If you saw it in a ragged print at a drive-in in the 1970s, “Hell Ride” would look perfectly at home. But seen in a state-of-the-art theater in 2008, this self-conscious throwback to grindhouse pictures is more laughable than cool.
It should come as no surprise that the film is executive-produced by Quentin Tarantino, a big fan of the motorcycle-gang movie. Tarantino is responsible for unleashing this new project from writer-director-star Larry Bishop.
Larry who? Don’t feel bad if you don’t instantly recognize Bishop’s name; he’s the kind of cult figure Tarantino cherishes. The son of comedian Joey Bishop and a onetime comedy partner to Rob Reiner, Bishop got his notoriety by appearing in low-budget biker flicks in the late ’60s and early ’70s.
“Hell Ride” aims for the spirit of those movies. Bishop plays Pistolero, the president of the Victors motorcycle gang; his trusted lieutenants are The Gent (Michael Madsen) and Comanche (Eric Balfour).
The plot is an amazingly convoluted thing that has its roots in a murder that took place on July 4, 1976. In the course of revealing Pistolero’s revenge on a rival gang known as the 666ers, the movie offers up a lot of topless starlets, vintage songs and shots of men slowly removing their sunglasses while straddling choppers.
We also get a cameo by David Carradine and a somewhat more extended role for Dennis Hopper, two men who did their share of low-budget fare back in the day. Hopper, at least, seems to be amused by the proceedings.
I wish I shared the feeling. As a director, Bishop begins the movie with a completely incoherent prologue and proves himself completely incapable of building a scene, let alone connecting one scene to another.
As a writer, he’s fond of bizarre locutions such as “a whopper of a chopper opera” and “86ed from the 666ers.”
But it’s as a leading man that Bishop provides the most fascination, even if one is never quite certain whether to take his performance straight or not. Strutting around in his tight jeans and leather, his sideburns wider than his bike handlebars, Bishop resembles the comedy relief of Erich von Zipper in the “Beach Party” movies more than Marlon Brando in “The Wild One.” He’s the most peculiar touch in this extremely peculiar film.
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