"Darryl" (Jody McCrea) is a member of the motorcycle gang called the Glory Stompers. One day while walking with his girlfriend "Chris" (Chris Noel) he is severely beaten up by five members of a rival gang called the Black Souls. Believing that they killed him and not wanting any witnesses, the leader named "Chino" (Dennis Hopper) decides to forcibly take Chris with them to Mexico where she is to be sold into prostitution. What Chino doesn't know is that Darryl's wounds weren't nearly as critical as he initially thought and upon gaining consciousness Darryl is determined to catch up to the Black Souls and get Chris back one way or the other. Anyway, so much for the rather standard plot. As far as the overall movie was concerned, I will just say that it was okay as far as biker films go. Naturally, Dennis Hopper performed in his usual energetic manner which helped add a little life into some of the slower scenes. Likewise, Chris Noel--and to a lesser extent Astrid Warner (as "Doreen")--definitely added some nice scenery along the way as well. In any case, although I doubt anybody would consider this film to be that great, it wasn't that bad either and as a result I have rated it accordingly. Average.

I've always held Dennis Hopper in high regard as an actor but he must have literally been starving to take part in this picture. As Chino, the leader of the Black Souls biker gang, Hopper consistently goes over the top to the point of embarrassment, as demonstrated when he reacts to his brother Paul's (Jim Reader) death in the latter part of the story. It's actually quite hilarious if you get to see it.And knock me over with a feather, but I couldn't get over the idea of Casey Kasem as the mouth behind The Mouth, another Black Soul with maniacal tendencies. He mostly tag-teams with a character called Bones who isn't identified on the credits list, so at least that actor's name doesn't suffer the indignity of being identified with this flick. Actually, it got a little difficult to pinpoint the movie's genre at one point when the outlaw bikers rode into a love fest including hippies and flower children with a body painting in progress.Then knock me over double when one of my childhood fave's rides into view, good old Range Rider/Wild Bill Hickok himself, Jock Mahoney as a former Glory Stomper. The picture utilizes him to at least offer a semblance of normalcy to the proceedings when he advises Stomper Darryl (Jody McCrae) to leave the group and become a 'citizen'. But gee, if girlfriend Chris (Chris Noel) couldn't convince him, I don't know how Smiley would have. Just not in the cards.What makes the picture even more surreal if you watch for them, are the numerous continuity lapses between scenes when Darryl's facial bruises go away and reappear again, the same with Magoo's (Robert Tessier) right eye and the discoloration on Chris's forehead that's evident when she reunites with Darryl but is gone as soon as they kiss. At least the tear on her shirt remained intact for the entire picture, someone was paying attention to that one.Well I guess if you go for this stuff there's a lot here to keep one entertained. I can watch just about anything once, so at least now I can say I saw a Dennis Hopper motorcycle gang flick. A heck of a way to go though with a knife to the neck by a girlfriend's erratic knife throw. That was almost as gross as Clean Cut brother Paul spit-cleaning Chris's bloody lip. Eeeuuwwwww!

****SPOILERS**** The not all that stable to begin with Dennis Hopper is hog wild here as "Black Soul" biker leader Chino who kidnaps "Glory Stomper" biker Darryl's ,Jody McCrea, woman Chris, Chris Noel, after Chino and his gang worked Darryl over after dissing them, in standing up for his woman, and left him for dead. Recovering from his injuries Darryl hooks up with former "Glory Stomper" member Smiley played by, remember him from "I've Lived Before", Jock Mahoney as the duo try to track down Chino and his biker gang before they cross the US/Mexican border and sell Chris into a lifetime of prostitution to a local Mexican pimp.It turns out that the loose screw in Chino's plans is his fellow "Black Soul" member Mister Magoo, Robert Tessler, who developed the hots for Chris and despite Chino's plans for her, to be sold as a hooker in the Mexican prostitution racket, want Chris all for himself. There's Chino's all American clean cut looking younger brother Paul, Jim Reader, who while holding Chris hostage falls in love with her that leads to tragic, for him, results. That's when Mister Magoo while attempting to rape Chris ends up running Paul down with his bike as he tries to rescue her.***SPOILERS***The final showdown has Chino after spending most off his time partying drinking as well as whoring with his fellow "Black Souls" shows up and find his brother Paul dead and in a wild frenzy guns down Mister Magoo before he could explain, he did it only for love?, his actions. It's Darryl together with Smiley and Glory Stomper Poney,Gary Wood, who show up to prevent the now out of control Chino from doing any more damage. But it's Chino's "Momma"- wherever that means- Jo Ann,Sandra Bettin, by flinging a knife meant for Darryl that missed and caught Chino in the neck putting a final end to this insanity.

Excellent riding sequences and plenty of action made this a great movie to watch. You won't see the excessive carnage that I saw in "The Savage Seven" and "The Losers" but this movie has more than enough brutality to qualify it as a violent biker film.The Glory Stompers starts off by introducing you to the two basic types of bikers. Those who ride for pleasure and those who look for trouble. The Glory Stompers believe in fun and friendship while the Black Souls behave like opportunistic predators.The plot is rather simple yet engrossing. The Black Souls ambush a lone Glory Stomper, Darryl (Jody McCrea), and leave him for dead. The only witness is the Stomper's girlfriend, Chris (Chris Noel), so the Black Souls decide to silence her and cash in on her misfortune by selling her to some Mexican criminals. When Darryl regains consciousness he sets out alone after the Black Souls.The Black Souls make up an interesting group of villains. Dennis Hopper is brilliant as Chino the tough and ruthless leader. Chino's lady, Jo Ann (Sondra Gayle), can best be described as a knife-happy psycho. Paul (Jim Reader) seems to be too civilized to ride with the Black Souls until we learn that he is Chino's younger brother and that they have no other family. Magoo (Robert Tessier) is the largest and most sadistic member of this group. Mouth (Casey Kasem) and Monk (Lindsay Crosby) are the comic relief of the Black Souls as they spend most of their time just clowning around together.While Darryl is following the Black Souls he runs into Smiley (Jock Mahoney) who used to be a vice president of the Glory Stompers. Now older and wiser Smiley becomes Darryl's mentor and joins him on his pursuit of the Black Souls. They are eventually joined by Darryl's best friend and fellow Stomper, Pony (Gary Wood), and Pony's new bride Doreen (Astrid Warner). This posse of Stompers pursues the Black Souls into the desert where the Black Souls are waiting in a ghost town to sell their captive to the Mexican criminals. This sets up the final showdown.During my teens this film was one of my personal favorites. If you like "Good versus Evil" and "Damsel in Distress" movies, set to a motorcycle theme, then you should find this one entertaining.On researching this movie I found some interesting trivia about three of the actors who played Black Souls. Casey Kasem was inducted into the Broadcasters Hall of Fame in 1995. Casey was also the voice of "Shaggy" in the Scooby Doo cartoons. Robert Tessier shed his hair and went on to play bald-headed, tough guys most notably in "Hard Times" with Charles Bronson and "The Longest Yard" with Burt Reynolds. Lindsay Crosby's father was none other than the legendary singer/actor Bing Crosby.By: Ron Forestieri