Before Easy Rider, Peter Fonda rode his motorcycle across the Great American West in The Wild Angels. This legendary bikesploitation film follows the Angels as they seek revenge on other gangs, the cops, the clergy, just about everyone that gets in the way of their “live free, ride hard” lifestyle. Bruce Dern co-stars as Fonda’s unhinged second-in-command and Nancy Sinatra plays Fonda’s supportive, but thrill-hungry, girlfriend. Roger Corman based this film off the real life exploits of the Hell’s Angels, and this movie credits him with kicking off the biker genre. The production may have been a little too accurate as Corman’s then-assistant Peter Bogdanovich was actually beat up by a group of Hell’s Angels at one point during the shoot.
