Crafted from the headlines of the time - this being at the beginning few years of Vietnam, the most heavily protested war in American history - and also made to cash-in on the success of the previous year's Easy Rider, The Losers (which was originally titled Nam's Angels) is an entertaining little low-budget actioner that packs in tons of over-the-top action sequences (as witnessed by an opening scene where a gunfight ensues between American soldiers and the Vietcong) while the script by Alan Caillou touches on the effects of war, racism, and the decadent early 70's taking itself seriously enough to deliver a surprisingly solid message.

When a CIA operative is taken captive by the Chinese Army during the war, the Americans call in a rough 'n' tumble gang of bikers called the "Devil's Advocates" (production company Fanfare would reuse the biker jackets and gang name in the decidedly different Werewolves On Wheels a year later) to do the job.

Led by Link (William Smith), they're quite the group. Link seems to be the only real level-headed one of the lot, as Limpy (Paul Koslo) is a semi-crippled member who decides to try and smuggle the prostitute he's fallen for and her baby out of the country, Dirty Denny (Houston Savage) is just trying to party and make a quick buck from the local brothel he used to co-own, Duke (Adam Roarke) just wants to spend time with his local girlfriend, and Speed (Gene Cornelius) is just a racist punk who wears a Swastika bandana. But as a team they're a force to be reckoned with, as the Chinese are about to find out.

The Losers is a lot of talk for the first half with only a few fight set pieces to make you remember you're watching an actual action movie (there's one that uses an uprooted tree to an advantage, and the other is a big fight scene in the brothel involving Military Police), but it actually helps to build-up the characters a lot more than they usually are in this type of movie. In fact, you actually start to care somewhat for the bikers and begin to realize just what a futile task they've been brought in to do. But that's not to say that once they outfit their bikes with mounted machine guns/shields and convert one of them into a half-bike/half-car that sports a rocket launcher this doesn't become a enjoyably diverting (and outrageous) drive-in flick.

Director Jack Starrett (who made a good name for himself in the 70's helming such fare as Cleopatra Jones and Race With The Devil) stages the final assault on the Chinese base with vigor and the movie sports way more explosions and large-scale destruction than expected. He also gets solid contributions from his cast, with TV veteran Smith doing good in one of his earlier starring roles - Hell, Starrett and Caillou (who wrote 1977's highly entertaining, Kingdom Of The Spiders) even throw in a stoned giggled-filled break-out by the bikers after they're captured by the baddies.

The Losers is pretty fun stuff once the action gets going and while it takes a while to get there, thankfully it's written well enough that you'll never be bored - the many scenes of nudity and scattered fights certainly help though. It's an agreeable crossing of genres and a prime example of why they just don't make movies like they did at the height of the drive-in craze when low-budget flicks such as this flooded the screens. (Chris Hartley, 2/28/06)

Directed By: Jack Starrett.
Written By: Alan Calliou.

Starring: William Smith, Bernie Hamilton, Adam Roarke, Houston Savage.

aka: Nam's Angels.

Picture Ratio: 1.85:1 Widescreen.

Picture Quality: After impressing the Hell out of me with their Werewolves On Wheels disc, Dark Sky does it again. This is another crisp, top notch job by the upcoming independent distributor and they've made The Losers look better than it ever did in theatres. The clarity is above average and they've kept grain and print damage to such a minimal amount you'd be hard pressed to believe this movie is 36 years old.

Extras: It's pretty much the same extras as their Werewolves On Wheels disc as we get a trailer, 2 radio spots, a photo gallery consisting of the film's print ads, and a commentary track with co-stars Smith and Koslo moderated by Dark Sky's Todd Winnike.

Visit Dark Sky Films for more info and to order.