The Losers – DVD
Dark Sky Films
The Losers is a story about a group of outcast biker mercenaries that were hired to recover a Presidential adviser taken hostage in Viet Nam right in the middle of the ongoing war. The leader of the group, Link (William Smith) , was an army outcast who appears to have not left on very good terms, and is the brother of the sergeant who contracted them to rescue their captive adviser. On their way to battle the gang gets into more than their share of bar fights, visiting brothels, drinking, and even falling in love. Think Easy Rider in Viet Nam and you get the picture. As the film progresses, you get to see each biker’s personalities start to show, both good and bad, and you get to think of them as real people and not just a bunch of hoodlums by the time you get to the climax. You also get to learn a bit about the animosity Link has for the target of their rescue and how he came to become such an “outcast”. The films climax is the big rescue attempt that has plenty of action to keep your attention. The dialog at times isn’t exactly “politically correct” but this was made in 1970 and it does reflect how people were back in the era this film reflects.
The film is presented in anamorphic widescreen and has the original mono sound as it was shot. It was made around 1970 and the overall look of the film quality shows. It is not bad at all, it is a pretty good print, but it definitely looks its age and is not the ultra-sharp high definition image you would be used to seeing in a modern movie of course. The extra features are rather sparse, you get a commentary track done by William Smith and Paul Koslo (who plays another one of the gang, Limpy), a photo gallery and the trailer. This movie was originally titled Nam’s Angels, why it was changed to The Losers I do not know.
If you don’t have a good sense of humor or are such a tightwad that you can’t have some mindless fun then you might want to look elsewhere for your entertainment. The movie would definitely have been best suited for a drive-in theatre back in its day and has its share of cheesiness, but the kind of cheese that gives the movie its charm. At 95 minutes long it isn’t a huge time investment and makes it a good candidate for having a little drive-in theatre complete with some friends and beers at home for those that don’t take themselves so seriously that they can’t have any fun. I for one found it a fine way to spend a couple of hours.
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thanks mxv. im a big fan of old biker movies. i have been wanting to get this on dvd. check out
“hells angels 69”. it great.
70’s classic. Great title too.
It’s been years since I last saw this, I believe it was late 70s, early 80s on some independent local channel when I was still a kid. Of course it was edited for TV, so I am quite anxious to see this release (commentary and all). Still waiting for The Ravagers to make its DVD debut, another classic post apocalyptic epic pre dating Mad Max, more along the lines of The Omega Man.