The Hellcats (1968) User Reviews

This is your movie on drugs

[InzyWimzy · 1/10 · 5 September 2003]

"No, I can't take a chance... ....I'm losing my baby!!"

Just an example of the splendid music you will hear in this one. Obviously, a low budget clunker, Hellcats gives viewers the ability to perceive the world through drug addled, alcohol fueled eyes. Like a nightmare, Ross "chili peppers still burn my gut" Hagen does his best work almost rivaling his role as Rommel...and that's NOT a compliment!

Not much plot or story, acting needed here. Just pay the actors in booze and narcotics, add jovial characters like Six Pack, Cyclops, Hiney ("Hiney cubed it again") and you have further brain cell eradication. Watch the performances here...you can't act this dazed and confused folks...they really got ripped for this one and we got a camera, HEY, let's film it!

I really thought Wild Rebels was bad, Ross Hagen will have you wishing for Steve Alaimo anytime. However, there's more madcap fun in this one than in Sidehackers (ugh!). Don't miss the music and dancing!

"NO, NO, NO, NO, NO!!" <--- actual song from Hellcats

The Hellcats lives up to its awful reputation outside of "Mystery Science Theater 3000"

[tavm · 3/10 · 1 December 2007]

Before watching the MST3K version, I prepared myself to watch the original trailer and uncut version on the same DVD. The movie proper is meandering concerning plot, dialogue, and especially action scenes especially when a bike race is only heard while we're seeing close-up after close-up of what seems like bored spectators. There's also a couple of drunken/stoned orgy scenes that was probably the main reason for The Hellcats existence. You see some excitement at the end but by that time you'll simply be glad when it's all over. So unless you're curious about these late '60s drive-in fare, I wouldn't recommend this movie. Just the MST3K version will do for me which I'm going to review next...

Where's the plot????

[Mystic_Squirrel · 1/10 · 15 April 2003]

I watched this travesty of a movie on MST3K and I can tell you, even Joel and the robots can't save this mess of a movie. The movie starts with a little blurt of a plot about an undercover police officer who gets killed. The killed officer's brother and wife decide to infiltrate a biker gang to find who killed the officer. This all takes about 15 minutes to set up. The next hour will be filled by terrible "motorcycle riding" scenes (definate filler) a pointless booze, drug, orgy type thing, a stupid booze, drug, orgy picnic, a motorcycle race (where you don't get to see the race, just the spectators), a fight scene that may well have been choreagraphed by a retarded todler and finally a teensy bit of resolution for the "plot". The only thing I could think about during this movie is how much I wanted some of the copious amounts of booze they were inhaling, it would have made the movie hurt less.

It's worth watching if you feel like getting very drunk and laughing, but for just straight watching it's no Space Mutiny or Gamera.

Bikes! Broads! Booze! Boredom!

[Scott_Mercer · 4/10 · 4 September 2007]

I've seen a lot of these 1960's biker movies. They are one of my favorite movie genres. Only a few left that I haven't checked out. If you check my other reviews, you'll see this to be the case.

This one is a complete mess, but if you're looking some primo ATMOSPHERE, this clunker has it in spades. Plenty of filthy bikers, hot biker chicks (including Cyclops, the bad-ass chick with an eye patch!), drinking Miller high Life, selling dope, and like most biker films, implied rape.

But if you want a good plot, 'fraid you're too square for the room, fella. What plot there is involves Ross Hagen (late of The Sidehackers, The Devil's 8, and Speedway, plus an infinite number of TV guest shots...and still acting, bless him! UPDATE 2012: Ross was still acting when I wrote this review, but he is no longer with us, R.I.P.) as a gormless straight who "goes undercover" and infiltrates a sleazy biker gang to get his own personal brand of revenge. (A tired plot device shared with several other 60's biker flicks, including the Mini Skirt Mob, Hells Angels '69, and my personal favorite, The Tormentors.) See, his brother got offed by these unshaven scumbags and he's gonna take them down! Payback is a bitch, man. He's joined by his brother's foxy, but not too foxy, fiancé. They're just waiting for the right moment to get their revenge! Meanwhile, they ride around on bikes, fist fight, and drink Miller High Life.

