Product Details

• Actors: William Smith, Valerie Starrett, Jennifer Starrett, Earl Finn, Morgan Stanford
• Format: Box set, Collector's Edition, Color, Limited Edition, Original recording remastered, Special Edition, NTSC
• Rated: R (Restricted)
• Number of tapes: 2
• Studio: Starz / Anchor Bay
• VHS Release Date: August 29, 2000
• Run Time: 185 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (33 customer reviews)
• ASIN: 6305983771
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #321,136 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

This pair of Joe Solomon-produced biker dramas are two of the better examples of the '60s subgenre. Jack Nicholson stars in Hell's Angels on Wheels as a moody cycle-riding gas station attendant adopted by Adam Roarke's gang when he jumps into a friendly bar fight. It's a fairly blatant rip-off of Roger Corman's The Wild Angels, but director Richard Rush (who next teamed up with Nicholson for the counterculture classic Psych-Out) offers up a lifestyle that's less nihilistic than simply meaningless and winds the unlikely friendship between restless Nicholson and rootless Roarke into an inevitable clash over basic philosophical differences (namely, Jack wants Adam's girl, and Adam wants Jack to kowtow to his leadership). William Smith is an unusual hero in Run Angel Run: he's a sellout on the run from vengeful biker clubs up and down the coast. Director Jack Starrett, a former actor in biker movies himself (Hell's Angels on Wheels, among others), creates a taut little picture highlighted by impressive stunts (Smith jumps onto the flat car of a moving train). Smith's brooding, taciturn performance mellows when he takes a job on a rural sheep farm and connects with a career farmer who used to be a barnstorming biker in the 1950s. "I gotta be free man, I gotta fly," confesses Angel, but at what price? Both pictures were cheaply made for quick playoff, but there's an interesting attempt to explore the tension between the thrill of the road and the hollow activity passing for freedom. The set comes in a cool-looking 8 by 12 tin storage container, but the tapes do not have separate video sleeves. --Sean Axmaker

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Good biker flick, April 21, 2001

By 

Peter Beamer (Grover Beach, CA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Hells Angels on Wheels [VHS] (VHS Tape)

I've seen this one three or four times on Speedvision. Kind of ruthless toward the women but conveys the style of the Hell's Angels. Too bad about Adam Roarke. He was a good guy, a pretty good actor, stunt man and.... well he died a little before his time. I could call myself a biker but my Kawasaki Z1R although quick doesn't quite fit the image of a Harley Davidson. Some how Jack Nicholson just doesn't fit in either. Sonny "Ralph" Barger sure does!

14 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Pre-Easy Rider Nicholson, July 5, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: Hells Angels on Wheels [VHS] (VHS Tape)

Please don't listen to the people making clueless comments about this film. It was theatrically released in the 1960s and was seen as a departure from the standard AIP biker fare. Directed by Richard Rush, years before "Stunt Man," and featuring members of the Hells Angels, this film featured Jack Nicholson as a potential member of the Angels. There's little "action" and the fluid camera movement have led it to be known as "Hells Angels On Quaaludes." Not as bad as the other reviews have made it out to be.

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Adam Roarke has BIGGER Screen presence than Nicholson! !!!, April 26, 2004

By 

CANUT REYES "luciofun" (San Antonio, Texas United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Hells Angels on Wheels (DVD)

This is One of Those TRUE GUILTY PLEASURES !!! This even Seems Better then Corman's The Wild Angels Which came out Earlier, This movie shows more of the True Brotherhood of what its like to be in a Real Outlaw Biker Gang !!! There are Even real Hells Angel Alums in this film Like Sonny Barger and Adam Roarke...The Ending seems a little Hurried though, thats my only Gripe...Over all a Great Ride of a Film !!! :)