Angel Unchained (1970) User Reviews

Cheapo biker flick is likable despite itself

[Wuchakk · 5/10 · 21 November 2013]

Released in 1970, "Angel Unchained" features Don Stroud as an Arizona biker who decides he's had enough of the biker lifestyle. He roams off and ends up at a hippie commune where he hooks up with a young Tyne Daly. It doesn't take long for redneck cowboy dune buggy riders to enter the picture (I'm not making this up). They try to chase the hippies away so Stroud goes back to his biker buddies to enlist them to help stave off the rednecks.

"Angel Unchained" is definitely a low Grade "B" flick. You'll observe this right off at the silly carnival brawl sequence. This is not top-notch filmmaking, that's for sure. Despite this, after about 30-40 minutes I strangely started getting involved in the story; I actually started caring about the characters and what would ultimately happen, even though I shouldn't have. The bikers are depicted as wild outcast revelers who drink and use drugs, but they're generally likable at the same time. The scenic Arizona locations are a highlight.

The end credits showcase each actor individually in that dramatic way that used to be popular (e.g. "The Dirty Dozen"); all it did for me was make me bust out laughing. NOTE TO THE FILMMAKERS: It wasn't a good or serious enough film to warrant this type of venerable closing.

BOTTOM LINE: "Angel Unchained" wasn't made very well or very seriously; however, if you make the necessary psychological adjustments and give it a chance (i.e. 30-40 minutes of your time), it's fun, likable, entertaining and even a mite engrossing. I shouldn't like it, but I do. Go figure.

The film runs 86 minutes.

Grade: C+

PS: If you want to see a great late 60's/early 70's biker flick, catch the very first one, the infamous "The Wild Angels" from 1966 starring Peter Fonda, Bruce Dern, Nancey Sinatra and Diane Ladd. "The Wild Angels" is simultaneously shocking and profoundly brilliant (yes, even though it's essentially a Roger Corman 'B' film). See my review for full details.

Not too bad biker flick

[JohnSeal · 5/10 · 4 November 2001]

Angel Unchained tells the story of Angel, the loner who leaves his club for the hippy commune. Local townies (actually cowboys in dune buggies) are out to drive the long hairs away, so Angel asks his biker buddies for protection. It's The Seven Samurai on choppers, but these warriors aren't in it for honour, money, or prestige...they only want the potent 'wammo' that the hippie's medicine man puts into chocolate chip cookies(presumably it's Peyote, but the script takes care not to be too descriptive). Acting honours go to Don Stroud as Angel, there's a young Tyne Daly on hand to 'do her thing', Luke Askew is good as commune leader Tremaine, and Aldo Ray has about five minutes of screen time--most of it reclining in a chair--as the local sheriff. Plenty of action, and a lot less profanity and nudity than you would expect from one of these AIP quickies.

Dune buggied rednecks

[internationaldave · 5/10 · 4 March 2012]

Jack said the rednecks are on "Go-Carts". I own the movie and watch it every few years or so. They are driving dune buggies. A far cry from go carts. I think the movie is great! Very unrealistic which helps make it great. I collect cheap biker movies and this well qualifies. Unrealistic is letting a fellow club member leave so he can get his head together. You gotta have a better reason for leaving any outlaw club. Usually it's prison or death. Just taking off don't cut it. Having a tripping Indian with trippy cookies is a first. Usually outlaws will do some things for cash. These "Bros" go for "cookies"! God bless 'em! Next they will be killing for apple pie. Yes, you could find better things to do with your time than watching this. Usually crushing your fingers in a vise or sticking your face in a fan is more entertaining. If you love cheap biker movies (and vintage dune buggies) you will LOVE this pile.

An unusual cast is the primary interest in this tame biker movie.

