MOTORCYCLE GANG

Steve Terrell and Anne Neyland

MOTORCYCLE GANG (1957). Director: Edward L. Cahn.

Randy (Steven Terrell of Invasion of the Saucer Men) importunes tough motocycle gal Terry (Anne Neyland) to join his club, but she isn't crazy about the rules set down by Lt. Watson (Russ Bender). Neither is Nick (John Ashley), who has just finished a 15 month spell in prison for which he blames Randy. Randy and Nick now hate each other and compete for Terry while a discarded Marilyn (Jean Moorhead of The Violent Years) can only simmer. The rivalry really erupts when Terry convinces Randy to accept Nick's challenge to race on the railroad tracks, which will surely end in disaster. 

Anne Neyland, Jean Moorhead, John Ashley

The performances in Motorcycle Gang, aside from the ever-mediocre Jean Moorhead, really aren't terrible, but the cliche-ridden script doesn't ask too much of its players. Steve Terrell is as appealing in this as he was in all of his movies. The same year this drek came out leading lady Anne Neyland, who has a certain saucy insolence, also had decent parts in Jailhouse Rock and was John Payne's leading lady in Hidden Fear. Alas this only led to a few minor TV credits; even Moorhead did better, so to speak. Clowning around all through the movie is a goofy character named Speed, whom I did not recognize at all as Carl "Alfalfa "Switzer of Little Rascals fame; he's okay. The picture has a spurt of excitement at the very end when Nick and his moronic buddies try to terrorize a cafe owner, his wife, and others only to get their clocks cleaned by Randy and his buddies. Overall this is rather dull.  

Verdict: Try to miss it if you can. *1/2. 

THE VIOLENT YEARS

THE VIOLENT YEARS (1956).  Director: William Morgan. Written by Ed Wood.

Paula Parkins (Jean Moorhead) comes from a good family but is neglected by her parents. It is still quite inexplicable that she decides to form a gang of teenage girls and commit numerous jobs, mostly at gas stations. At one point Paula and her gals force a man into the woods and apparently have their way with him, although this is never shown. A "pajama party" that Paula throws for her friends includes both boys and girls, all in pajamas, for heavy petting sessions. Paula's fence is a hard-boiled dame named Sheila (Lee Constant), but if she thinks she can order Paula around she's got another think coming. Paula does decide to do some work for Sheila, which includes wrecking the high school, an act which brings in the police for a shoot out. Will the authorities finally catch up with Paula before she has many deaths to her credit?

Written by the infamous Ed Wood, The Violent Years is passable enough until the final quarter, when a tiresome judge (I. Stanford Jolley) goes on -- and on and on -- about Paula's case and juvenile delinquency in general. This tedious verbosity was a hallmark of Wood's screenplays, unfortunately. 

Paula gets her man!

The actors can best be described as modestly talented amateurs. Moorhead was actually 21 at the time of shooting, and was a Playboy playmate; she managed to amass 38 credits. Reporter Barney Stetson is played by Glen Corbett, but he is not to be confused with Glenn Corbett of Route 66 and Homicidal. Timothy Farrell is Lt. Holmes. Lee Constant offers the most vivid performance in this. but this was her only film. The movie seems to suggest that the parents are always entirely to blame for juvenile delinquency, but that doesn't stop the judge from giving Paula a pretty stiff sentence.

Verdict: Shut off before the last fifteen minutes. **1/4.