it would probably have to be the sound mixing. Pretty third quarters of action scenes are missing the sound effects. You’d get fight scenes without the punch sounds and kicking where its strangely mute. Though I’m walking the line with this one since I’m not sure if it’s a camera negative issue or only with the copy I watched with at the time. Although I will say that this issue isn’t as much of a hinderance to the rest of the movie’s charm.
A lot of the other aspects are well-done, especially the music by Jerry Styner. With the bikers, we get this cool guitar rocking score that has that vibe of the psychedelic-L.A. kicks that characterized a lot of biker movies. There is also a tender and almost melancholic piece playing in the moments between Lea and Romko. I’m not gonna lie and say this song plays in my head whether I’m feeling sad and blue. So I give my kudos to Jerry for not only giving an edge to the tough guys, but for enhancing the romantic moments with some music that lives in my head rent-free.
As far as motorcycle flicks go, my heart still belongs to The Losers and Psychomania. Though “The Cycle Savages” is welcomed anytime with me thanks in part to a crazy Bruce Dern, nice writing and a decent soundtrack. I do apologize if I sound a little short with describing the goods here. But as the ancient saying goes, the best things in life are short and sweet. Just look at Melody Patterson and I rest my case happily.
I give it 4 souvenirs from the Sturgis Motorcycle Rally out of 5 - check it out
Ken Hegarty is a contributor to the Grindhouse Cinema Database. You can find a list of his reviews HERE.
