Pulp International - Peter+Fonda

Mar 2 2019

This one is paved with bad intentions every inch of the way.

When we saw these two Italian posters for 1966's I selvaggi our eyes deceived us and we thought—for a wonderful split second—that they were for a film starring Frank Sinatra and Jane Fonda. But then we realized it was Nancy Sinatra and Peter Fonda, who are pretty big downgrades, quality-wise. No offense intended toward them. Fonda is an icon of cool, but not because he can act. We aren't aware of Nancy Sinatra wowing people with her thespian chops either. But we watched the movie anyway.

It's better known as The Wild Angels, and it's Roger Corman directed schlock from American International Pictures about a group called the Hell's Angels ripping and bombing around Southern California, causing problems to law abiding folk and the police. While it's obviously a take on the infamous motorcycle gang, in real life the gang spells its name without an apostrophe. Why that makes a difference in terms of trademark infringement we have no idea, but we assume that's why it was put there. Or maybe it's just a correction of an assumed typo in the real gang's name. Or maybe nobody even noticed the difference.

Whatever the case, the Hells Angels couldn't really have claimed that the racist and violent Hell's Angels portrayed by Fonda, Sinatra, Bruce Dern, and company differed greatly from reality. The real Angels may not have clobbered preachers and taken over churches for all night bacchanals, but they did some terrible shit. Despite the incendiary verisimilitude of the movie, it's mostly a bore—but one that helped establish the outlaw biker genre and pave the way for 1969's Easy Rider. For that it deserves a little credit. Now we're going to try and find out if Jane Fonda and Frank Sinatra ever acted together, because that's a movie we'd like to see.

Italy American International Pictures Hells Angels I selvaggi The Wild Angels Peter Fonda Nancy Sinatra Bruce Dern Diane Ladd Roger Corman bikers poster art cinema movie review

Hollywoodland

May 30 2010

The man who went looking for America.

Promo photo of Dennis Hopper, actor in Rebel without a Cause, Cool Hand Luke, and Apocalypse Now, also co-writer, co-star and director of the eternal Easy Rider, seen here circa 1955. Easy Rider's official tagline was: A man went looking for America—and couldn't find it anywhere. It was meant to describe Peter Fonda's character Captain America, but it is real-life maverick Hopper for whom the line always seemed more apt

Easy Rider Apocalypse Now Rebel without a Cause Cool Hand Luke Dennis Hopper Peter Fonda deaths

Vintage Pulp

Jan 31 2009

So you say you wanna be free.

Neither of us at Pulp Intl. were around during the 60s. Articles and reviews tell us Easy Rider—heavy with symbolism, sparse of dialogue, and low on budget—perfectly captured the unsettled mood of the times and changed moviemaking forever. But we weren't there, so we watch this film as latecomers, like people examining the high water mark of a flood that long ago receded. If the waters had risen higher perhaps we’d be living in a different world now, a better world rebuilt from scratch. But maybe not. Easy Rider was released in Japan today, 1970.

Japan Easy Rider Dennis Hopper Peter Fonda Jack Nicholson bikers drugs poster art cinema movie review

Hollywoodland

Nov 17 2008

Television vamp got so high, she still hasn’t come down.

Heather Locklear made a career playing the sexpot, but even she couldn’t beguile her way out of a Santa Barbara, CA traffic stop back in October. Now a judge has formally charged the actress with misdemeanor DUI for driving under the influence of pills. Precisely what kind of superpills these were we don’t know, but the last time we saw a girl look so spaced out she was running around in a cemetery with Dennis Hopper and Peter Fonda.

U.S.A.Santa Barbara Heather Locklear Dennis Hopper Peter Fonda drugs mugshots