<<< March 10 -12, 2006 >>>

In Collaboration With Hollywood Book & Poster

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Because it’s been a while since our last weekend of Drive-In and Grindhouse Exploitation nuggets, let us take the opportunity to once again revisit that time of yore when drive-in passion pits and crumbling urban movie palaces championed all that was wild, sexy, untamed, violent and just plain grungy! This time around, it’s all manner of transgression and trauma on the highways of America’s great outdoors, including such biker films as BORN LOSERS, DEVIL’S ANGELS (starring John Cassavetes!), Richard Rush’s SAVAGE SEVEN and a night of white-line payback and retribution, featuring MACON COUNTY LINE and WHITE LINE FEVER. Eric Caidin, of Hollywood Book And Poster, will be raffling off prizes every night before the lights go down, and there’ll be plenty of rare, vividly visceral movie trailers of the era to whet your appetite for the main course.

Friday, March 10 – 7:30 PM

New 35mm Print! BORN LOSERS, 1967, Sony Repertory, 113 min. Dir. T. C. Frank. Sadistic, degenerate bikers invade a small California coastal town and only one man can stop them, ex-Green Beret, Billy Jack (Tom Laughlin) in the character’s first screen appearance. With a great cast that includes action auteur, Jack Starrett as Deputy Fred, Russ Meyer veteran Stuart Lancaster as the sheriff and – last but not least – Jane Russell (!) as the hardrinking mom of a problem girl enamored with the new outlaws in town. With Jeremy Slate and William Wellman, Jr.

HELL’S ANGELS 69, 1969, Castle Hill, 97 min. Dir. Lee Madden. "Let the fuzz take you ALIVE... the Angels aren't that particular!" Chuck and Wes (Tom Stern and Jeremy Slate) are two high rollers who decide to rob Ceasar’s Palace in Las Vegas disguised as Hell’s Angels. Bad idea! After the heist, when the Angels get hep that they’ve been framed, look out! Great exploitation antics with plenty of vintage footage of Nevada’s gambling mecca from a bygone era. Co-stars G. D. Spradlin as a redneck detective and a whole posse of real Hell’s Angels, including Sonny Barger. Plus vintage exploitation trailers prior to screening! Discussion in between films with actors, Jeremy Slate, Tom Stern (HELL'S ANGELS 69) and William Wellman, Jr. (BORN LOSERS).

Saturday, March 11 – 7:30 PM

New 35mm Print! SAVAGE SEVEN, 1968, Sony Repertory, 94 min. A scorching, early gem from Richard Rush (THE STUNT MAN) with Adam Roarke (PLAY IT AS IT LAYS) as the head honcho of a biker gang who leads his unruly band of outcasts onto an Indian reservation, establishing a brief, uneasy co-existence with the Native Americans, specifically Robert Walker, Jr. and Joanna Frank (AMERICA, AMERICA). Soon local government and big business drive a wedge between the two factions, pitting them against each other to keep both marginalized and powerless on society’s fringe. Delivers in both thrills and caustic social commentary, with locations and performances unusually credible for this genre. With Larry Bishop, Billy Green Bush, John Bud Cardos. NOT ON VIDEO!

New 35mm Print! THE DEVIL’S ANGELS, 1967, Sony Repertory, 84 min. The personality of biker leader, Cody (John Cassavetes) is split between do-your-own-thing bad-ass and sensitive loner in this rarely-screened sequel to Roger Corman’s THE WILD ANGELS. Cody makes a truce for his gang with the sheriff (Leo Gordon) of a small southwestern burg, but violence is kindled when a provocative, young town girl is added to the mix. Corman’s ANGELS had been a huge hit for American-International, serving to jumpstart the biker film craze that swept the nation’s drive-ins in the late sixties, and this effort from Corman’s former production designer-turned- director, Daniel Haller (THE DUNWICH HORROR) was one of the earliest in the cycle. Co-starring the great Mimsy Farmer (who subsequently went on to a long career in Euro arthouse and exploitation films in the 1970’s and 80’s). With Beverly Adams as Cody’s ‘old lady.’ NOT ON VIDEO!

Sunday, March 12 – 6:30 PM

New 35mm Print! MACON COUNTY LINE, 1974, Max Baer Productions, 89 min. Dir. Richard Compton. A superb, nervewracking drive-in sleeper that still holds up today. Real-life brothers, Allan and Jesse Vint, are siblings touring the countryside with Cheryl Waters, their hitchhiker pal, when the trio suddenly becomes stranded in a backwater town due to car trouble. An unfortunate coincidence implicates them in a crime they did not commit, and before long self-righteous sheriff Reed Morgan (Max Baer, Jr. in an astonishingly ferocious performance) is on their trail, intent on wiping them off the face of the earth. Expertly walks the line between violent exploitation programmer and a character-driven drama. Co-starring Joan Blackman, Geoffrey Lewis, Leif Garrett, Emile Meyer, Jay Adler and Doodles Weaver.

New 35mm Print! WHITE LINE FEVER, 1975, Columbia (Sony Repertory), 90 min. Jan-Michael Vincent, returning from Viet-Nam and optimistic about his future, marries high school sweetheart, Kay Lenz, then buys his very own rig, all the better to get him started as an independent trucker. But he finds out things have changed dramatically while he was away, with his dad’s old trucking company friend, Duane (Slim Pickens) now in thrall to syndicate hoods, big moneymen and corrupt politicians (as personified by L.Q. Jones, Don Porter and R.G. Armstrong). Before long, Vincent starts a virtually one-man war against the powers-that-be. A great combination of slambang action, hair-raising stunts and social commentary from director, Jonathan Kaplan (OVER THE EDGE). Plus vintage exploitation trailers prior to screening! Discussion in between films with MACON COUNTYdirector, Richard Compton, actors, Geoffrey Lewis and Jesse Vint and from WHITE LINE FEVER, actor Martin Kove.