It was no surprise to find Quentin Tarantino’s name attached to this project as executive producer.  The film works like a grindhouse cross between a biker movie and a spaghetti western—exactly the kind of film we know Tarantino loves most.  The film was actually conceived when Tarantino contacted the film’s writer-director and star Larry Bishop, asking him to write a script echoing the low-budget biker films at which Bishop excelled in the late ’60s. About five years—and a small role for Bishop in Tarantino’s Kill Bill: Volume 2—later, Hell Ride cruises onto the big screen.

Bishop stars as Pistolero, the leader (or “president,” as he refers to himself) of the Victors bike gang that includes the tuxedo-clad “The Gent” (Tarantino favorite Michael Madsen) and the young, mysterious Comanche.  The Victors are embroiled in a rivalry with the 666ers, led by the psychotic Billy Wings and the mysterious Deuce.

The rivalry has something to do with the murder of a Cherokee woman in 1976, featured in flashbacks to that deadly event—witnessed by her young son.

The plot unfolds pretty much how you’d expect it to, revealing the son who’s come back to seek vengeance for his mother’s death.  What keeps it interesting is the back-and-forth between the lesser gang members as their loyalties sway from one side to the other… that, and plenty of sex and violence to keep the plot from getting a flat tire.  A nice touch is the way Deuce is spoken about often early in the film—yet not revealed until later, much like Harry Lime in The Third Man or, well, Bill in Kill Bill.  It also provides for a nice little plot twist when we do finally get to meet Deuce.

It’s easy to see why Tarantino and many of his sometimes cultish followers would enjoy this film as it’s actually a very good homage to spaghetti westerns: campy, overblown, and very, very violent.  It has some fun performances, particularly Madsen as the man who would smile to your face while he’s shooting you in the back. In particular, The Gent shares a fun fight with Comanche that resembles a bar brawl less than it does two ten-year-olds wrestling in the living room. 

I also enjoyed Dennis Hopper—who trades on his Easy Rider biker persona—as a former gang member everybody thought was dead; and now, you’re not really sure which side he’s on.

Although he’s had a long career that began in the ’60s, I must admit that I hadn’t heard of Larry Bishop going into this film.  His gruff, tough, but somehow charming Pistolero is about what you would get if you took Ian McShane’s Al Swearengen from HBO’s Deadwood and put him in a leather jacket and sunglasses.

I didn’t particularly enjoy Hell Ride while I was watching it (though I was never bored), and I still don’t think it’s that great of a film; but after mulling over it during the drive home, I’m beginning to appreciate the film for what it is and what it was trying to be.  It’s a B-movie, and a fairly well-made B-movie at that.  This seems like one of those films that you’d never seek out to watch, but you might find to be a fun interruption to your late-night channel surfing.

Of course, after being edited for content, there’d only be about an hour of this film left.

Hell Ride is rated R for “strong violence, sexual content including graphic nudity and dialogue, language and drug use.”  Make no mistake; there is lots and lots of graphic nudity and violence in this film.  It is certainly not for everyone, as evidenced by the couple who left the screening about twenty minutes in.

Courtesy of a local publicist, Jeff attended a promotional screening of Hell Ride.