MOTORCYCLE GANG (1994) **

Showtime’s Rebel Highway series was founded upon a great idea:  Take some talented directors, give them a small budget, and let them remake an old AIP movie any way they wanted.  As promising as the concept was, the results could be uneven at times.  Motorcycle Gang, directed by John (Red Dawn) Milius was one of the weakest Rebel Highway efforts.

Gerald (Major Dad) McRaney gets a new job in California, so he, his wife (Elan Oberon), and daughter (Carla Gugino) embark on a long road trip.  They stop at a little roadside restaurant where Gugino locks eyes with a biker (Jake Busey) who leads a gang of murderous, dope-shooting motorcyclists.  Busey becomes instantly smitten, and he kidnaps Gugino and takes her down to Mexico to have his way with her.  McRaney follows in hot pursuit to rescue his daughter and get revenge on the scummy bikers. 

I know this is a low budget remake of a low budget exploitation flick, but I was expecting more from this cast and director.  Even though Motorcycle Gang is a remake of the ‘50s movie, it feels more like a retread of the biker films of the ‘60s than anything else.  McRaney, Busey, and Gugino all have their moments and make the best of their thinly written characters; yet fail to make the drama really come alive.  The clunky dialogue ("You looking for trouble, daddy-o?") doesn’t exactly help matters either.

The family drama is middling and the sections involving Gugino’s kidnapping are curiously uninvolving and free of tension.  The film is at its best early on when Busey and his gang are riding around causing havoc.  The finale, where McRaney finally takes his revenge, offers up some OK exploitation thrills too.  It’s just that it’s an awful long time coming.

Milius also directed Busey’s dad, Gary in Big Wednesday.