Hoodlum Movies

From The Wild Angels in 1966 until its conclusion in 1972, the cycle of outlaw motorcycle films contained forty-odd formulaic examples. All but one were made by independent companies that specialized in producing exploitation movies for drive-ins, neighborhood theaters, and rundown inner city theaters. Despised by critics, but welcomed by exhibitors denied first-run films, these cheaply and quickly produced movies were made to appeal to audiences of mobile youths. The films are repetitive, formulaic, and eminently forgettable, but there is a story to tell about all of the above, and it is one worth hearing. Hoodlum Movies is not only about the films, its focus is on why and how these films were made, who they were made for, and how the cycle developed through the second half of the 1960s and came to a shuddering halt in 1972.

PETER STANFIELD is a professor in the department of film at the University of Kent in Canterbury, England. He is the author of several books, including The Cool and the Crazy: Pop Fifties Cinema (Rutgers University Press).

"When Peter Stanfield publishes a book, it’s a cult cinephile’s cause for celebration. Outside of the woefully out-of-print Big Book of Biker Movies, this is the best work on the subgenre yet."

"No one has gone as far as Stanfield in conceptualizing the notion of the film 'cycle.' Hoodlum Movies is a strong, interesting, and original look at the biker genre, an understudied set of films."

"When Peter Stanfield publishes a book, it’s a cult cinephile’s cause for celebration. Outside of the woefully out-of-print Big Book of Biker Movies, this is the best work on the subgenre yet."