sparker-26

I have seen the movie, many years ago, and enjoyed it. Had a great cast, and it was a group of actors strong enough to overcome any serious script problems. My main interest is in the producer, Steve Parker. He and I share the same name.

The first time I went to Japan was in 1979. When I would tell people my name, they would all react as if they'd seen a ghost. I wondered why, until one local finally told me, "Oh, Steve Parker very famous in Japan. He's married to Shirley MacLaine!".

Little did I know that was perhaps the reason I was treated rather courteously and deferentially throughout my trip. However, having been to Japan more than 20 times now, either for the automobile business or for visiting the Buddhist shrine Taisekiji at the foot of Mt. Fuji, I find the Japanese people treat most visitors, especially those from western countries, very well.

Also, the current generation of Japanese people in the age group of 20 -30 or so are not as familiar with "that" Steve Parker as their parents. So while I sometimes get a nod of recognition from some older Japanese now when I introduce myself, it is nowhere as serious or 'ceremonial' as it was 25 years ago! Read more about car movies, Japan and the worldwide auto industry at www.SteveParker.com (no news there about Shirley MacLaine!).

And if anyone can tell me where to find more information about "that" Steve Parker, please email me at sparker@dc.rr.com. It would be greatly appreciated!

For what this film is, it's great. No better 'genre' film exists. One of the reasons is that Sonny Barger himself, founder and still President of the Hell's Angels, is in the film's opening scene, kicking over his bike and proceeding to run over a flower bed in a city park! That's how bad these guys are! Barger is in the film throughout, and the producers probably had to pay Sonny and his 'club members' a pretty penny in order to use them and their official 'colors' (the H.A. logo, etc). Sonny also "starred" in "Hells Angel's '69", about an Angel's attempt to rip-off a Vegas casino, and appeared in almost any film where the "Angel's" name and logo were needed. Barger is still alive and runs and owns 'Sonny Barger Harley-Davidson' in Oakland, Ca, where the Hell's Angeles were born. He's probably been in in prison for 35 of the last 40 years. Barger is the nice fellow who got the'club' into drugs, gun-running and other nefarious money-making schemes, though for the most part ALL the Angels were true scum of the earth. Notice there are no apparent people of color in the movie, though Barger himself is Hispanic. "HA" has been a white-supremacist group since it began, arguments claiming otherwise notwithstanding. They are still associated with the "Aryan Brotherhood" in California prisons. Using "real" Angels means we get to not only see them in their usual habitat (acting stupid, drunk, stoned and, mostly, violent) but we also get to see their bikes, true relics of another age, some of which are probably in the Smithsonian, or at least Harley museums around the world. I was amazed that none of the bikes appeared to be of the extreme "chopper" variety with extended front forks allowing the rider to hang from the "monkey bars". As much as corporate Harley-Davidson said they officially hated these 'clubs', they took care of Sonny throughout the years. This film was made in San Francisco during the infamous "Summer of Love", 1967. As the other poster mentioned, Nicholson and Roarke also star in "Psych-Out!", with Nicholson as an LSD dealer whom the Feds are hot to catch.