An in-depth look at the 1966 Roger Corman directed film The Wild Angels starring Peter Fonda, Nancy Sinatra, Bruce Dern, Diane Ladd, and real members of the Venice chapter of the Hell’s Angels. With a brief history of bikersploitation films, the filming in Southern California with Peter Bogdonavich, and the film’s connection to the counterculture classic Easy Rider. Includes behind the scene photos and promotional materials.
Opening mainly on the southern U.S. drive-in, b-movie circuit during it’s initial run it earned over $6 million at the box office on it’s $350,000 budget starting a tidal wave of b-movie bikersploitation films.
“It was opening in six hundred drive-ins all over Texas and Louisiana. Who would think you could make a movie in ten days and have it out ninety days later in six hundred theaters? Who would make six hundred prints of The Wild Angels and think they would do any business? On the opening weekend, I think it made a million dollars. No movie like that had ever made any kind of money. It was Peter Fonda, Nancy Sinatra, and me. I’m sure Nancy pulled all the money in, because “These Boots Are Made For Walking” was a big hit right then. Peter and I didn’t mean anything, although I’m sure Peter meant a hell of a lot more than I did.” Bruce Dern
Second installment of the Bikers, Ghost Towns, and Thanatourism Series.
Bikers' Bookshelf 
Leave a comment