''Devil's Angels'' (also known as ''The Checkered Flag'') is a 1967 American
outlaw biker film
The outlaw biker film is a film genre that portrays its characters as motorcycle riding rebels. The characters are usually members of an outlaw motorcycle club.
History
Outlaw biker clubs formed in the late 1940s on the West Coast after the end ...
written by
Charles B. Griffith and directed by
Daniel Haller
Daniel Haller (born September 14, 1929) is an American film and television director, production designer, and art director.
Life and career
Haller was born in Glendale, California on September 14, 1929. He studied at the Chouinard Art Institut ...
. It stars
John Cassavetes
John Nicholas Cassavetes ( ; December 9, 1929 – February 3, 1989) was an American actor, film director, and screenwriter. First known as a television and film actor, Cassavetes also helped pioneer American independent cinema, writing and direc ...
.
Plot
Cody (
John Cassavetes
John Nicholas Cassavetes ( ; December 9, 1929 – February 3, 1989) was an American actor, film director, and screenwriter. First known as a television and film actor, Cassavetes also helped pioneer American independent cinema, writing and direc ...
) and his motorcycle gang, the Skulls, hear the story of how
Butch Cassidy
Robert LeRoy Parker (April 13, 1866 – November 7, 1908), better known as Butch Cassidy, was an American train and bank robber and the leader of a gang of criminal outlaws known as the " Wild Bunch" in the Old West.
Parker engaged in crimin ...
and his outlaw band lived in a secret area called the
Hole-in-the-Wall, where there were no police. Inspired, Cody tells the gang that they are all going to Hole-in-the-Wall to live there forever. After breaking their buddy Funky out of jail, terrorizing a store owner at a gas stop, and destroying the
RV of a couple who inadvertently knocked over one of their motorcycles, they arrive in the town of Brookville as it is celebrating its annual picnic. The mayor, sheriff, and other townsfolk, immediately demand that they depart. However, the sheriff is more conciliatory and comes to an agreement with Cody that the Skulls may camp on the beach if they agree to stay there and move on in the morning.
A local girl, fascinated by the gang, joins them. Meanwhile, the mayor, and other townsfolk, have decided that the sheriff is not doing a good enough job protecting them and should force the motorcyclists out of the area. The gang gets the local girl high and begins to grope her. Frightened, she runs away. The mayor seizes on this as a pretext to falsely claim to the sheriff that she has been raped. The sheriff arrests Cody and forces the rest of them to leave. The Skulls decide to enlist the assistance of a larger motorcycle gang. Meanwhile, the sheriff realizes that he has been lied to and releases Cody. Reunited with his troop, Cody tries to convince them to continue on to Hole-in-the-Wall, but they are committed to return to Brookville to seek revenge.
The gang gathers up the girl, her family, the mayor, another prominent citizen, and the sheriff for a mock trial. The mayor and his companion are sentenced to being beaten up. The gang claims that they are owed a rape and ignore Cody as he tries to stop them. Meanwhile, the other motorcycle gang begins to terrorize the town. Cody asks one of his gang members where Hole-in-the-Wall is located. He is told there is no such place and that the whole story was a fabrication. He tries to convince his girlfriend to leave with him, but she refuses. Cody tears off his Skulls jacket, throws it into the dirt, and rides away. As he does, the police are visible converging on Brookville to restore order.
Cast
*
John Cassavetes
John Nicholas Cassavetes ( ; December 9, 1929 – February 3, 1989) was an American actor, film director, and screenwriter. First known as a television and film actor, Cassavetes also helped pioneer American independent cinema, writing and direc ...
as Cody
*
Beverly Adams
Beverly Sassoon (born ) is a Canadian-American actress and author.
Early life
Adams was born in Alberta, Canada, but was a citizen of the United States. She is the daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Wayne Adams. Raised Roman Catholic, she moved with her ...
as Lynn
*
Mimsy Farmer as Marianne
*
Leo Gordon
Leo Vincent Gordon (December 2, 1922 – December 26, 2000) was an American character actor and screenwriter. During more than 40 years in film and television he was most frequently cast as a supporting actor playing brutish bad guys but o ...
as Sheriff Henderson
*
Marc Cavell as Billy "The Kid"
Production
The filming begins in the vicinity of Point Fermin in San Pedro, CA. Scenes include a pan shot of Cabrillo Beach and motorcycle runs north and southbound on Gaffey Street, just below the upper reservation of Fort MacArthur as the Skulls start off to find to Hole-in-the-Wall.
Filming took place in and around
Patagonia, Arizona.
["Angels in Patagonia" Newman, Richard. ''Los Angeles Times'' March 26, 1967: c12.]
Tagline
''Violence is their god... and they hunt in a pack like rabid dogs!''
See also
*
List of American films of 1967
References
External links
*
{{Burt Topper
1967 films
American International Pictures films
Outlaw biker films
1960s English-language films
Films directed by Daniel Haller
Films produced by Burt Topper
Films produced by Roger Corman
Films with screenplays by Charles B. Griffith