I've heard of wild loyalists, or calm rebels, but not...

Wild Rebels  (Crown International Pictures, 1967)

Before the Camera:

Steve Alaimo  (Stanley)
Willie Pastrano  (The Naked Zoo)
John Vella  (Sting of Death)
Bobbie Byers  (Savages from Hell)
Jeff Gillen  (A Christmas Story - he's Santa!)
Walter R. Philbin  (The Hooked Generation - here he plays Lt. Dorn, there he plays Lt. Dern!)
Nora Alonzo  (The Devil's Sisters)
Art Barker  (Mission Mars)
and
The Birdwatchers Band
as
The band in the bar


Behind the Camera:

Directed by William Grefe

Produced by William Grefe

Written by William Grefe



Florida filmmaker William Grefe (Stanley) brings us another of his low budget Florida-lensed drive-in flicks. Rod Tilman (Alaimo) is a race car driver fed up with race car driving. In a impulsive moment after a failed race he sells off his race equipment and car to the nearest bidder and hits the road, looking to "find himself." Instead, he finds trouble when he stops off for a refreshing adult beverage in a bar on the outskirts of one of the next towns over. A three man biker gang takes notice of our guitar-packing hero, especially after the guitar prompts the bar band to call Rod up on stage. One other thing about Rod: he's not shy. He promptly jumps up on stage, strums two chords on the guitar, then tosses it away so he can really get down to singing "You Don't Love Me." After some more time-padding music, the biker gang starts to give the ex-race-car-driver-turned singer (with thanks to Hardcastle and McCormick) a hard time, but when he sees that Rod isn't backing down, biker leader Jeeter (boxing champ Pastrano) invites him to their pad for an after-party. Once the gang's all there, Jeeter reveals his real reason for wanting to hang with Rod: Jeeter has recognized the former race car driver and wants his mad driving skills to handle the getaway car for a big bank heist the gang is planning. Rod declines and leaves, but is soon nose to hardnose with local police guy Lt. Dorn, who wants an inside man on the biker team. For some reason, Road agrees to this very dangerous civic duty, and soon he's right in the thick of things as the gang prepares for the robbery. But of course one of the bikers doesn't trust the new guy; under such intense scrutiny, will Rod be able to stay one step ahead of the gang and help Dorn stop them once and for all?

It's very annoying when my cats invite a friend over and
sit right in front of my big TV.

    You can't ever know what to expect from a William Grefe movie. Sometimes you get a truly strange (but possibly entertaining) wisp of filmmaking like Sting of Death. Other times you get solid low budget thrills from something like Stanley. Wild Rebels turned out to be a pretty decent little flick. It's kind of static, but remains watchable throughout. Alaimo, a pop star who also worked for Dick Clark as a singer, producer, and TV host, is okay in the lead. The three bikers are all pretty good, and the rest of the acting and the plot are enough to carry this one across the entertainment finish line for those who don't mind movies made on a slightly smaller scale than, say, True Lies. Give this one a try, and if you don't think you can handle it naked, you can also check this one out dressed up as a Mystery Science Theater 3000 episode, conveniently located on their Volume 9 collection.




Let's Get Out of Here ?

At approximately 47:16, John Vella thinks they have enough guns.




Eye Candy ?

Sadly, Bobbie Byers does not make the list. Sorry, Bobbie.

Buddha Man's Capsule Review



Buddha Man says: "Wild Rebels is a decent little 60's
biker flick thanks to Jefe Grefe."




Thank you as always, Buddha Man! And til next post, you Can Poke Me With A Fork, Cause I Am Outta Here!