Verdammt, verkommen, verloren – The Losers (1970)

Verdammt, verkommen, verloren – The Losers: Directed by Jack Starrett. With William Smith, Bernie Hamilton, Adam Roarke, Houston Savage. A quintet of CIA-trained Hells Angels take their specially armored hogs to Cambodia and head across southeast Asia to rescue a captured presidential advisor.

“The biker film was a staple of American exploitation cinema in the late 1960u0026#39;s, culminating in the u0026quot;generation definingu0026quot; studio funded classic, Easy Rider (1969). What we have here is somewhat of a genre mash up, placing a bunch of Californian bikers in the midst of an u0026quot;exoticu0026quot; war zone. Five gang members, led by Link (William Smith), are employed by the CIA, sent into the heart of darkness in Vietnam, to rescue a captured agent, Chet Davis (played here by director Jack Starrett – who most will recognise as the vicious police officer, Galt, from First Blood (1982)).u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eThe first hour of the film is spent with the gang as they integrate into a small village, basically brawling, f*****g, drinking and fomenting relationships with the all-too-easy ladies. It is a completely ludicrous premise; OK so perhaps this gang of low-lifeu0026#39;s were more expendable than the troops being sent out daily, but it is hard to believe. That being said, this is exploitation cinema at its most ridiculous.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eThe action accelerates in the last reel, as the bikers infiltrate a camp, their bikes armed to the teeth, but the action is repetitive, and with little merit: Bikes jump, huts blow up. Besides this though, some of the characters are likable enough, with their dialogue of clichéd, counter-cultural hyperbole, but it doesnu0026#39;t really save a pretty tedious affair – perhaps the trailer was exciting, so maybe you should just see that. Like all exploitation films of the time that were set in exotic climates, this was of course filmed in the Philippines (where filming is cheap!).u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003ewww.the-wrath-of-blog.blogspot.com”