What to Watch - Chrome and Hot Leather (1971)

Chrome and Hot Leather (1971)

Dir. Lee Frost Runtime: 91 Minutes

Chrome and Hot Leather is an easy film to summarize. It is the Green Berets versus bikers. By 1971 the bike-spoliation craze had began to die down, while Vietnam and WWII (thinly disguised as a metaphor for Vietnam) exploitation films began to gain popularity. Many of the war exploitation films were cheaply made in Europe or the Philippines, and distributed largely in the United States on the same “b” and “c” movie double and triple feature circuit as the bike-spoliation films.

 Sensing an opportunity, filmmakers began to combine the two. Sometimes with bikers headed to Vietnam such as The Losers, or in the case of Chrome and Hot Leather brining the lessons learned in the war home. The combination of the two genres is pure exploitation cinema gold – and something Lee Frost, a veteran of the circuit, couldn’t resist.

The film was distributed by American International Pictures, the Nicholson, Arkoff, Corman, and Gordon filmmaking and distribution group who essentially established the bike-sploitation genre with the release of The Wild Angels starring Peter Fonda. American International Pictures often employed what they called the A.R.K.O.F.F. formula to their “b” and “c” movies; action, revolution, killing, oratory, fantasy, and fornication. Chrome and Hot Leather in many ways encompasses each aspect of the formula.

 Lee Frost is known mainly for a string of exploitation films beginning in the late 1960s, most notably Mondo Bizarro (1966) and the Thing with Two Heads (1972), which he made immediately following Chrome and Hot Leather. However, when work directing exploitation films began to dry up, Frost turned to the growing industry of X-Rated films in the mid 1970s while still trying to maintain a non porno career with films like Race with the Devil (1975).

The film stars Tony Young as a Green Beret Sargent named Mitch who is notified that his fiancé stateside has been killed after being run off the road by a gang of roaming bikers lead by William Smith (T.J.). Young, a second-generation actor, worked extensively with the Armed Forces Network, and made a living as a well-heeled journeyman in mostly military, cowboy, and other action-oriented films. While Smith, a veteran of many biker films, portrayed a menacing muscular leader throughout many of his films whether he was the antagonist or the rare protagonist.

 Chrome and Hot Leather may be most notable as co-staring Motown legend Marvin Gaye in his only theatrically released acting role. Although he did have one only other film credit in The Ballad of Andy Crocker which was a made for TV film. Chorme and Hot Leather also features an uncredited appearance by Erik Estrada five years before staring in CHiPs. Cheryl Ladd also makes her film debut rounding out the random cast.

 Chrome and Hot Leather features stunts by Bud Ekins and combines bike, car, van, and artillery stunts in a film that otherwise would have felt pretty by the book. Interestingly the film carefully divides the bike stunts into two groups. The Green Berets ride Kawasaki offroad bikes, while the biker gang ride a number of Harley and Triumph choppers. This creates a clear visual narrative of the outlaws against the military in its final paces.

The film is essentially broken up into four acts, though each act length differs greatly. The first act establishes Mitch and his Green Berets as skilled at unconventional warfare and artillery deployment through the introduction of the military training fields. This is mirrored by the fate of Mitch’s fiancé at the hands of the motorcycle gang, and the immediate aftermath.

Act two is essentially a short who-done-it with the continued escapades of the gang, while Mitch and crew attempt to figure out who the culprits were before recognizing that they have limited investigative abilities while in uniform. Act three shows the disciplined soldiers training on riding and going incognito to attempt to infiltrate the biker gang once found leading to the final act of the film which pulls together the various characters and places the Green Berets on the offensive using military tactics and arsenal against the splintering biker gang.

While most exploitation films of the era rely on dramatic deaths and an almost nihilistic ending, Chrome and Hot Leather offers a rather tame law and justice approach to the finale. It stands out in many ways as almost quaint considering the lengths the film goes through depicting a rowdy, violent, street gang and trained military personnel pitted together.

Typically I am only in it for the bikes for the bike-sploitation films. There are a few exceptions of course, and depending on your taste in motorcycles what you gravitate to could be wildly different. If this is the case for you, in reality you only need to watch the first third of the film. It is the part where you get great shots of era choppers, as well as some early motocross style action. After that it is mostly character driven and has far less road action.