The Glory Stompers/Comments

Two years before his smash hit Easy Rider (one of my all time faves), Dennis Hopper starred as Chino, leader of The Black Souls biker gang who decide to kidnap the “mama” of rival member they snuffed out in The Glory Stompers gang and sell her off to some Mexicans (rather than stopping her clock). BUT the gang member didnt die and is out to try to find her. Meanwhile Chino is keeping the gang together by dropping his best one liners and emoting all over the place (hey baby/oh wow man/just turn it on!/like dig it, this cats suicidal). Dennis Hopper is entertaining to watch, hes by far the best actor in the film. Most of the movie he spends trying to get the kidnapped girl to give in to him but she doesnt. Watching how he reacts to her telling him to FO for 90 minutes is very funny. Its like watching a parent trying to get their kid to eat broccoli. This is also a sort of precursor to his roles as The Photographer in Apoc Now (Glory Stompers is where he started his beard scratching/thinking/monologue schtick) and Billy in Easy Rider. This was his main entry into the hippie/biker era, like his pals Peter Fonda and Bruce Dern in both The Trip (Dennis shows up too) and The Wild Angels. One of my other fave actors in the film is Casey Kasem. Yes THAT Casey Kasem of Top 40 Radio. He plays “Mouth” a wacky member of Chinos gang and hes the comic relief. Casey always cracks me up in these movies esp knowing who he would become later on. its like wtf is casey kasem doing in a biker film?! So this isnt the very best biker movie, but its decent. Not heavy on plot/story. Mainly just hanging out with the gang as they ride around. Sort of a representative of the standard 60s biker film of the day. That said the music is A+. Fuzzed out guitar heaven. -- Pete

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The Glory Stompers against The Black Souls...The film starts with Darryl (Jody McCrea) and Chris (Chris Noel). Both are having problems. Chris wants to live the normal way. Darryl wants a life with no kids and no goddamn 9 to 5. After a little both leave the scene for a private talk. Then the evil Chino (Dennis Hopper) with his biker crew shows up. They have a fight and Darryl gets beat down. They think they've snuffed him out. The Black Souls take Chris with them. They go south and try to sell her to the mexicans for some money. Unbeknownst to them, Darryl is still alive and tries to find them. On his way, his bike gets fucked up. Then he meets an old Glory Stompers buddy who is outta the gang (because of getting older and having his own conflicts with the biker life). He follows Darryl and helps him. The final act? Guess what? It gets down to business. First of all, Dennis Hopper plays every actor into the ground in the film. The action scenes for that time (1968) were very cool. The cinematography was great in the action scenes as well. Reminded me of Quentin Tarantino often (he uses the same style). Its a great Biker Flick. If you haven't seen it yet, do it now. Recommended! -- GBS