There's some other nonsense regarding dealing large quantities of narcotics and the police attempting to keep an eye on the gang's nefarious activities. Of course, these plot threads, threadbare as they are, join up at the end. Or do they? The plot is so weak it was kind of hard to tell exactly what was going on. In fact, the cruddy VHS dub I had featured muffled sound, making most of the dialog hard to fathom.

I have to say I gave this movie a 4 because I thought the music was pretty cool; some actual '67 garage band cuts, plus some really lovably overdone canned production background music that was probably left over from 77 Sunset Strip. Plenty of bongos in evidence. There was even a soundtrack LP released, which I believe somebody recently reissued in the past couple years. "Groovy, man."

So there you have The Hellcats. No plot at all, but plenty of Sixties biker gang atmosphere and neat music. If that's enough to intrigue you, give it a try. If you haven't seen any of these Drive-In motorcycle movies before, start off with a better one like THE WILD ANGELS, or better yet, THE TORMENTORS, which is utterly preposterous, but hilariously so.

"The Hellcats" is probably the sort of movie that they force you to watch in Hell

[lee_eisenberg · 1/10 · 16 June 2005]

The folks behind "MST3K" must love the fact that there are so many bad movies, as it gives them material for their show. "The Hellcats" is one such movie. This muddled story about a biker gang getting revenge for someone's murder is about as coherent as lava is cold. The movie's whole purpose seems to be showing off buxom women wearing tight clothes. The dance numbers are meaningless, the motorcycle-riding scenes drag on for too long, and the dialog is incomprehensible. Oh, and there's also some blonde women whose reason for existence is to wear bikinis. So, it only makes sense that Joel, Servo and Crow had a great time mocking this movie, as they did with another Ross Hagen movie ("The Sidehackers"). Dreadful.

The Triumphant Return of Budget Steve

[Mike Sh. · 15 February 2001]

Budget Steve McQueen (AKA Ross Hagen, of "Sidehackers" fame) romps his way through this tour de force as an undercover agent infiltrating a motorcycle gang in the hopes of avenging his brother's murder. And the very fact I could glean that much information by watching this movie is amazing given the complete lack of plot coherence (what am I saying? I mean complete lack of plot!) in this movie. Well, OK, I'll come clean. I cheated - I read the back of the video box.

Although not as pointlessly violent and nihilistic as "Sidehackers", "Hellcats" is a squalid film, showing the sixties in all its greasy grimy trashy squalor. This film and others like it are useful antidotes for the prevailing baby boomer nostalgia that would characterize that decade as one of peace, love, idealism, and truly selfless devotion a to great causes serving all of humanity. Let's not kid ourselves - the sixties reeked! Just ask Budget Steve! He was there! Right, B.S.?

By the way, it was interesting to see all the Coleman Francis alumni here, particularly the film's producer, Anthony Cardoza as a hapless artist.

Ross Hagen always seemed to have to get revenge

[Aaron1375 · 2/10 · 11 February 2003]

Another film that starred Ross Hagen and was featured on the cult show, Mystery Science Theater 3000 this is yet another film featuring motorcycles, beer and revenge! Like another Hagen film, "Five the Hard Way" or "Sidehackers", but it does not feature the completely pointless side hacking. That being said, it was the worst of the two films as it was rather incoherent and while "Five the Hard Way" is not an award winner, at least once the side hacking portion of the film was wrapped up it made perfect sense. This one takes forever to get where it is going and goes a very round about way to do so and this is why instead of a cut and dry revenge plot we go by getting drunk at a bar, hanging out in the field, rival gang wars before stopping at our final destination revenge. The film actually preceded "Five the Hard Way" and it pretty much looks like it was shot almost right before they started filming that movie as you can see they used a couple of the same locations. I know that the small cabin in the middle of what looks like a rock quarry was the same place that JC was holed up in at the end of "Five the Hard Way".

