Rating: C+
Dir: Simon Nuchtern
Star: Lance Henriksen, George Kennedy, William Forsythe, Karen Black
I can’t bring myself to tag this as an Arizona film, even with the IMDb synopsis beginning, “A vicious biker gang is intent on destroying a small town in Arizona.” I don’t think there is a single mention of Arizona in the script, the saguaro count is stuck on zero, and it was actually filmed in Rosamond, Lone Pine and the Veluzat Motion Picture Ranch. All of which are in California. Despite this, it remains a reasonably entertaining update on the biker genre, with the Savages motorcycle club under leader Pigiron (an enthusiastically scenery-chewing Forsythe), invading Agua Dulce. A former mining town, it has been in decline since the mine closed, and this could be a death blow.
However, standing against them is former CIA operative Stryker (a very young, surprisingly blond Henriksen). He has the courage to stand up to the bikers, while wheelchair-bound old pal Tick Rand (Kennedy) can knock out improvised weapons from his mine lair, up to and including a rocket launcher. The townsfolk are an odd bunch, including a sex-starved priest (Richard Lynch), a proselytizing barber (Sam Kinnison, then still so little known, the credits misspell his name) and bar owner Rachel (a rough-looking Black), who is so bored of life in Agua Dulce, she joins up with the bikers. But others are prepared to stand with Stryker and defend their town, despite the Savages upgrading to a tank (!), liberated with surprising ease from a conveniently nearby and shockingly careless military base.
The most disappointing thing about this are probably the fisticuffs, which are slow, ponderous and largely lacking in impact. The only one I’ll remember is a lengthy cat-fight between Black and Claudia Udy, who plays Tick’s daughter, Katie. When the director fails to bring to the table there, Nuchtern does make up for in the energetic blowing-up of stuff, such as Pigiron randomly unleashing his tank on the local church tower. I also liked how Stryker is largely reluctant to take on the bikers, spending much of the first half just watching their increasing aggressions. For example, he just rides off after they attack a businessman and his floozy (eighties B-movie queen princess handmaid, Elizabeth Kaitan), observing “There’s 25 of them and one of me.”
Couple of other points of interest. Some of the bikers were exactly that, members of the 5th Chapter Motorcycle Club of Los Angeles. What’s particularly unusual about them, is they were a straight-edge group, which eschewed both alcohol and drugs and was comprised of recovering addicts. Agua Dulce also has a town midget, played by Kevin Thompson. best known (if not easily recognized) for his role in Blade Runner: “Home again, home again jiggity jig, Good Evening JF”. It’s these little things which help keep the film adequately entertaining, despite a script which is blatantly obvious. This rumbles on well past the expected confrontation between Stryker and Pigiron (albeit with a nicely industrial setting for the finale). I’ll forgive its lack of Arizona.