[Poseidon-3 · 20 September 2005]

The title of this biker flick seems to suggest that the character of Angel (Stroud) will at some point cut loose and split open some heads, but that never really happens. It refers more to the fact that he breaks free of the commitment he once had to a bike gang (or club, as it is referred to here.) The film opens with a bizarre scuffle that takes place in an otherwise deserted amusement park as rival bikers pound each other senseless ON the rides (including, hilariously, a small roller-coaster!) Stroud, having had his fill of the leather and chain lifestyle, then departs to find himself. Eventually, he comes to the aid of two hippies and winds up living on their dilapidated commune. Unfortunately for all of them, the local townsfolk don't take to hippies and repeatedly try to intimidate them and force them off the land. So Stroud calls upon his old biker buddies to come to the aid of the flower children. In this case, the solution may be more of a danger than the original problem since the bikers are depicted as the most repellent, foul, destructive pigs imaginable. Between the rather clueless hippies, the redneck townspeople and the nasty bikers, there are few people in the film to root for. Stroud is a reasonably appealing presence and Daly (as his newfound love) manages to inject a bit of pleasantness and heart into the film. Askew, as the hippie's leader, does an okay job. Bishop somehow manages to remain attractive despite the company he keeps and the careless character he portrays here. Among the remaining cast is McKinney as a savage, mildly deranged biker punk who thinks of women as property to be used and defaced upon his whim. McKinney is best known for his heart-stopping role as a violent, inbred, mountain man in "Deliverance". Ray has a cameo as the town's lackadaisical sheriff, who can scarcely bother to lift a finger in the midst of conflict. The cast of the film is diverse enough to warrant a look, but most fans of the genre will be disappointed in the finished product. There are a few extended fight scenes, but nothing too spectacular and the movie cops out by having people escape their vehicles just before they crash, giving the film a less exploitive and less severe flavor. It's almost cartoonish at times, though there is one chicken that gets treated pretty badly. The only nude scene is a demure one with Daly mostly obscured behind the wood slats of an old pick up truck. A few decent moments of acting creep in, but it tends to be a pretty lackluster affair. Fans of the stars will likely enjoy it more than the casual viewer.

Tame AIP "Biker" flick Post-Easy Rider!

[shepardjessica · 4/10 · 17 July 2004]

This cheapo "biker" flick featuring bikers, hippies, and cowboy rednecks is pretty tame stuff with TERRIBLE music throughout. The opening theme song is especially annoying. Don Stroud has presence as usual, but the script never goes anywhere. Tyne Daly is young and attractive and believable. Bill McKinney (a few years before Deliverance) is appropriately scummy and loud. Luke Askew is surprisingly ineffective as commune leader.

By 1970 these flicks were practically a dead issue after Easy Rider opened up new territory. A 3 out of 10. Best performance = Larry Bishop (as Pilot). One of the worst "biker" films. Hell's Angels on Wheels is still the best of this genre, although I haven't seen Devil's Angels with John Cassavetes and Mimsy Farmer.

Hippies and Bikers

[gavin6942 · 5/10 · 18 December 2012]

Angel (surfer Don Stroud, "The Amityville Horror") is a biker who joins a commune of hippies near a small town. When the town rednecks attack them, Angel calls up some of his bad biker buddies to exact revenge.

This is more or less exactly what you would expect from a movie that combines hippies with bikers. They simply do not get along well, despite both of them being anti-establishment and pro-drug. (We saw a similar yet different encounter in "Easy Rider".)

Was this a good film? Maybe. I mean, I am not going to go out and tell people to watch it. But as far as some good old-fashioned American International Pictures fun goes, this is another AIP film that you can just relax to. No thinking involved.

Mediocre biker drama.

[sonya90028 · 4/10 · 17 September 2009]

Don Stroud stars as Angel, an outlaw biker who decides to leave his gang behind, and live in a hippie commune. The premise of this film isn't really credible, since bikers had a completely different value system than hippies. The typical outlaw biker was a macho, bad-ass type, who relished using violence as a way of life. By contrast, hippies were peaceful, and hated violence.

