The Wild Rebels (1967)

Director:  William Grefe

Writer:  William Grefe

Composer:  Al Jacobs

Starring:  Steve Alaimo, Willie Pastrano, John Vella, Bobbie Byers, Jeff Gillen, Walter R. Philbin, Robert Freund, Seymour A. Eisenfeld

More info:  IMDb

Tagline:  THEY LIVE FOR KICKS...LOVE FOR KICKS...KILL FOR KICKS!

Plot:  A stock car driver goes undercover as the wheel man for a motorcycle gang.

My rating: 6.5/10

Will I watch it again?  Maybe.

Dig those sounds, man!

I've watched a lot of movies recently that suffer a similar problem.  They've got a bang-up fun and interesting first third, things settle down for the next third and a half and then what's left with the finale delivers enough as if to make up for the lackluster middle section.  That way you leave  thinking about the big finish, maybe forgetting the preceding dull shit.  Is it because screenwriters are full of energy when they begin a script, get tired, bored, or run out of ideas for a few dozen pages and then try like hell to wrap it up enough to wake up the audience?  This movie follows the same pattern.

The pop music in this and the main theme are really fun.  That first half hour is a blast.  Then after the gang rob a gun shop things slow down and stay that way until the last twenty minutes when they rob a bank, things go awry and lots of cops and robbers die of lead poisoning.  That last bit was great but it's hard to commit to watching this again because of that dull mid-section.  The acting's not so good but Steve Alaimo as Rod, the stock car driver and hero of the story, does very well.  This guy was selling it like a pro in the first act.  After that there wasn't all that much of interest for him to do.  This was the first of only four movies he acted in.   The best of the action is saved for the end.  The rest of it is your average, low budget fistfight shenanigans.  Nothing special there.  This is definitely worth a look.  It's a fun ride except for that middle part.  You'll love the beginning and end.  Well, I did.