What to Watch - Hollywood Man (1976)

Hollywood Man (1976) AKA “Death Threat” (UK)

Dir. Jack Starrett Runtime: 107 minutes

Hollywood Man is a somewhat bleak, and at times dark, late comer to the bike-sploitation genre. The film tells a story of a hard-luck actor wanting to make a film of his own despite a lack of interest from the industry. The cash-strapped actor Rafe Stoker (William Emmett Smith) plots to make a motorcycle picture of his own after years of starring in the well-worn genre. In Hollywood producers turn Stoker away as the world has moved on from the bike-sploitation films.

To fund the picture Stoker puts up everything he has and turns to a Florida based organized crime boss to complete the production on his film. To secure the deal Stoker puts up his assets as collateral in a deal to complete the film in four weeks. If he fails to complete the film in time, he forfeits his assets. In turn, the mob hire Harvey, a mentally unstable biker, to sabotage the production so that they can collect on Stoker’s collateral.  Terrorized by a biker gang, Stoker and crew push through despite multiple attacks and murders until meeting his final fate.

 The film opens on a great opening shot, bikes rolling down the highway, eventually without warning the bikes crash. The jarring intro, shown to be the opening of the in-production film, serves as primer for the film. It tells the audience that this film will not be the romping bike-sploitation film of the late 60s and early 70s; this film is darker, sometimes relentlessly so.

Hollywood Man is one of the few bike-sploitation films released after Vietnam came to a close with the fall of Saigon. In a genre that celebrated the war in many ways, it serves as a cold and dark epilogue of the genre and is weighed down with the post-Vietnam war era mood that marked the mid-to-late 70s. America was a darker place – and Hollywood Man makes it patently obvious.

Directed by actor turned director Jack Starrett, best known for his work in Blazing Saddles and First Blood, Hollywood Man is a bleak sometimes bordering on nihilistic view of filmmaking. Made during the peak of the 70s auteur period, Hollywood Man paints a picture of filmmaking that is money driven with little regard for the artist’s vision.

With a number of bike-sploitation films under his belt as an actor – including The Born Losers; Hells Angels on Wheels; Angels from Hell; Hell’s Bloody Devils; as well as the director of Nam’s Angels; and Run, Angel, Run; Starrett turns his eye to creating a film about making the best bike-sploitation film ever made… Only a half-decade too late for anyone to care.

With exceptional casting of William Emmet Smith in the lead (who also served as the film’s writer), a veteran of many biker films as well, Hollywood man feels almost like two films in one. The film being made, and the film you are watching.

The character of Rafe Stoker closely resembles both Smith and Starret. Portrayed as a veteran character actor who had made his name in bike-sploitation films, Stoker’s characterization borrows heavily from the leading man’s credentials. In actuality Smith stared in many biker films including Run, Angel, Run; Angels Die Hard; Chrome and Hot Leather; Nam’s Angels; C.C. and Company; and more.  

It should be noted that Mary Woronov was cast as Stoker’s love interest/business partner. While not a big stretch acting wise, Woronov’s role in the film looms large in the sense that you can’t take your eyes off her and wish for more out of the role. A veteran of the Warhol factory and Corman films, Woronov has the ability to lift neary every film she is cast in. In Hollywood Man she gives a great balance of glamour and darkness that only Wornov can provide.

Despite the bleak outlook of the film, fans of the genre will get a lot of great eye-candy in the form of bikes and vans throughout the film. It features some of the most recognizable faces of the genre and offers something much different in terms of tone.