The Wild Angels

The Wild Angels
Theatrical release poster by Reynold Brown
Directed byRoger Corman
Written byCharles B. Griffith
Uncredited:
Peter Bogdanovich
Produced byRoger Corman
StarringPeter Fonda
Nancy Sinatra
Bruce Dern
Diane Ladd
CinematographyRichard Moore
Edited byMonte Hellman
Music byMike Curb
Production
company
Distributed byAmerican International Pictures
Release date
  • July 20, 1966 (1966-07-20)
Running time
93 minutes
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
Budget$360,000[1]
Box office$15.54 million[2]

The Wild Angels is a 1966 American independent[3] outlaw biker film produced and directed by Roger Corman. Made on location in Southern California, The Wild Angels was the first film to associate actor Peter Fonda with Harley-Davidson motorcycles and 1960s counterculture. It inspired the biker film genre that continued into the early 1970s.

The Wild Angels, released by American International Pictures (AIP), stars Fonda as the fictitious Hells Angels San Pedro, California chapter president "Heavenly Blues" (or "Blues"), Nancy Sinatra as his girlfriend "Mike", Bruce Dern as doomed fellow outlaw "the Loser", and Dern's then real-life wife Diane Ladd as the Loser's on-screen wife, "Gaysh".

Small supporting roles are played by Michael J. Pollard and Gayle Hunnicutt and, according to literature promoting the film, members of the Hells Angels from Venice, California. Members of the Coffin Cheaters motorcycle club also appeared.

In 1967 AIP followed this film with Devil's Angels, The Glory Stompers with Dennis Hopper, and The Born Losers.

  1. ^ Samuel Z Arkoff & Richard Turbo, Flying Through Hollywood By the Seat of My Pants, Birch Lane Press, 1992 p 163
  2. ^ "The Wild Angels, Box Office Information". The Numbers. Retrieved April 16, 2012.
  3. ^ The Top 10 Indie Movies of All Time | A Cinefix Movie List - IGN