The Peace Killers

1971 "They ride to love... They ride to kill!"
5.4| 1h28m| R| en
Details

Siblings Kristy and Jeffrey are buying supplies at a remote desert gas station when some members of a biker gang come cruising in. The bikers recognize Kristy, who used to be the main squeeze of the gang's leader before she ran away. The pair get away, but the bikers find out that they're living in a nearby commune, and start making their battle plans to bring Kristy back.

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Reviews

Linbeymusol Wonderful character development!
Dynamixor The performances transcend the film's tropes, grounding it in characters that feel more complete than this subgenre often produces.
FuzzyTagz If the ambition is to provide two hours of instantly forgettable, popcorn-munching escapism, it succeeds.
Curapedi I cannot think of one single thing that I would change about this film. The acting is incomparable, the directing deft, and the writing poignantly brilliant.
Sturgeon54 WOW, is all I can say after watching this - amazingly in both a good and bad way. Expecting a simple clichéd biker movie, instead I discovered a movie that somehow manages to encapsulate every major theme from early '70s filmmaking, from the counter-cultural bikers of "Easy Rider" to Southern California commune hippiedom, blaxploitation, and even the ultra-violent vigilante-ism of Sam Peckinpah ("Straw Dogs"), "Death Wish," "Last House on the Left," "Switchblade Sisters," and "Billy Jack." So much crammed into one movie, Quentin Tarantino must have seen this at some point and been at least somewhat inspired in his own style of multi-themed filmmaking.By no means a great film, and really not a good one either, I still found myself glued to this amazing cultural artifact. I'm really surprised that this movie has basically been forgotten, having never been released on DVD; amateur B-movie connoisseurs and midnight movie-houses would eat this one up if they got their hands on it. The director, Douglas Schwartz (this was his first feature film) would soon go on to make the excellent forgotten film "Your Three Minutes Are Up" starring Beau Bridges, and "Baywatch" many years later. The tone of these two movies ("Your Three Minutes..." was a light comedy with serious undertones) could not be more different, yet in both of them Schwartz displays a near-brilliant ability to evoke the socio-cultural milieu of Southern California in the early-'70s (even early Baywatch episodes carry some of this skill in his feel for settings.) If you are in the least bit turned off by violence, I recommend not watching this, as there is blood, mutilation, rape, and plenty of general nastiness. On the other hand, if you can laugh along with the irony of "serious-themed" pictures like this one and "Billy Jack" (released the same year) portraying "pacifism through the barrel of a gun," then you should have yourself some trashy drive-in good times.
lastliberal Biker gang terrorizes hippie commune. This is pure cult biker flick fun from the seventies.Before they arrive, we witnessed a gas station owner tortured with a pencil, and the gang rape of Kristen (Jess Walton - Jill Foster Abbott from "The Young and the Restless") after she tried to leave the gang. She did get away, so they track her down to a nest of real hippies.They finally catch her and have another gang rape planned. But she escapes and is brought back to the commune by a rival gang. Now we have a war brewing.After the brawl is almost over the commune's guru (Paul Prokop) finally tires of turning the other cheek and smashes Rebel (Clint Ritchie) up against a tree.
lazarillo A young woman (Jess Walton), who is the former "old lady" of the vicious leader of a motorcycle gang, is living in a rural hippie commune with her brother (Michael Ontkean) when she is spotted by several members of her former gang. The bike gang ("Death Row") shows up at the commune, "crucifies" the pacifist leader of the group on a peace symbol (some heavy symbolish here), and takes off with the girl, planning to "teach her a lesson" by gang-raping her. She escapes again with the help of a bizarre interracial rival biker gang, which is led by a black woman(!). They return her to the commune with the "Death Row" gang hot on their trail, and the brother tries to convince the pacifist leader to fight back this time.This biker vs. hippie movie is no masterpiece, but it's surprisingly entertaining. Whatever message it is making about violence and pacifism seems a little confused, but I still find movies like this vastly preferable to the mindless, simplistic movies that have dominated the action/revenge genre since the era of Reagan and "Rambo". In real life, of course, the bikers actually got on pretty well with the hippies, despite their diametrically opposed politics and attitudes towards women, mostly due to their mutual interest in drugs (which said a lot about the priorities of the hippie movement). It's also a little hard to believe anyone still regarded hippies as naive, gentle pacifists after the Manson Family murders.The lead actress Jess Walton is absolutely beautiful (and has nude scenes). She kind of reminds me of British actress/singer Jane Birkin. This is her only major movie, but she would go on to a long television career. The director Douglas Scwartz would also go to a long television, uh, career (he later created "Baywatch"--oh, the horror, the horror!). Michael Ontkean though is the most recognizable talent having appeared in both famous movies ("Slapshot") and TV series ("Twin Peaks"). This is definitely worth a look.
shark-70 It is nice to look back on an older movie and see the fun these people had when they were making it. Sure I would not pay $10 at a Theatre today to watch it, but I will pay the $19.99 to go buy it on DVD! This is definitely bound to be one of the cult classics. From the symbolism to the graphic fight scenes, this movie has everything except powerful actors and a strong plot. I would HIGHLY RECOMMEND THIS TO EVERYONE!Perhaps being somewhat young (30) I have a different perspective on things, but it seems to me like movies today have been struck by the disease of Political Correctness in every aspect of life. A movie like this today would only bring about riots and protests. It is very refreshing to watch a movie which demonstrates a time when women are both powerful and submissive. This movie has it all and even though its story is taken from another, you have to appreciate the style and perspective of this director.