John Seal
Available through Video Search of Miami under the title Detonation! Violent Games, this is a motorcycle movie that could only have been made in Japan. Two rival biker gangs, the Red Chilis and the Black Cats, are involved in an intense rivalry (we never find out why), but the love of working class seamstress Yuki transcends gang boundaries when she falls for a reformed (?) Chili whilst trying to placate her brother, a loyal Black Cat. The film owes a massive debt to Robert Wise's West Side Story, as the rivals engage in bizarre finger popping face offs accompanied by supper club jazz music that sounds like it was recorded twenty years earlier. In a possible nod to 1976's Taxi Driver, one of the thugs sports a Mohican, and others have DAs. Never fear, though--the frequent topless female nudity and wah-wah guitar breaks soon remind us we're in '70s territory, though the film ultimately conveys an extremely conservative message, as we learn that love conquers all and juvenile crime does not pay. VSOM's print is in 1.85:1, though the somewhat cramped titles hint at an original ratio of 2:1 or more--which, considering this is a Japanese film, wouldn't be surprising. The cycle scenes aren't terribly well filmed, with a lot of projection screen work on hand, and the story is facile at best. Nevertheless, Occidental viewers looking for a cheap and unusual thrill will find plentiful amusement here.
