The Loveless

A motorcycle gang stops at a small town in the South, on their way to Daytona in Kathryn Bigelow's directorial debut (co-directed with Monty Montgomery). It's also Willem Dafoe's credited screen debut, and he plays the lead. At first I was annoyed by the perfection of hair, costumes and sets: all the hair perfectly set, all the leathers looking like their just came from the showroom, all the motorcycles just off the factory floor. Then, as the movie advanced and the imperfection of the characters were revealed, I realized it was an indictment of 1950s Amerika, with a perfect surface covering up social and psychological rot. It was an amazing insight, or would be if William Dieterle had never existed, but he did. Still, it points to a demand for such movies, and who can blame a first-time film maker for treading safe ground?

Willem Dafoe earned his first starring role in this somewhat obscure biker film that also marked the filmmaking debut for future A list director Kathryn Bigelow ("Point Break", "The Hurt Locker"). Dafoe plays Vance, one of a bunch of bikers that stop over in a small town on their way to some races in Daytona. Unsurprisingly, they shake up the local populace, despite the fact that as some movie depictions of bikers go, they're kind of on the tame side. While there are some appreciable exploitable elements (namely, nudity), "The Loveless" is indeed much more mood piece than action film. It does capture a certain slice of Americana at a certain time (the 1950s), when outsiders and rebels such as Vance and company were treated with suspicion. It's not completely without humor, but is also not afraid to get pretty grim and tragic. Excellent location shooting and local flavor help to make this feel authentic. Bigelow and her co-writer / co-director Monty Montgomery, who went on to work with David Lynch on a couple of projects ('Twin Peaks', "Wild at Heart", etc.), get able performances out of their mostly no-name, regional cast. Dafoe shows definite screen presence and charisma in this early showcase, while Tina L'Hotsky has plenty of appeal as the young sportster driving girl who catches Vances' eye. One of the co-stars is Robert Gordon, who's pretty good himself; he's been an icon in the rockabilly genre and naturally also composed much of the score. Highlighted by a literate, philosophical script by Bigelow and Montgomery. Seven out of 10.

This is the kind of debut from a director that says to me, "I didn't have a plot or budget that supports a plot, but to prove myself here's a movie anyway." Willem Dafoe leads his gang of 50s goths on a journey of minimal introspection even as they are stuck in a one-horse town, trying to get down to Daytona for the 500 (I will never not geek out over casual NASCAR references in film). Not much happens besides the gang trading quips back and forth in their ancient teenspeak, which reminds me a lot of the merry band of molokos from A Clockwork Orange. Here it's kind of grating to the ear to watch and listen to everyone underact their persona. It's at least nicely shot, and approaches something of a story when the bikers cross paths with what amounts to this town's oil baron. In its final act, it's almost pretty likeable, but stilts on a feverishly dark ending. Deep down it's a film about outcasts, but less about them causing trouble than being caught in a pot where trouble's already been stirred. If you wanna see Dafoe's junk, come take a ride.

"The Loveless" has apparently built somewhat of a cult since it was first released more than thirty years ago. To a degree, I can sort of understand that. There are some positive things to be found here. Though a low budget movie, the movie looks good, from the convincing period detail to the photography. The acting is also well done; you can really believe these brooding characters. And the atmosphere is appropriate for a movie about hard core bikers. Unfortunately, despite positive things like what I've listed, the movie didn't work for me. In fact, I think that most viewers will be dissatisfied as well. There is a big problem, and that problem is that there is virtually no plot. The movie is just one scene after another where little to nothing (usually nothing) of consequence happening. I admit I came close to hitting the eject button on my DVD player several times because I was quite frankly bored. In the end, I can only recommend the movie to hard core fans of anyone in front of or behind the camera.

"The Loveless" was Kathryn Bigelow's feature film debut, (she co-wrote and co-directed it with Monty Montgomery). It's a very self-conscious homage to both "The Wild One", with Willem Dafoe in the Brando role, (it also marked Dafoe's 'official' debut), and Kenneth Anger's "Scorpio Rising" shot in the garish colors of the kind of fifties' melodramas that Douglas Sirk might have made. It's got a very rough and ready feel to it and the script and the acting leave a lot to be desired but it looks great, (Bigelow was a painter before going into movies), and it has a great soundtrack. Hardly anything happens and it might have worked better as a short but at 82 minutes it never outstays its welcome and is worth catching.

1959: A gang of bikers en route to Daytona, Florida who include the surly, disaffected Vance (a smoothly self-assured performance by Willem Dafoe in his film debut) and restless hothead Davis (nicely played by rockabilly icon Robert Gordon) are forced to make an unwanted pit stop in a sleepy Southern hamlet when one biker has engine trouble with his chopper. Complications ensue when Vance becomes involved with tempting teen tramp Telena (a splendidly brassy'n'sassy turn by the cute Marin Kanter), which doesn't go over well with the extremely uptight and intolerant square townspeople. Written and directed by Kathryn ("Near Dark," "Blue Steel") Bigelow and Monty Montgomery (who later produced "Twin Peaks" and "Wild at Heart"), "The Loveless" sure ain't your average trashy B-biker exploitation action romp. Instead it's something much better and more ambitious: a beautifully brooding, stylish and intriguing existential mood piece that's rich in a pungently evocative atmosphere that exquisitely seethes with barely suppressed menace, violence, despair, ennui, malaise, sexuality and homo-eroticism. Doyle Smith's gorgeously glossy, gleaming cinematography, the uniformly excellent acting, the vivid and meticulous recreation of the 50's, Robert Gordon's fantastic rockabilly score, the cool hepcat slang ("We got the scratch"), the deliberately slow pace, and the strikingly grim and tragic conclusion further strengthen the potent and intoxicating spell this film casts on the viewer, sucking you in with a masterful ease that's truly something to behold. This is the kind of supremely subtle and low-key picture which initially doesn't seem like much as you watch it, but has an uncanny way of sticking with you long after you see it.

