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. 

INVASION OF THE SAUCER MEN

Steven Terrell and Gloria Castillo

INVASION OF THE SAUCER MEN (1957). Director: Edward L. Cahn.

"I bet you killed one of my price heifers!" -- Farmer Larkin

Out near Lover's Lane in the town of Hicksville, two teens who plan to get married -- Johnny (Steven Terrell) and Joan (Gloria Castillo) -- run over a little green man who came out of a spaceship. Bedeviled by the creature's severed but animated claw, they contact the police, only to be accused of killing a huckster named Joe (Frank Gorshin of Hot Rod Girl) who hoped to cash in on the alien's body. As the military close in on the spaceship and ultimately destroy it, Johnny and Joan decide to find the little green man's corpse for themselves, and do the sensible thing -- by fleeing the police station and stealing a patrol car! They enlist the aid of Joe's roommate, Artie (Lyn Osborn), who doesn't seem the slightest bit concerned or even that curious about his supposed friend's demise. Since the adults won't listen to them, Johnny and Joan gather up the necking teenagers and decide to take care of the alien invaders -- if that's what they even are -- themselves. 

aliens on the loose!

Invasion of the Saucer Men is not a very good movie, but it's not an out and out parody, although it comes close at times. The aliens, who are short but have big, membranous and ugly heads, appear only briefly, although one of them has a fight with a bull, injecting the animal with alcohol (as it did Joe) via needles at the end of its fingers. As for the cast, Steven Terrell was a regular on the sitcom Life with Father, and played a lot of "teen" roles, although he was actually 28 when he appeared in Saucer Men. Gloria Castillo was 24 and also played a number of teen roles, mostly on television. 

Because they're young? Terrell and Castillo

Raymond Hatton nearly steals the movie with his blustery and amusing portrayal of Farmer Larkin, who is always afraid some one will steal or kill one of his price heifers.  Douglas Henderson, who plays Lt. Wilkins of the U.S. Air Force,  was in Bert I. Gordon's King Dinosaur and amassed quite a few credits. Frank Gorshin, who later achieved a measure of fame playing the Riddler on Batman, is fine as the ill-fated Joe and seems to be having fun. Ronald Stein contributed a quirky musical score which is still creepy when it needs to be. The constant references to how the teens just won't be believed about the aliens because they're young, and how clueless those pesky adults can be, gets "old" very quickly.

Verdict: See it once and never again. **1/4.