''The Losers'' released on video as ''Nam's Angels'' is a 1970 American

biker Biker or bikie may refer to: * A cyclist, a bicycle rider or participant in cycling sports * A motorcyclist, any motorcycle rider or passenger, or participant in motorcycle sports ** A motorcycle club member, defined more narrowly than all motor ...

war film War film is a film genre concerned with warfare, typically about naval, air, or land battles, with combat scenes central to the drama. It has been strongly associated with the 20th century. The fateful nature of battle scenes means that war fi ...

directed by

Jack Starrett Claude Ennis "Jack" Starrett Jr. (November 2, 1936 – March 27, 1989) was an American actor and film director.Staff report (March 29, 1989). Jack Starrett, 52; Adventure Film Actor, Director. ''Los Angeles Times'' Starrett is perhaps best k ...

Plot

The plot involves a gang of

Hells Angels The Hells Angels Motorcycle Club (HAMC) is a worldwide outlaw motorcycle club whose members typically ride Harley-Davidson motorcycles. In the United States and Canada, the Hells Angels are incorporated as the Hells Angels Motorcycle Corporatio ...

-type bikers called "The Devil's Advocates" involved in the

Vietnam War The Vietnam War (also known by #Names, other names) was a conflict in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. It was the second of the Indochina Wars and was officially fought between North Vie ...

. They are sent to the

Cambodia Cambodia (; also Kampuchea ; km, កម្ពុជា, UNGEGN: ), officially the Kingdom of Cambodia, is a country located in the southern portion of the Indochinese Peninsula in Southeast Asia, spanning an area of , bordered by Thailand t ...

n jungle on

Yamaha Yamaha may refer to: * Yamaha Corporation, a Japanese company with a wide range of products and services, established in 1887. The company is the largest shareholder of Yamaha Motor Company (below). ** Yamaha Music Foundation, an organization estab ...

bikes in order to rescue an American

diplomat A diplomat (from grc, δίπλωμα; romanized ''diploma'') is a person appointed by a state or an intergovernmental institution such as the United Nations or the European Union to conduct diplomacy with one or more other states or internati ...

/CIA Agent, Chet Davis. The biker gang is led by Link Thomas, a Vietnam veteran and the brother of an Army Major who has recruited them. His gang consists of Duke, also a Vietnam veteran, Limpy, Speed, and another Vietnam veteran, Dirty Denny. They are under the orders of Army Captain Jackson. The gang modifies their motorcycles in a garage run by Diem-Nuc. They weld armour plating with submachine guns on the handlebars. Limpy drives a three-wheeler modified from a Harley-Davidson frame with a Volkswagen rear end, that is armed with heavy .50 calibre machine guns and a multiple rocket launcher from a helicopter. In order to open fire on enemy soldiers in trees or towers the gang do

wheelie In vehicle acrobatics, a wheelie, or wheelstand, is a vehicle maneuver in which the front wheel or wheels come off the ground due to sufficient torque being applied to the rear wheel or wheels, or rider motion relative to the vehicle. Whe ...

s whilst firing their weapons.

Cast

* William Smith as Link Thomas *

Bernie Hamilton Bernard Hamilton (June 12, 1928 – December 30, 2008) was an American actor. Best known as Captain Dobey in '' Starsky & Hutch'' (1975-1979). Biography Hamilton was born in East Los Angeles; his brother was jazz drummer Chico Hamilton. He a ...

as Captain Jackson *Huston Savage as Dirty Denny *

Adam Roarke Adam Roarke (born Richard Jordan Gerler, August 8, 1937 – April 27, 1996) was an American actor and film director. Life and career Roarke was born in Brooklyn, New York, where he was a street gang member during his youth. His father was a v ...

as Duke *

Paul Koslo Paul Koslo (born Manfred Koslowski; June 27, 1944 – January 9, 2019) was a German-born Canadian actor. Career Koslo started his career in such 1970s films as ''Nam's Angels'' a.k.a. ''The Losers'', ''Vanishing Point'' and ''The Stone Kill ...

as Limpy *Gene Cornelius as Speed *John Garwood as Sergeant Winston *Ana Korita as Kim Sue *

Vic Diaz Victor Sunico Diaz'', popularly known as Vic Diaz, (July 29, 1932 – September 15, 2006) was a Filipino character actor who mostly portrayed villains. He was also the father of Teddy Diaz, the founding guitarist of the Filipino Rock band The D ...

as Diem-Nuc *

Alan Caillou Alan Samuel Lyle-Smythe MBE, M.C. (9 November 1914 – 1 October 2006), who wrote under the name Alan Caillou, was an English-born author, actor, screenwriter, soldier, policeman and professional hunter. Biography Alan Lyle-Smythe was born in S ...

as Albanian

Production

On 19 November 1965,

Sonny Barger Ralph Hubert "Sonny" Barger, Jr. (October 8, 1938 – June 29, 2022) was an American outlaw biker, author and actor who was a founding member of the Oakland, California chapter of the Hells Angels Motorcycle Club in 1957. After forming the O ...

the "Maximum Leader" of the

motorcycle club sent a telegram to President Johnson offering the Angels as "gorilla fighters" (sic) in the

. Though the President turned them down, the idea became a Vietnam War movie made in the Philippines using sets and crew from '' Too Late the Hero''. William Smith stated that the original ending had the rescued diplomat die whilst the gang lived, but Jack Starrett and Smith rewrote Alan Caillou's screenplay. Smith also stated that the earring he wore in the film was given to him by the Hells Angels during another motorcycle film he made. Paul Koslo was taught to ride by the film's stuntman Gary McLarty. Originally titled ''Nam's Angels'', the title was changed before release to the more generic ''The Losers'' with composer Stu Phillips writing a song incorporating the title. "The Devil's Advocates" gang also appears in the films ''

Run, Angel, Run! ''Run, Angel, Run!'' is a 1969 film directed by Jack Starrett and starring William Smith and Valerie Starrett. It was the 17th highest-grossing film of 1969.

'' and ''

Werewolves on Wheels ''Werewolves on Wheels'' is a 1971 American exploitation film directed by Michel Levesque and starring Stephen Oliver, D.J. Anderson, and Deuce Barry. It blends two genres: the outlaw biker film and the traditional horror film. Plot "As it is ...

''.

In popular culture

A glimpse of the movie appears in

Quentin Tarantino Quentin Jerome Tarantino (; born March 27, 1963) is an American film director, writer, producer, and actor. His films are characterized by stylized violence, extended dialogue, profanity, Black comedy, dark humor, Nonlinear narrative, non-lin ...

's ''

Pulp Fiction ''Pulp Fiction'' is a 1994 American crime film written and directed by Quentin Tarantino, who conceived it with Roger Avary.See, e.g., King (2002), pp. 185–7; ; Starring John Travolta, Samuel L. Jackson, Bruce Willis, Tim Roth, Ving Rhame ...

'', which Fabienne was watching, then had said "A motorcycle movie, I'm not sure the name.

John Milius John Frederick Milius (; born April 11, 1944) is an American screenwriter, film director, and producer. He was a writer for the first two ''Dirty Harry'' films, received an Academy Award nomination as screenwriter of ''Apocalypse Now'' (1979), a ...

said this film was a "big inspiration for ''

Apocalypse Now ''Apocalypse Now'' is a 1979 American epic war film produced and directed by Francis Ford Coppola. The screenplay, co-written by Coppola, John Milius and Michael Herr, is loosely based on the 1899 novella ''Heart of Darkness'' by Joseph Conr ...

''."

References

External links