The story has a gang that is wild or something and one of their own has been killed or something. A detective is trying to nail some drug dealer or something that uses the biker gang as sort of a delivery service; however, the detective is killed leaving behind a fiancé and his brother, Ross Hagen! Ross must infiltrate the gang and find out who is behind the death of his brother. However, he has plenty of time for beers and having sex with some of the members of this rowdy biker gang who spends most of their time drinking and occasionally having all out fights with rival gangs that can apparently be stopped by someone jumping in and going 'no war'.

This made for a rather funny episode of MST3K as they referenced the fact this film was kind of a lot like "Sidehackers". Sometimes, during the Joel seasons they would do films that were similar or sequels to films and at times the jokes would become stale; however, not so much the case with this one. The main problem I had with this one was the bumps which featured them flashing back to earlier episodes which seemed kind of lazy.

So this film was not good...not by a long shot. I did not care about Hagen's character in this one as much as I did in "Five the Hard Way" as he seemed to be enjoying his time undercover and not really finding anything out while the fiancé was doing all the work. In "Five the Hard Way" he could not talk clearly at all, but I knew his wife to be was killed and I wanted him to beat the crap out of JC because he was annoying! This one, I just wanted it over as at times he seemed to forget his brother.

What the hell is this movie about???????

[cougfan · 1/10 · 14 February 2001]

Open at a biker funeral - then watch biker chick drive around for miles with 5 bucks worth of drugs in headlight - give to another biker to have them drive for miles burning up 10 dollars worth of gas - give to director guy and dog - Ross Hagen gets out of a plane to investigate what I don't know. Ross then drives around on bike for miles to some bar to listen to the bike song and drink beer then go to a field to drink and throw bugle boy into pond to hear him exclaim "Abbedopluliska a vont" then drive more after implied bike race, go to director's guy hangout then to waterfront while biker gang comes to the rescue at 27 MPH... AAUUUGGGGHHHH!!!

This is a bad movie even for Ross Hagen, and MST3K barely makes it tolerable.

Don't say you weren't warned!!

Motorcycle Girls crash and burn.

[quamp · 1/10 · 29 January 2001]

A very lame attempt to show what the motorcycle culture of the late 1960's was like, the Hellcats was just plain bad. The audio was very hard to hear, the plot meanders aimlessly, and most of the time doesn't make sense. About the only redeeming feature for me was the hot babes in skin-tight clothing. Ross Hagen lives out a fantasy of his by getting to "bed" several women in one movie.

The idea may have looked good on paper, but the execution was awful.

Avoid this one unless you're watching the MST3K version.

So bad it hurts.

[chucko-3 · 1/10 · 2 February 1999]

This is quite a terrible movie. I had no idea what was going on throughout the entire thing. All I saw that I could understand were some disturbing scenes of the drugged-up Hellcats, the bikers of this movie, partying in their own sort of way. I can't believe someone was able to pick out the plot of this thing.

Not only that but the music is made completely of stock music and some crappy 60's band called "The Dolphins" so it changes styles every minute.

This movie is really wretched. There are a couple of laughs because of this, but still, it has a lot of pain as well. Ross Hagan (Sidehackers) and Tony Cardoza (Red Zone Cuba) are in it so I guess that figures.

Z-Grade biker rubbish

[Red-Barracuda · 2/10 · 5 January 2010]

This incredibly shoddy 60's biker flick is a real mess. It features Ross Hagen as a man who infiltrates a bike gang called The Hellcats in order to find out who killed his brother. The plot has about as much focus as the blurry camera-work. It's all over the place. Random events sometimes happen for no discernible reason, for example, the scene where the artist and his model are attacked by bikers doesn't seem to have any relevance to anything. On the other hand, when a potentially half-interesting moment is about to happen, it's not shown at all; like when the bike race between to two gang leaders happens off-screen, wow the excitement. The scenes with The Hellcats are pretty sloppy in general and often just seem to consist of them muntering around while the psychedelic pop of the never-popular Davey Jones and the Dolphins plays endlessly in the background. The theme tune may nefariously make its way into your subconscious, so please beware. Despite the presence of authentic looking bikers, this is not exactly convincing stuff. When Ross Hagen first meets The Hellcats, he wins their respect by defeating their leader by simply pushing him over. I'm not certain that manoeuvre would've worked with The Hell's Angels to be perfectly honest but hey this is the movies eh? Our gang do incorporate some harder initiation rituals however, such as the strange limb stretching procedure so fair play but, sadly, they also have a member who goes around annoyingly playing a bugle at every given opportunity, so less respect on that score.