Kathryn Bigelow's first film as a director. It's a superior biker flick, with the characteristic Bigelow gloss already visible. Don't remember much of the plot, but there are scenes - mostly between Dafoe and the eerily underage-looking Marin Kanter - that have stayed with me ever since I saw it years ago. Violent and sexy and almost too cool for its own good, with a rockabilly soundtrack by Robert Gordon and lots of long tracking shots of glossy cars and bikes. Worth watching, and one of Dafoe's less stunned performances (he really is much better on stage.)

Kathryn Bigelow made a name for her self as one to watch with this moody loose remake of The Wild One. A gang of bikers rides into a slow back water town for a pit stop to be received by a suspicious town folk. Stylish and very cool Dafoe as the leader of the bikers is charismatic and very watchable. Recommended.

Before director Kathryn Bigelow became widely recognizable with her later effort in 1987's NEAR DARK, 1991's POINT BREAK, 1995's STRANGE DAYS and of course, right down to 2009's Oscar-winning war drama THE HURT LOCKER, she made her first feature debut in a low-budget independent drama called THE LOVELESS when she was still studying in NYC as a film student. THE LOVELESS is a stylized and eccentric genre movie that pays homage to 1950s biker movies (notably Marlon Brando's THE WILD ONE) with art-house sensibility. This movie is also notable as Willem Dafoe's first lead role. Set in 1950s, the story centers on Vance (Dafoe), a leather-clad biker who rides into a small Southern town where he supposes to meet up with his fellow motorcycle gang at a cafe somewhere at Highway 17. Their plan is to head over to Daytona Beach for the races, but they forced to postpone for a while when one of their motorcycles breaks down. While waiting the broken motorcycle to get fixed in a nearby garage, Vance and his motorcycle gang hang around at the cafe. Along the process, Vance flirts a bit with a widowed waitress named Augusta (Liz Gans). She also hooks up with Telena (Marin Kanter), the rebellious teenage daughter of a psychotic father, Tarver (J. Don Ferguson). THE LOVELESS is also co-directed by Monty Montgomery, who is best known for producing David Lynch's WILD AT HEART (1990). Both he and Bigelow favors a lot in fetishism (mostly close-up on leather outfit, motorcycle, chrome) that it's quite mesmerizing to watch their stylized eroticization of a '50s biker culture. Somewhere in between, you can also see Bigelow's earlier attempt in lurid direction that will later becoming one of her trademarks in her subsequent movies. Despite its low-budget standard, the visual is adequate enough for this kind of genre, while Robert Gordon's (who also appeared as an actor here, playing one of Vance's motorcycle gang member named Davis) rock soundtrack is a standout. As for Willem Dafoe, he made quite an impression playing a stoic lead character. But most of the movie is a disappointment. Despite clocking at a brief 82 minutes, the movie can be excruciatingly tough to sit through. The pace is deliberately slow to a crawl, especially in the long-winded first hour. Here, the movie lingers in a circle as we watch the characters sit around and talk about nothing in particular. Other times we see them stare silently into space, waiting for something to happen, and all the mundane tasks that goes on and on. The purposefully-stylized dialogues, which meant to be cool, are mostly borderline into self-parody. Meanwhile, the sudden burst of violence that occurs in the final act, fails to deliver any would-be shocking impact. Suffice to say, THE LOVELESS isn't much of a recommended effort, other than those who always curious to see how Bigelow and Dafoe get started during their early careers. www.caseymoviemania.blogspot.com

I was more than a little surprised when Kathryn Bigelow bagged herself a best director Oscar for The Hurt Locker; I enjoyed Near Dark, Blue Steel and Point Break, but there was nothing to suggest an Academy Award in her future. Having just watched her debut feature The Loveless, I'm surprised that she went on to have a career in film-making of any kind, let alone winning the most coveted gong of them all. This film should have been called The Plotless. Or perhaps The Pointless. Or, as my daughter suggested, The Lifeless. There is no story to speak of - just 80 or so minutes of leather-clad '50s bikers lounging around a dusty nowheresville truck stop while they fix one of their motorcycles. Apparently it's 'mood piece' that aims for atmosphere over narrative. This means that when one character asks a question, the other person stares meaningfully for about thirty seconds before grunting a reply. The bikers smoke a lot, comb their hair a lot, and drink a lot (beer, coffee, coke), brooding as they do so. Eventually, greaser Vance (Willem Dafoe, here looking relatively normal) hooks up with a pretty, young tearaway called Telena (Marin Kanter), which upsets her sweaty, gun-toting father. This leads to an altercation in a cocktail lounge which ends with Telena shooting her father and then herself (the only remotely interesting part of the whole film). After the dust has settled, the bikers climb back on their bikes and hit the blacktop, presumably to hang out in another bar or diner for some more drinking, smoking and combing of hair. 1/10. It's really not my bag, daddio.