I’m temporarily coming out of reviewing retirement to cover more HD biker hijinks from the MGM vaults, as Scorpion Releasing has licensed THE CYCLE SAVAGES for Blu-ray.

Directed by Bill Brame (FREE GRASS), THE CYCLE SAVAGES was released theatrically by American International Pictures (AIP) under its "Trans American Films" subsidiary, often reserved for mondo movies, sexy imports, and trashier output such as SADISMO, WITCHCRAFT ‘70, DAGMAR’S HOT PANTS, INC. and Jess Franco’s SUCCUBUS. More of an enticing exercise in pure sleaze and bad taste, THE CYCLE SAVAGES nonetheless lives up to its name and features a wonderfully over-the-top lead performance by Bruce Dern, who had plenty of practice as nasty bikers in THE WILD ANGELS and THE REBEL ROUSERS. Here, his wild-wheeling character takes decadence to the extreme.

Keeg (Bruce Dern, TATTOO) is a fierce, drugged out, shade-wearing rider who goes with a gorgeous yet trashy and wild brunette named Sandy (Mary Ayres, THE GIRLS FROM THUNDER STRIP), and of course he treats her like absolute dirt. Keeg supplies young ladies for his brother's (Casey Kasem, THE DARK) white slavery racket. He and his gang get in a tiff with an artist named Romko (Chris Robinson of STANLEY and TV soap opera fame) who follows the bikers around to sketch their unworthy mugs. When Keeg and his gang track him down, they slit open his stomach. The tortured artist then falls into the hands of his lovely neighbor Lea (Melody Patterson, “Wrangler Jane” from "F-Troop") who poses nude for him to keep him distracted while the bikers raid his apartment. It seems that she's in some kind of strange accordance with Keeg since he sold her sister to his brother, who happens to be the radio host of "America's Top 40" and the voice of Shaggy from "Scooby-Doo." As Romko and Lea fall in love, Keeg and company pick up a teenage blondie sucking on an ice-cream cone at a bus stop. They drug her, gang rape her, and release her the next morning to pass out in the local park so that the police can come running and the fuzz arrive just before Romko is about to have his skillful fingers crushed in a workbench vice (ouch!) by our neighborhood savages.

For trash film fans, THE CYCLE SAVAGES is easily one of the more indulging and sleazier biker films of the period. Kasem (whose appearance in the film is nothing more than a poolside cameo) also produced the film with future Lt. Governor of California Mike Curb, who did music for and produced a number of other films. Dern and Patterson were not yet through with AIP though; he appeared in the incredible THE INCREDIBLE 2-HEADED TRANSPLANT (also with Kasem), and she showed up in the notorious proto slasher classic, BLOOD AND LACE (both film were released in that epic year, 1971). Look for an unbilled Scott Brady (SATAN'S SADISTS) in a brief bit as an intimidating vice squad detective. A staple in these kinds of films, stuntman/actor Gary Littlejohn (ANGELS HARD AS THE COME) appears as one of the biker gang.

Scorpion Releasing’s Blu-ray of THE CYCLE SAVAGES presents the film in 1080p HD in a 1.78:1 aspect ratio, and detail is sharp throughout, with colors looking vivid and black levels strong. The grain structure is well rendered and the image is consistently excellent. A DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 track is provided, which generally sounds fine and offers perfectly clear dialogue. Optional English SDH subtitles are included.

Like the previous MGM Midnite Movies DVD (where it was paired with ANGEL UNCHAINED) the Blu-ray of THE CYCLE SAVAGES is missing some tame, brief footage of Keeg and Sandy getting hot and heavy on a saloon jukebox while Romko sketches them over at the bar. This footage appeared in some bootleg VHS versions, but was never in MGM's VHS edition or more recent cable-TV airings, so perhaps AIP never intended it to be in the actual released version (the back of the Blu-ray lists “Deleted Scenes” under the “Special Features” description, but no such option is found on the actual disc).