At the end of the day this film is all over the place. The camera-work is out-of-focus and badly framed, with peoples heads often off-screen. The acting is really terrible. The story is badly put together. And the action scenes are terribly presented (you would be forgiven for not even noticing when The Hellcat leader is shot, it's so shoddily done). Overall, it wasn't all that entertaining and can only be described as a truly Z-Grade counter-culture clunker.

THE HOLY GRAIL OF '60S B-BIKER MOVIES!!!

[zensixties · 8/10 · 9 February 2003]

Hellcats is a campy classic from 1967 featuring Ross Hagen as an undercover narc who (with his murdered brother's fiancee) infiltrates a '60s hippie-biker gang to find out who killed him. So bad it's good!! The film really has a '60s feel to it, and it's worth it for you '60s afficionados to get your hands on the uninterrupted (i.e. not the Mystery Science Theater 3000) version.

The acting is bad, but the hippie/biker parties are classic. This does have an authenticity to it, as actual hippies are used, "cubes" and "Mary Jane" is frequently mentioned, and hot hippy chicks make it with the bikers in massive orgies (albeit PG rated ones). This film laid the groundwork for Easy Rider and the hundreds of similar films to follow. "Davy Jones and the Dolphins" make a brave attempt at a psychedelic soundtrack, though THIS Davy Jones sings out of tune. The rest of the soundtrack is some over the top cartoon drama music (i.e. Batman and Crazy Cat and Minute Mouse themes).

But the Hellcats show at the end they really are the good guys, which really makes it a satisfying ending. I give it a 10 as a classic B '60s film.

A movie that asserts that sex, drugs and rock-n-roll aren't any fun at all...

[lemon_magic · 3/10 · 28 May 2005]

"The Hellcats" is the very archetype of a 60's exploitation movie.

Driven by a wafer-thin plot about a guy who goes undercover with a biker gang to find his brother's killer, this movie is really just an excuse to shoot endless scenes of people riding and riding and riding and riding their motorcycles until you develop sympathy saddle soreness yourself. When the camera isn't pointed at someone riding a cycle, it's filming a drunken blow-out where various members insert heroin into various orifices, shot-gun beer bongs, dance the 'jerk', and grope each other (in a PG fashion); meanwhile the soundtrack plays random cheesy songs by bands who make the "Loving Spoonful" and the "Small Faces" sound like Motorhead.

To tell the truth, none of it looks like a lot of fun. Seriously, I think I'd rather do push ups on Parris Island in the blazing sun than lie wasted on cheap beer on a scabby couch in the middle of a meadow while listening to Davey Jones babble on about "Mass Confusion", at least the way "Hellcats" portrays it.

Back to the plot...Ross Hagen plays a 'Rent A Center' version of either Steve McQueen or Paul Newman; he wins the gangs' respect by um, I'm not sure...it has to do with breaking up a fight and not being torn in half by a motorcycle three-wheeler, and generally coming across like Motorcycle Biker-Gang royalty, so he's really like Tarzan of the Apes (another white boy who beat the Poor Dumb Natives at their own game). He finds the Mr. Big Mafia type who supplies the gang, and when the chips are down, the Hellcats come to the rescue and turn on the Mafia guys either because they like Hagen or because they figured out that the Mafia guys shot their original leader (I still can't figure out which).

The movie also features Lyle Waggoner in a confusing bit part (similar to his role as a heavy in 'Catalina Caper'). I guess this is how he paid the rent before the "Carol Burnett Show". There are also a bunch of people who showed up in the Coleman Francis movies.

While this movie is at LEAST as stupid as "Five The Hard Way" (another Ross Hagen vehicle from that era), this movie at least has a lighter touch, a less claustrophobic story line, and features a happy ending of sorts.

Still it's for fans of the genre only - I can't imagine anyone who isn't into 60's biker films and exploitation movies enjoying this. Quentin Tarantino, are you listening????

