Hell's Belles

1969 "Meet The Debutante In A Leather Skirt!"
5.5| 1h35m| en
Details

When hot-headed Dan out-drives the thoroughly vicious Tony in a motorcycle race and wins a brand new bike, he sets in motion a chain of events that includes one blazing gas station and a disastrous rock slide.

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American International Pictures

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Reviews

Mjeteconer Just perfect...
Comwayon A Disappointing Continuation
Beystiman It's fun, it's light, [but] it has a hard time when its tries to get heavy.
Voxitype Good films always raise compelling questions, whether the format is fiction or documentary fact.
mlraymond This movie manages to balance chase scenes and fights with quieter moments and a surprising amount of humor. It's pretty light hearted for the most part, and comes close to being a comedy, as the biker gang becomes increasingly unnerved by the relentless pursuit of their nemesis, a racer who wants his stolen motorcycle back.The basic plot has been lifted from Winchester 73, and the hero is a lot like the stalwart good guys of old western movies. He observes a code of honor that includes treating vanquished enemies fairly, respecting women, and standing up alone against heavy odds. The biker gang members refer to him sarcastically as " cowboy", and his dress, manner and philosophy fit him squarely into the mold of western heroes like Audie Murphy and Jimmy Stewart. There's even a scene where he tells his new female acquaintance about his ranch.Jeremy Slate is fine as the good guy Dan, with able support from Adam Roark as the leader of the gang, and Jocelyn Lane as the biker girl he gets stuck with, to their mutual annoyance. They bicker constantly, so you know they will fall in love before the movie is over. Jocelyn Lane is amazingly beautiful and a good enough actress to make her character believable, the outwardly tough girl who tries to hide an inner vulnerability and sadness. That these two people would bond with each other and fall in love is made totally believable and even touching.The comic tone prevails throughout, even in fight scenes, with just enough seriousness to put the film across. There are some hilarious moments with William Lucking as a huge, dim witted biker. Adam Roark displays a good sense of comic timing in his growing exasperation with the hero's unceasing attempts to recover the stolen motorcycle. His serious scene at the end is surprising and effective, and the movie ends on an unexpected note. because of it.Not a great movie, certainly, but a surprisingly good one, and very entertaining. Recommended.
django-1 I missed this when it originally played, but 30+ years later seeing it for the first time I'm very impressed. This is a biker film that anyone could enjoy, despite one's feelings about that genre. Imagine an old western where Bob Steele or someone like that wins a horse race on a horse that he has raised from birth and devoted his life to. After the race, a crook with a lot of money who came in second in the race offers to buy Bob's horse, but Bob won't sell at the ridiculous price offered. So the crook steals Bob's horse, and then Bob goes on a mission to get the horse back (wait a minute, that IS the plot of an old western serial from 1934, LAW OF THE WILD, I thought is was familiar). Transplant that plot into a biker realm, with Jeremy Slate in the lead role, and you've got HELL'S BELLES. His nemesis is played by the late, great Adam Roarke (who actually steals the bike from the guy who stole it from Slate!). Slate is always convincing, here taking what could be a two-dimensional character and turning him into a complex, three dimensional man with a fascinating back-story, someone about whom we care. The same can be said for Jocelyn Lane, as the woman with whom he is involuntarily teamed. They hate each other for much of the film, so in a way you have a biker version of THE African QUEEN, but once her real story comes out she is quite fascinating. Ms. Lane made a number of fine films in the 60's--TICKLE ME with Elvis, BULLET FOR PRETTY BOY with Fabian Forte, and some European genre films (wow, until looking her up on the IMDb, I didn't even know she was European!!) I'll have to dig out my copy of WAR GODS OF BABYLON. The Arizona photography on this film is excellent, the shots are beautifully composed, and director Maury Dexter has an excellent sense of pacing. His work at AIP in the late 60s is much underrated. MARYJANE is excellent, and YOUNG ANIMALS was very much ahead of its time. I gave this film a "10" rating, which I hardly ever do, because it don't think it could be improved upon. It took me into its world and kept me captivated for 90 minutes. For me, HELL'S BELLES is one of the definitive biker films, even if it is basically a western in biker garb. Highly recommended!!
shepardjessica-1 Cruddy, innocent..no smoking, drinking or bikers, but Jeremy Slate (good actor) and Jocelyn Lane (good actress) make this moronically feasible for a bad biker flick, post-biker (exploit) time. They knew it, we knew it...Adam Roarke and Slate are wasted..but they lived on.A 3 out of 10. Best performance = Jocelyn Lane. Lane is the ONLY really to catch the final exploit biker film after RUN, ANGEL, RUN (which also has good actors - like Don Stroud, etc.). It was over. They knew it. They were trying to make a living. But, Jocelyn Lane (from two Elvis bad flicks, TICKLE ME and something bad one) in yellow and leather is the modern hot chick with J. Slate fighting for honor. It's worth seeing, but it sucks. But check it out. Well worth non-biker, non-smoker, non-boozing, "biker" types with hot chicks.
carolsco This is one hell of a fun movie, and probably the best motorcycle flick of the '60s after Easy Rider. The is actually an update of the old Jimmy Stewart movie Winchester '73, except a motorcycle is used in place of the rifle. Jeremy Slate, always great in these '60s flicks, is the lead and is supported by a wonderful exploitation movie cast. Les Baxter's score, next to that of Easy Rider is about the best heard in a biker flick, a perfect artifact of the period, and lots of fun.