From Pine View Farm

If One Standard Is Good, Two Must Be Better 5

Title:  Inequality in profiling.  Picture:  Black may holding sign that says,

Via Job’s Anger.

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5 comments

  1. George Smith

    May 23, 2015 at 3:31 pm

    Hey, remember there’s a long history of WhiteManistan love for outlaw bikers, which Hollywood indulges. Peter Fonda wouldn’t exist without it. Of course, one of the first “biker” movies I saw was The Born Losers, starring Tom Laughlin of Billy Jack. The outlaw bikers weren’t portrayed sympathetically; they were rapists and killers and eventually got a comeuppance. And what is that show I couldn’t watch, The Sons of Anarchy? Other way around, make killers and rapists into anti-heroes, which is generally what the viewing public demands, violent fantasies for voyeurism. I could list the filmography but I’m sure you know the idea. I even player biker bars for years. A long long time ago. I’ll be my usual cynical self — give this a year or two and there will be some exploitation men’s action thing for tv or the movie theater made from it.

     
  2. Frank

    May 23, 2015 at 10:35 pm

    I once had a convoluted sort-of-family connection to the Pagans.

    The particular Pagan in question was the nicest guy you could ever meet; he wasn’t mean enough to rise in the ranks, but he would happily break your legs for a fee. No hard feelings–just business, ya know? His family was “in concrete,” as were many of his ex-associates.

    I just can’t lump Peter Fonda in with that. Fonda just wanted to find a way to ride a bike across the country and get paid for it. In Easy Rider, Captain America was no Pagan; he was just a freak with bad judgement and a hell of a chopper. (I always got a kick out of the final scene, in which the chopper magically turned into a Honda 350 tumbling through the air.)

     
  3. George Smith

    May 24, 2015 at 4:09 pm

    Oh no, I was referencing The Wild Angels, three years earlier than Easy Rider. A Corman flick much more in line with the ludicrous violent biker man-of-action sleaze Hollywood served up. Nancy Sinatra wouldn’t have survived in any real MC.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_kWNVWKPTK4

    I used to have an entire collection of this kind of stuff, including records in the category of biker rock, too numerous to mention.

    When I was working the newspaper as a music writer I reviewed one band from NYC that had just put out a record. They routinely used the idea that one of theirs was a member of the Angels and I mentioned that in the review. Their manager, a fairly famous one — I think he booked the Dead in the metro tri-state area, wrote the paper a letter trying to get a retraction because the outlaw biker club didn’t take kindly to people who said they were associates, but weren’t really, often taking retaliations.

     
  4. Frank

    May 24, 2015 at 11:05 pm

    The Wild Angels. Never heard of it, probably for a reason.

    If I can tear myself away from my mystery shows long enough, I’ll take a look at it, but I have a feeling I’ll find it unbearable:).

    I’m currently working my way through New Tricks, which absolutely rocks.

     
  5. George Smith

    May 25, 2015 at 12:54 am

    It’s a Corman film, what do you expect. Peter Bogdanovich did the script. It was a living. The best moment is Fonda’s rant in the church hosting the funeral of Bruce Dern near the end. “We wanna ride our machines! Without being hassled by the man! And we wanna party!” I can’t do it justice; then they tear the church apart and put the pastor in the coffin. None of these movies were good in the sense of what are rated “good” movies, vitamins for the spirit or some elixir of elevated acting, gratifying to behold.

    Believe me, after reading “serious” stuff in the NY Times about Silicon Valley programmers working for start-ups named “Clever” who are so busy they drink protein shakes called Soylent and Shmilk so their code “engineering” is flawless, you’ll think any crap biker movie from the Sixties was made by creative geniuses by comparison.