Mass confusion...Mass confusion...Song says it all!

[krazeer0nster · 3 July 2002]

Where do I start with this piece of rubbish? Okay, before I begin, I'm a bona-fide mst3k lover but I've also attempted to watch the uncut version of this "film" on the mst3k Hellcats DVD thanks to Rhino. Needless to say, the original doesn't have a lot going for it at all. In fact, it has *nothing* going for it at all! One, half the time the picture is out of focus (which may not be a bad thing after all). Two, the audio sounds as if they attached goose down pillows to the microphones, i.e. no treble so you miss most of what's being said (you don't miss anything worth hearing anyway). Three, excessive use of the zoom control. Did the producer hire chimpanzees to film this? Now that I got the technical details out of the way, now on to the plot or lack thereof. Well, not much to discuss about that so I'll move on to the horrid acting.

*possible spoilers*

We have crazy lunatics using bugles as beer bongs, a "Raffi" lookalike that speaks high speed gibberish after being thrown into a small pond, insane limb-stretching rituals (see the film), dope deals conducted RIGHT BESIDE THE HIGHWAY, and so on. The theme song will permanently play in your mind and will cause psychosis so beware... Joel and the bots give this piece of rubbish the harsh treatment it deserves. Out of all the 1960's counter culture flicks, this one is probably the worst. I take that back. This one is THE worst!

Hell is right. *SPOILERS*

[icehole4 · 1/10 · 15 March 2002]

This is one movie that 1) shouldn't have been made to begin with, and 2)doesn't stand up to what little goodness it had through time. A biker is murdered and his brother goes to investigate. The plot meanders aimlessly for a good, long time (much like in another Cardoza production, Night Train to Mundo Fine.) Ross Hagen flexes his incredibly large ego again, and stupidity rules in the end. I never could figure out who really did the murder.

Bad bad bad bad bad.

[ryanmontemaggi · 1/10 · 12 January 2005]

My friends and I watched the Mystery Science Theater 3000 version, and man was this the worst movie I've ever sat through. There is little plot at all, and even if there were a plot nobody would know what it was since the dialog in the movie is impossible to hear even on high volume. Most of the movie consists of watching people ride motorcycles, watching people do drugs and party, and more riding motorcycles. Its a test in tolerance, honestly. If you watch the trailer for it (which is on the MST3K DVD) it is basically showing the entire "plot" of the movie crammed into a 5 minute segment. Literally, it shows all the scenes from the movie that actually developed the plot. So if you really want to see this movie for some reason, I recommend the trailer because then you wont have to watch the entire boring movie since the plot can be ruined by the trailer alone.

The Biker Movie from Hell!

[Dextrousleftie · 1/10 · 23 November 2006]

For those of you who noticed all the people from Red Zone Cuba in this horrid piece of trash movie, that is because this thing was produced and funded by none other than the talentless Tony Cardoza, who funded and 'acted' in all of Coleman Francis's horrible movies, as well. I guess this is the only way that Tony got to be an actor was to pay for the movies to get made, since he had zero talent. He probably put it in the contracts that he got to play a part in the film if he produced it. Put him together with the hideous Gus Trikonis of Sidehackers fame(thus the appearance of Ross Hagen as the main character)to make a movie, and you have a disaster of major proportions in the making. The incomprehensible, drug addled plot is only the beginning of the film's problems. The film used is grainy and watered down looking, there isn't one appealing character in the whole movie, and there are scenes that make no sense and trail off altogether. Lots of them. They make up most of the movie, actually. All one can think is that the film crew, including the director, were buying drugs from the biker gang and taking fistfuls of them before they started shooting. You can watch this thing over and over again, and all you'll get is a headache. It still won't make any more sense than the first time you watched it. At least Sidehackers had the crazed but amusing JC, and Red Zone Cuba had a so-called 'plot' that left you howling with laughter. Hell cats has neither of these things. Or much of anything else, either, except for lots and LOTS of drugs, booze, and scenes of motorcycle riding and chicks in bikinis.

Avoid at all costs, even with MST3K!!