For a while in the late 60s, many hippies did try to mix with bikers though, and even romanticized the biker lifestyle. But hippies backed-away from glorifying bikers, by the time this film was made. By that time, hippies realized that they couldn't condone the violent biker culture. Especially after a biker gang was involved in the beating death, of a young man who attended the infamous Altamont concert in '69.

Don Stroud's character, Angel, is full of contradictions and conflicts. He wants to leave his old gang, but calls on them to help defend the hippies from constant harassment, by the local rednecks. Angel falls for one of the hippie women, but then rejects her attempts to get close to him. When his gang arrives at the commune, Angel isn't quite sure if he'd like to rejoin them, or stay at the commune and morph into a hippie. Angel is a guy that's just very hard to fathom.

Like most biker films, this one has it's share of violence, drug abuse, wild sexual escapades, and lots of fast, daring motorcycle rides. There are many biker movies made during this era, that are much more entertaining by comparison. Angel Unchained lacks the electric energy, that made other biker movies so compelling, in the late 60s/early 70s. If you like biker movies, there's many of them with much more pizazz, than Angel Unchained.

manages to be both sensational and down-to-earth

[sweetmarias · 7/10 · 19 October 2007]

obviously "biker gang" and "hippie commune" are terms of pure fantasy ... the fantasy of enjoyment that the workaday world had about '60s subculture. so this film is mildly interesting in that it manages to represent both with (what I imagine to be) some degree of accuracy. bikers, with the promise of extra enjoyment, act as enforcers for peace-loving back-to-the-landers against hostile hick "townies" who harass them at every opportunity. it is a bucketful of cliché and ends in a big dune-buggy hack-em-wack-em fireball, but there's some meaningful representation of (what I imagine to be) the cultural conflicts of the era.

Nothing earth shaking here. In fact, it put me to sleep.

[mark.waltz · 4/10 · 26 November 2021]

A rather tiresome anti-establishment film is an extremely dull, uneventful and juvenile look how a group of hippies harassed by a bunch of idiotic locales stand up to them with the help of biker dude Don Stroud. There's no proper description of the clownish absurdities that occur once a bunch of biker dudes entering the scene as if they were producing an extremely bad circus musical in the middle of the woods occurs. Stroud and his biker gang (led by Luke Askew and Larry Bishop) are determined to teach the peace loving hippies how to fight so they can stop being bullied, and it seems that they have the approval of local sheriff Aldo Ray.

Outside of the location photography, the only thing memorable is an early appearance by Tyne Daly who remind me of a young Liza Minnelli in "The Sterile Cuckoo". I didn't find it there's much of a story, and while some of the background music is pretty, it's basically just trashy and moronic, no more dangerous than a beach party movie which American International also produced.

Startlingly Realistic Portrayal of Biker/Hippie Cultures

[Vornoff-3 · 7/10 · 28 July 2003]

What really struck me about this film was its accuracy in depicting two of the most frequently exploited subcultures of the American 1960's. The Hippies are young middle-class idealists, with no evident skills or systematic approach to philosophy. The bikers are violent degenerates, but not over-the-top barbarians who kill at a moment's notice. Their behavior was so similar to stories and books I've read that I wonder if some of the scenes were actually reminiscences of some former Hell's Angel the writer knew. Unfortunately, I never could make out the name of the motorcycle club on the backs of their jackets. It looked like "Exiles Nomads", but what kind of a name is that? Overall, the movie is satisfying, if nothing particularly new. Fits well into the "Born Losers" category of film, but definitely in a class apart from "Satan's Sadists" or "Wild Angel."

