Die wilden Schläger von San Francisco (1967)

Die wilden Schläger von San Francisco: Directed by Richard Rush. With Adam Roarke, Jack Nicholson, Sabrina Scharf, Jana Taylor. At first, gas station attendant Poet is happy when the Hell’s Angels gang finally accepts him. But he’s shocked when he learns just how brutal they are.

“u0026#39;Hells Angels on Wheelsu0026#39; is a surprisingly tough and entertaining b-grade 60s biker movie. Jack Nicholson plays a gas attendant named Poet who becomes involved with some Hells Angels. Their leader Buddy (Adam Roarke) takes a shine to Poet, and Poet is attracted to Buddyu0026#39;s old lady Shill (Sabrina Scharf). Nicholson went on to movie superstardom, Roarke to cult status and an untimely death, and Scharf a bit part in u0026#39;Easy Rideru0026#39; and then a career in politics. Most people will probably watch this to get some cheap laughs out of early Nicholson. He is actually pretty good here, better than the material deserves, but the real star performance in the movie is from the seriously underrated Roarke. Roarke was often the best thing about the sometimes awful movies he had to appear in (see u0026#39;Dirty Mary Crazy Larryu0026#39; for example), and he exudes charisma and intelligence here. Director Richard Rush obviously valued him, as he reteamed him with Nicholson in the hilarious u0026#39;Psych-Outu0026#39; and even gave him a small role in his masterpiece u0026#39;The Stunt Manu0026#39;. u0026#39;Hells Angels on Wheelsu0026#39; obviously isnu0026#39;t anywhere near as good as the latter, but it is much better than youu0026#39;d expect and definitely worth tracking down.”