[Luciferage · 1/10 · 13 February 2003]

It is soo bad, EVEN WITH MST3K, it borders on unwatchable. The time you spend watching this will never be given back to you, so read a book instead. Let watch a bunch of random people drink and flail about, sound like fun? You cannot hear what they are saying, and nothing interesting happens.

The sheer boredom and apathy inspired by this movie could be a major downward turning point in your life. This isn't even a one out of 10, I give it zero.

A horrible waste of time and film.

[Caribbean_Smurf · 1/10 · 14 May 2006]

''The Hellcats'' is another vile biker movie that was shown and commented on in MST3K. It reminded me a little of another movie, ''Wild Rebels'', but that one had at least a reasonable and somewhat follow-able plot. This movie however, doesn't. It falls flat on it's face and makes no sense at all. It's supposedly about bikers, the mafia, drugs, violence, free love, and takes place in the 60's.

*** Spoilers here ***

The movie starts at a graveyard, where bikers are paying their last respects to someone by entrusting the coffin with some of their prized possessions. Things he may need in life after death, you know, knives, keys, beads, a worn-out jacket, a giant bra... then we get introduced to the police, some mafia-type guys, and we cut to the opening credits. These alone are enough to make someone vomit violently. We are constantly zooming out on some horrible paintings that look to have been made by a 5-year old that just threw cans of paint at the canvas. The music is horrible lame.

The first major plot point comes when a guy and his girlfriend are having a romantic meet by the river. The guy gets sniped by some mafia guy. The guy's brother comes flying in, and he and the girlfriend infiltrate the biker gang for some reason. This gang consist of some guys with stupid nicknames like Sixpack, Snake and Hiney, and a bunch of supposedly tough, leather-clad women. One of them appears to be a pirate. Now don't make the mistake of thinking the women may make this movie worthwhile, because they don't. Another guy comes into their hide-out and tries to hit on one of them.

And here is where the movie officially starts to go south. We have been able to keep up until now, but that changes now. The bikers and the guy start to talk, but it looks like they are talking in code. For example, the guy seems to be saying: ''Bye sayyy... take your old lady hog and you move... I tell her blue... and he says not here you don't... and he spikes me 5 times on the wrist..'' Biker woman: ''You sound like a preacher.'' Biker: ''Yeah.. all mouth.'' WHAT? What did they just say? Before you can scratch yourself on the head, the guy pushes the biker over, then leaves. The bikers start a wild party, with lots of drinking, drugs, corny music, people kissing, dancing, spanking, men licking each other's nipples (yeah...). It all ends when one of the bikers gets a bad trip and starts talking about his mommy.

The movie plods along but I have lost track of the plot. Another guy comes by in the bar. Then we see bikers beating up a guy that was painting a woman in the forest. Another party with the bikers, with more stupid music, and this time out in the open. Another gang comes by and the leaders have a bike race, that ISN'T BEING SHOWN ON SCREEN. Instead, we get to see the bikers watch in terror. Then they have a chain fight. Then they play some kind of dangerous game involving two bikes driving in opposite direction and a man hanging in between them. After that is finally over, we cut to 2 guys in a house, playing chess, who seem to be keeping a heroin addicted woman as their slave. The biker women come by to buy drugs, and show their contempt.

After that we see one of the biker women have what must be the most unconvincing bike accident in cinema history. She rides along at like 20 mph, then hits a piece of metal and drives off the road. Bang, dead, face covered in blood. Then some of the bikers go visit the mafia one by one, and all get beaten up and tied up. Some guy threatens the bikers at their hide-out with a gun, but one of the women slaps his wrist with a belt and he drops it. Yeah, right. Then we get another unrelated scene, of a blonde woman getting strangled for no reason. This train-wreck of a movie ends with the bikers assaulting the mafia on a boat, freeing their comrades, and everyone lives happily ever after.

