Martin Teller Kathryn Bigelow's first feature, as well as Willem Dafoe's first credited role. Dafoe plays a 1950's biker who rolls into a small Georgia town en route to Daytona and meets up with some biker friends. The locals treat them with a mixture of fascination and contempt. But this isn't EASY RIDER or THE WILD ONE... its moody atmosphere plays more like a meeting of Kenneth Anger and David Lynch. Eerie bright colors, an aura of sleazy cool, homoerotic imagery, long lingering shots, smoky score and hip soundtrack. I found it fascinating and it unexpectedly drew me into its world. Some of the performances are weak and some of the writing is corny, but ultimately these flaws just add to the sense of iconography at play, a kind of mythical recreation of archetypes from another time. These characters (both the bikers and the townsfolk) are indeed "loveless", living without drive, detachedly picking up cheap kicks wherever they can. I really enjoyed watching this stylish, elegiac film.

gmurphy-1 Actually, I haven't seen "The Wild One" lately, but just re-watched "The Loveless" on DVD. To my thinking, if you like Terrence Malick's movies, this is like finding a "lost" one, although maybe a little less intelligent. "Rumble Fish" would be another close comparison. This is very worthwhile, as long as you're in the mood for mood. Even though it has a story, that's not really the point. It's "biker Noir"...not a whole lot of point to it, but very beautiful. And Willem Dafoe is in it, so that's a sure thing. And Robert Gordon, too. One bonus... the bikers are on their way to Daytona, and there's some actual old Daytona footage, when it was races on the beach, on the sand. That's the kind of authenticity this movie brings, capturing things that really don't exist anymore. If you're a fan of getting a glass Coca- Cola bottle out of a machine, this is for you.

Woodyanders 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.

Lexo-2 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.)