If you spent a lot of time at grindhouses or drive-ins during the ’70s and ’80s, you could have seen this Greydon Clark movie under four different titles. VCI offers the picture under its best known handle, THE BAD BUNCH.
has fatal consequences, prompt- ing Lewis to announce a bounty of $50,000 for the death of each and every Hi-Rider.
Filmed on short ends for $125,000, the barebones narrative is not high on logic (eg., the pro- tagonists take time off to go skinny-dipping while being pur- sued by shotgun wielding kill- ers) and slumps in spots, but accomodates enough of the drive- in basics to hold one’s attention and features some memorable pop songs from Ken Mansfield and Jack Skinner. The various drag races and chases are easily the highlight, with cinematogra- pher Dean Cundey (still in his early years on low-budget inde- pendent features) expertly utiliz- ing cameras mounted on the hoods and sides of vehicles to effectively capture the speed and excitement of each competition. Dependable character actor Stephen McNally (in his last fea- ture) tears into his dialogue with near-rabid abandon; while fellow
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vets Mel Ferrer, Ralph Meeker, and Neville Brand are not offered chances to make the same im- pression, they are welcome as- sets to a merely serviceable cast of younger players. The film is dedicated to the memory of stunt coordinator Vic Rivers, who was killed doing a ramp gag with a pick-up truck in the final shot on the last day of the production. By the time Dimension issued
Clark’s THE BAD BUNCH in 1976, it had already gone out through four smaller companies (Golden Eagle Films, Hollywood Star Pictures, International Pro- ducers Corporation, and Challenge Films) under three alternate titles (TOM, NIGGER LOVER, THE BROTHERS). Clark himself takes the lead role of Jim, whose Afri- can-American friend Clay (Rob- ert Monk) is felled by a sniper’s bullet while the two men are serv- ing in Vietnam. Upon his return to the states, Jim seeks out his friend’s family to deliver a letter Clay was working on at the time
of his death. Jim’s arrival is dis- rupted by Clay’s brother, Tom (Tom Johnigarn), who has joined the local black militants and adopted the name Makimba. He and his friends chase Jim and start to give him a severe beat- ing, but are interrupted by racist cops Stans (Aldo Ray) and Berry (former Tarzan Jock Mahoney). Even in the wake of this, Jim tries to befriend Makimba (who was subsequently maltreated by Stans and Berry, even after Jim refused to press charges), but he continues to rebuff this peaceful overture. When Makimba acciden- tally hounds his frail father into a fatal heart attack, he blames Jim and swears to kill him. The picture was initiated in
1971 as MOTHER, FATHERS & LOVERS, a $10,000, two-week wonder inspired by THE GRADU- ATE, which Clark describes as “an anti-establishment, anti-Viet- nam, anti-marriage picture.” Un- able to find a distributor, Clark (evidently inspired by the eventual
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