Thursday, October 22, 2015

Today in motorcycle history, October 22, 1957


  



  








  Golden State Productions release "Motorcycle Gang", a 78 minute biker drama starring Carl "Alfalfa" Switzer.









  Hoping Carl Switzer's name would  help carry the film, Golden State Productions release "Motorcycle Gang" on an unsuspecting public. 


  I'll give you the basic gist of the film - !!Warning Spoiler Alert!! - a troublemaker, Nick Rogers, gets out of prison after doing a 15-month stretch for being an all-around no-goodnik. He returns to town looking to hook-up with the old club only to find his club brothers have joined a supervised motorcycle club, supervised by a cop of all things, Lt. Joe Watson. Friction erupts between him and the leader of this goody-goody club, and about the charms of club gal, Terry. 


  'Guys Geared Too High For Anybody's Good!', 'Gals Who Mesh Gears With Them!' 

  Filled with all the the elements needed for a hit biker film; bikes, blondes, fights, music, black leather jackets, liquor, cops, a big race scene. All the positive elements were negated by low-budget production, bad writing and poor acting.  The one saving grace is there are some seriously cool-ass vintage British bikes.

  The film does serve one classic line, after arresting the bikers Lt. Joe Watson tells everybody that "the criminals were not bikers, only motorized criminals".


  Determined to make it a World-Wide Box-Office Smash, on Tuesday, April 8, 1958, it's released in Malmo, Sweden, under the title "Motorcykelligan", then Denmark on May 16, 1960 as "Motorcykelbanden", and finally in West Germany on February 3, 1960 as "Lederjack Rechnen ab".






  Today in motorcycle history proudly supports the National Association for Bikers with a Disability (NABD). www.nabd.org.uk