*** End spoilers ***

Bottom line: this movie sucks. The plot started out normally but became nonsensical and there was no real conclusion to the whole 'brother got killed' plot point. The acting was bad. The audio was even worse. Most of the time it was impossible to make out what they were saying, and if it was, it seemed to be random nonsense. The movie was padded with miles and miles of footage of people riding on bikes. And then another shot of bikers. And another. And another god forsaken biker riding on the highway. AARGH! The music was horrible, even for the 60's. The camera-work was 'unique'. The cameraman has very shaky hands, and he likes to zoom in and out a lot. For instance: during a biker party, he keeps zooming in and out on a dancing woman with her eyes closed. What was the point of that? Was it supposed to arouse the viewer or something? Well it didn't. Sometimes the camera just loses focus, too. Shoddy.

Don't watch without MST3K commentary on. 1 out of 10.

All you have to do is listen to the opening scene to know what kind of film they're getting into.

[mark.waltz · 1/10 · 7 December 2021]

Nobody expects high quality in a screenplay about motorcycle gangs of the late sixties, and this film is actually probably the worst one that I've seen because it's disgustingly violent without motivation and the characters are just absolutely repulsive. Do you really want to spend 90 minutes with truly unattractive people inside and out? The buxom women are hideous to look at, and they make the women in the Russ Myers film look like runway models.

There are a lot of lapses in scenes without any dialogue whatsoever, just hideous music in the background and when they do speak, it's hardly anything worth listening to. While this certainly is rated a bomb, I would be embarrassed to put it on my worst 10 list because I would hate for people reading that list to think that I actually sat down and watch this. There is absolutely nothing redeeming or even anything unintentionally funny about it. It is just repulsive trash that should have been incinerated when they look at it in the editing room.

Bad biker movie!!!!! Baaaaad!!!!!

[sethn172 · 1/10 · 18 September 2006]

I hate this biker movie!!!!! This is nothing more than just a blatant ripoff of "Easy Rider," that's for sure!!!!! The biker babes were NOT hot; these evil bikers were more of "Heck's Angels" than the "Other Place Angels;" the acting was cheesy, the story made no sense, there was no plot, there were too many continuity errors; I tell you, this has got to be THE WORST biker movie known to man!!!!!

Now, why watch this when you can watch Peter Fonda in "Easy Rider;" it's as risqué as "Saturday Night Fever;" the story rocks, the babes are hotter; the "angels" really are devils, and much more!!!!! Not this film!!!!!

So watch this on "Mystery Science Theater 3000" only!!!!! Same with a similar movie, "Wild Rebels!!!!!" I'm so glad this movie stinks like a dirty diaper!!!!! LOL

-10/10, indeed!!!!!

A strikingly stinky and static 60's biker schlocker

[Woodyanders · 10/10 · 15 October 2007]

Army Sergeant Monte Chapman (stiffly played by Ross Hagen) returns from the Vietnam war and poses as a biker to get the goods on the no-count drug dealing Harley hounds who killed his undercover cop brother. His brother's fiancé Linda Martin (pretty blonde Dee Duffy) helps Monte out. Sound exciting? Well, it sure ain't. Still amusing and entertaining just the same? You bet. This flick is often downright mesmerizing in its mind-numbing badness. Boy, does this hilariously horrendous honey possesses all the right wrong stuff to rate highly as a real four star stinkeroonie: flat direction by Robert F. Slatzer, uniformly atrocious cardboard acting, grainy, ratty cinematography by Gil Hubbs (the queasy use of zoom-in close-ups are guaranteed to make you sick to your stomach), a plodding pace, dreadful dialogue (sample line: "Back off Six Pack -- it's too early and I'm too sober"), a hopelessly dated "groovy" 60's psychedelic rock soundtrack, sporadic outbursts of extremely mild violence, a stupefying surplus of tedious talk, a meandering narrative, and plenty of ridiculous filler (according to this film bikers love to drink all the time, dance like crazy while blasted out of their skulls, and make out as often as possible). The bikers themselves are a colorfully scruffy bunch; my two favorite cycle savages were Tony Lorea as drunken lecherous slob Six Pack and Eric Lidberg as severely addled acidhead Hiney. The motorcycle mamas are quite the collection of hotties as well, with ravishing redhead Sharyn Kinzie taking the grand beauty prize as the fiery Sheila. A genuinely good movie this most certainly isn't, but its nonetheless an oddly entrancing and enjoyable piece of jaw-dropping dismal junk.