Hippies vs rednecks; sounds dumb, but this film is not half-bad

[scsu1975 · 5/10 · 25 November 2022]

The film opens at an amusement park, where two biker gangs rumble. I have to admit it was fun seeing one moron tossed off a rollercoaster. Don Stroud plays the leader of one of the gangs. After the fracas, he decides it's time to go it alone, so he heads off while the opening credits roll. While filling his bike at a gas station, he runs into a couple of commune dwellers, played by Tyne Daly and some guy with large hair. The local rednecks (they are called "cowboys") tell the hippies the pump is closed, even though Stroud just used it. Stroud calmly puts the nozzle in the hippies' truck, much to the disdain of the rednecks. The hippies then invite Stroud to their farm, where he meets the leader, played by Luke Askew. Stroud decides to settle down for a bit, and learns to farm, make pottery, and indulge in other manly activities.

The rednecks show up, and try to trash the farm. One of them even flings a chicken into the air. Now regardless of how you feel about the Chick-Fil-A, this is just not right, folks. While the pacifists stand idly by, Stroud pitchforks one of the attackers in the shoulder. The rednecks promise revenge. Game on!

Stroud attempts to make peace with the rednecks, apologizing and asking them not to punish the hippies. This does not go over well, and Stroud is forced to use a cattle prod to settle things temporarily. Oh well. Nice try.

Askew asks (try saying that ten times fast) Stroud if his biker buddies would be willing to help out. Stroud says no way, warning Askew that the bikers are nutzoid. Daly convinces Stroud (offscreen) to bring in the gang, so off he goes. The gang is reluctant to help out, since they figure Stroud walked out on them - but they eventually give in.

At this point, the film almost becomes a biker version of "The Magnificent Seven" (or, more appropriately, "The Moronic Twelve Or So"). But not quite. There is one major difference (besides the obvious difference in acting talent). The bikers really are nutzoid, and hard to control once they reach the farm. Their new leader "Pilot," played by Larry Bishop, is apathetic to what is going on. The creepy Bill McKinney, as "Shotgun," wears glasses bigger than Elton John (and I mean bigger than Elton John, not bigger than Elton John's glasses). Then there is "Magician," played by T. Max Graham. This lardo wears a top hat and cap; he stashes his bennies in his cape. Yes, these are exactly the guys you would call if you needed assistance. In one hilarious scene, one of the bikers tries to teach a hippie how to fight. In disgust, he finally says "Man, you don't need to learn how to fight. You need to learn how to run."

The bikers spy on the old American Indian on the farm, who puts a "secret ingredient" in his cookies. After sampling a few cookies, the bikers decide they want the recipe, so they trash his place, which upsets Stroud. The bikers decide they are going to leave unless they get the ingredients. Askew takes off on a motorcycle with the "whammo," as the bikers call the stash. I'm still not sure why he did that, but Stroud tracks him down. They return to the farm, just in time to see two of the hippies wandering in after being assaulted.

The rednecks show up in their dune buggies, and the climactic fight ensues. There is one good stunt, when one of the bikers is lassoed and does a 180 spin in the air. But the fight is over almost as soon as it starts. Inexplicably, Askew hops on a bike again, collides with a buggy, and goes flying through the air. Everybody stops what they are doing, like this is "West Side Story" and they all have to feel bad. Hey, this is a rumble, for crying out loud. You're supposed to smash heads.

Except for the abrupt ending, this flick managed to keep me entertained. Stroud is not the best leading man in the world, and certainly has played his share of scumballs in his career. But he seems to nail his character pretty well, as does Bishop. Askew is okay, but if he were wearing suspenders, you'd swear he was a Quaker. Daly is okay as well, except for her habit of wrinkling her nose. In an amusing cameo, Aldo Ray plays the town sheriff. In one scene, he and Bishop relax in chairs, calmly discussing the temperature and humidity, while the bikers and rednecks beat the crap out of each other.

An on the money biker film

[Woodyanders · 8/10 · 7 March 2019]

Disaffected biker Angel (well played with brooding intensity by Don Stroud) decides to quit the motorcycle club he's a member of. Angel decides to join a hippie commune. Complications ensue when the local rednecks start putting serious heat on the hippies for being different.

