HELL RIDE (2008)

I don't know if it's the curiosity level brought on by Tarantino and Rodriquez' GRINDHOUSE or what but there are a lot of movies that are so influenced by movies from the seventies that it makes me grin.
That was my sole purpose for hunting down a copy of Larry Bishop's HELL RIDE. You can tell that director/writer/star Bishop has done a lot of motorcycle movies. It's hard to believe that he's the son of funny man Joey Bishop, but his role as Pistolero is nothing short of amazing.
The premise is simple. There are two motorcycle gangs. One bad and one we like. The one we like has Bishop as Pistolero, Michael Madsen as The Gent and Eric Balfour as Commanche. I'm not familiar with the last guy. According to IMDB he's been on a lot of television that I haven't seen. In this he does a great job. They all do.
The plot is simple, but the storyline has so many twists and turns and back flashes and forward flashes that I can see why a lot of people do not like this flick. I think this is a culmination of Larry Bishop's work in film and he got to do it the way he wanted to.
Plus, I noticed that the little devil managed to put himself into as many scenes with hot naked girls as possible. For a guy who is sixty he looks fifty tops.
The action is good, the acting is better and Dennis Hopper is hilarious in his small role. The only real waste seemed to be Vinnie Jones who growled his way through his part. Didn't work for me.
In this movie there wasn't a lot that didn't work for me. I don't like the whole, we need to get this case/safety deposit box thingie. Very important that we do this. But then we don't get to see what's in it. And I don't want to hear about some 'What's in it isn't important, it's what it represents'. BULLSHIT! And they say that they are inspired by the flick KISS ME DEADLY (1955). Guess what? Saw the flick and we knew what was in that box! Just show me otherwise I think you aren't smart enough to put something clever in there to begin with.
The other thing was the hideous dye job on Larry Bishop's goatee and mustache. I know he was trying to look younger and I'll give the man that, but get a better hair person to make it look believable.
Overall this is a film that reminded me of my younger years and it threw it in your face and political correctness be damned straight to Hell.
Yeah, I like this kind of flick. Here's hoping you do too.
Here's a special treat for those of you that embrace the exploitation flick.
It's called BLACK DYNAMITE and it's new. Enjoy!