Uh, dude, did he just lick that guy?

[Jawstaysun · 1/10 · 22 January 2006]

Am I imagining things, or in the Moonfire Inn "party scene", did a dude lick another dude across his chest?

When the police chase the motorcycles down the highway, what was the reason? Is it normal in California for the police to chase any citizen on a motorcycle leading to the chasee's death?

What was going on with the blonde bimbo out in the desert? If she was a prisoner, why did she not just run away when the biker chicks arrived?

Did I really see a naked woman having her "portrait" painted only to have the painting destroyed for no real purpose other than to fill up time?

Dude, what was I smoking?

This movie is prime time fodder if you are wasted, man! Peace!

Red-Zone Reunion

[thebigsee · 5 September 2003]

This movie is, of course, awful, but it's important to try to see the good in all things. I would think that if anything this is a great snapshot of biker culture from the late 60s, and offers a good view of "Old School" choppers from that era. It's no "Easy Rider" but it adds to the lexicon. Paul Teutel Sr. and Indian Larry would be proud.

For fans of Coleman Francis' "Red Zone Cuba", it's interesting to see all the alumni from that film in this one. RZC's Chastaine plays a biker; the "gallopin' dominoes" mercenary is Hiney; the "I'll run you out of town for changing your tires" sheriff is the hawk-faced sniper in the black suit; one of the posse re-emerges as the proprietor of the Moonfire Inn; and of course, there's Tony Cardoza, trading in his penchant for tossing helpless innocent old men down wells for a paintbrush in the California chapparal. I can't help but think that Coleman himself was somewhere in the film, perhaps behind the scenes. His spirit is certainly there.

What this film left me wondering was, "If this is what being a biker is like, how can it possibly be enjoyable?" Lying around in a hot dusty patch of chapparal, stoned? This is fun? It all just seems so dirty and scuzzy and depressing. The scene where the bikers inexplicably toss a trumpet-wielding hippy-friend into a stagnant pond just sort of encapsulates what I imagine the late 60s to be: Dirt, stink, muck, grease, filth, and senseless acts of stupidity. Were the 60s such a time of social change and improvement? I guess in some ways they were -- Civil Rights for minorities comes to mind. But overall, the legacy -- as evidenced by artifacts like "The Hellcats" -- is one of sloth, irresponsibility, carnality, and above all, selfishness. They rebelled against the suit-and-tie world of their parents, but if I had a choice, I'd have lived in the 30s/40s/50s a million times before I had to endure the 60s. No wonder the parents of Baby Boomers were so distressed, and no wonder the children of Baby Boomers are so incredibly screwed-up. I know -- I am one. Thanks, former hippies/bikers/counterculturists -- for nothing!

Motorcycles minus the sidehacking

[Zeegrade · 3/10 · 22 April 2009]

Hellcats is an incoherent mess where the plot becomes secondary to the superfluous drug-addled parties thrown by the motorcycle gang. Ross Hagen is Sgt. Monte Chapman whose brother was recently murdered while he was investigating the Hellcats in some capacity. I watched the original movie instead of the one featured on Mystery Science Theater 3000 and I still had an incredibly hard time deciphering the plot. Monte then decides to go undercover with his brother's fiancé and find out who is responsible for the murder. This is where the movie completely falls apart. The endless parties are filled with late sixties drug slang and lame expressions of machismo. One such race between a Hellcat and a rival gang member is enacted off screen with the end resulting in a fistfight that is stopped when Monte jumps in a says "Peace brothers!". After an even lamer competition to prove Monte's toughness is passed he soon becomes a free-wheeling Hellcat complete with bedding any woman you want. Can't say I can argue with that perk. The women are pretty hot especially Sharyn Kinzie as the tough-as-nails redhead Sheila. Sheila begins to trust Monte and lets him in on their business ventures. At this point I wished that I was on some of the hallucinogenic drugs they took at one of their roughly 7,000 parties that week. To make things worse Tony Cardoza makes an appearance as a painter in the middle of the woods. Thankfully he doesn't speak. This is a bad movie though I have seen far worse. Frightening, I know.