Director Lee Madden relates the engrossing story at a brisk pace, maintains a generally serious tone throughout, and stages the exciting rough'n'ready action set pieces with flair and skill (a lively rumble between two biker gangs set in an amusement park rates as a definite stirring highlight). Jeffrey Irving Fiskan's thoughtful script offers strong themes about finding yourself, mainstream society's gross intolerance of anyone who defies the status quo, and how sometimes certain circumstances necessitate fighting fire with fire. The sound acting by the capable cast holds this picture together: Luke Askew as peaceful commune leader Jonathan Tremaine, Larry Bishop as loyal biker buddy Pilot, a pre-"Cagney & Lacey" Tyne Daly as the sweet Marilee, Bill McKinney as the belligerent Shotgun, and T. Max Graham as amiable goofball Magician. Aldo Ray has an amusing small role as a laidback sheriff. Irving Lippman's sunny cinematography and the melodic score by Randy Sparks are both up to par, too. A satisfying little flick.

as much to find fun and amusing as to nitpick, decent AIP flick that could be more

[Quinoa1984 · 6/10 · 15 July 2006]

Angel Unchained has the ingredients of your basic AIP picture- bikers, 'cowboys' (rednecks), hippies, and lots of action. Unfortunately, it isn't entirely synthesized. Perhaps I could've known this by seeing it had been re-rated a PG-13 by the MPAA, but I also thought 'hosh-posh, it still probably has that real violent, grungy feel of dueling off between the forces of hicks and bikers'. Turns out the cooler elements of the film, some of which are some of the more amusing and awesomely bad moments from AIP biker movies, are juxtaposed against a core of a story that's kind of tame, even soft. It's actually got a Seven Samurai-style story to it, with the roles of the bandits and samurai reversed here- this time it's the so-called bandits (bikers) fighting off against the good-old boys (cowboys). This starts off some interest even as knock-off material.

The acting as well is not that terrible, at least for what's required on such an ultra-low budget. Regulars like Don Stroud and Luke Askew are dependable (more so Askew who the year before had a memorable role in Easy Rider), though Tyne Daly, a strange early part for her before The Enforcer and later Judging Amy, keeps the love story a little too mellow for its own good. Angel (Stroud) wants to get away just for a little while from his old gang, so he hooks up with Daly's character and starts working at a commune/farm, complete with dazed bearded help and a token Native American with a special 'mix' of cookies. But as they get terrorized by cowboys on go-carts (yes, go-carts, one of the real highlights of the movie), Angel enlists the help of his biker gang, with some consequences that unfold. All of this is tricky material, and the co-writer/director Lee Madden isn't totally able to balance out the scenes and moments (and just visual sights like with Bill McKinney's retro glasses) with the sappier parts. The latter of which also includes a soundtrack that borders on soft-rock, the specifically wrong tone that suddenly makes the material quite dated.

So, if you're looking for lots of carnage, immoral action, and the stomping out of almost everything in sight, you might be disappointed. Even as there is a neat B-movie style climax involving go-carts vs. bikers that does garner up excitement and laughs, the very end adds a point to what ends up being the lesser qualities of the film. It's intentions are swell, but it gets confused as whether it should be more hippie or biker style, with the poor Injun (yes, that's his character name) caught in the middle. Worth watching once, especially for genre fans, but not top-shelf AIP material.

Could be better, could be worse

[cheatcodechamp · 4/10 · 28 May 2012]

Angel unchained is a movie about a biker (named angel) who leaves his gang to get his head together, he ends up in a hippie commune that is being harassed by the locals. when things get ugly Agel is asked to recruit his old gang to help fend of harassing rednecks.

The movie is tame for what you see today, no nudity, language, or extreme violence. There are a few implied rape and drug use but the drugs are early seen and aren't named. i don't mind the lack of violence and sex, but the movie could have changed a few things that would have made the movie a little better. This part is a spoiler but no names are given: near the end the biker say there leaving before the rednecks come to attack the commune but wont leave without some drugs, but they stay when the locals show up and decide to fight anyway. the fight is more like a backyard brawl then a real fight but could be worse. The part i hated was how weak the ending was, once the fight gets heated and somebody gets killed (im not saying who) the fight stops and everybody goes home without even giving an idea on whats going to happen to the hippies, bikers, or rednecks, The movie just ends...just like that. its a watchable movie but that's as far as it goes.

Cowboys, Bikers and Hippies

[Uriah43 · 5/10 · 13 March 2017]

After a rumble with another motorcycle gang one of the bikers named "Angel" (Don Stroud) decides it's time to leave and make it on his own. So he gives up his colors and drives off down the highway. It's at this time that he rides into a small town and while filling up at the local gas station comes upon two hippies who are subsequently denied service by some redneck cowboys who inhabit the area. He helps them out and to express their gratitude they invite him to stay at their nearby commune. Since he has nowhere else to go he takes them up on their offer. Unfortunately, after only a few days the rednecks come and destroy the crops that the hippies had worked all summer on after which the cowboys give them an ultimatum to leave or they will return in a week. So in desperation the leader of the commune who goes by the name of "Jonathan Tremaine" (Luke Askew) pleads with Angel to bring his old gang to help them out. Although he explicitly warns them about the potential danger these bikers could create they continue to insist so he then rides out to ask them. The bikers accept the invitation and all kinds of mayhem follows not long afterward. Now rather than reveal any more I will just say that this was an okay "biker film" which could have been better if it had flowed a bit more smoothly from one scene to another. In any case, I found it to be an adequate movie for the most part and I have rated it accordingly. Average.

Hated the ambiguous ending

[jordondave-28085 · 4/10 · 25 March 2024]

(1970) Angel Unchained SOCIAL COMMENTARY DRAMA/ ACTION

Produced, co written and directed by Lee Madden from American International pictures responsible for a number of low caliber unmemorable biker movies this happens to be one of them. It stars Angel (Don Stroud) along with his motorcycle gang waiting for a brawl with another rival gang at an empty carnival fair. And during the brawl, Angel happens to spot his best friend, Pilot (Larry Bishop) is in trouble and he saves him, and it was at this point police cars start showing up and everyone runs with both Angel and Pilot escaping together. And during their private moment hiding in one of the empty train compartments, Angel then hands over his boss jacket reigns over to Pilot for the intention of experiencing something different. And by the time Angel reaches to the next town with only a single sheriff, it was during then he witnesses discrimination. Which as soon as he takes his gas from the only gas station in the town, and by the time some hippies show up to fill up is when men with cowboy hats step in to prevent them to take any. Angel with the owners dismay then steps in to fill up their Dodge A100 anyway. And as a result of this good gesture, Angle is then invited by both the driver and the lady passenger to come and join their commune. The leader of the commune his name is Tremaine (Luke Askew) and it is not long before Angel falls in love with the commune members, Merilee (Tyne Daly). And it is not long before there are harassed by the men wearing cowboy hats riding their dune buggies and wrecking their compound/ garden. During this scuffle, Angel manages to injure one of them with a pitch fork, we find out are lead by Tom (Jordan Rhodes) and his best friend, Dave (Peter Lawrence). And during the commune's meeting they then try to convince Angel to involve his biker members as protection, but angel resists. One can pretty much be able to predict what happens next with disastrous results that makes no sense whatsoever leaving viewers with another ambiguous ending.

Not bad but needs more exploitation

[rosscinema · 6/10 · 22 September 2002]

As far as biker flicks go this is fairly mediocre. Well acted especially by Don Stroud and it was obviously influenced by "The Magnificent Seven" and "The Seven Samurai" but when you see a low budget film from AIP I kind of expect some exploitation. An abundance of nudity and good amount of violence. This film is really tame if you want to know the truth. A thin Tyne Daly takes off her top but her chest is strategically hidden behind something. Not a bad biker movie but it does need some sleaze and exploitation!