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Welcome to Weird: The Losers/Nam's Angels

Bikers vs. the Viet Cong equals some vintage exploitation trash.

By Tom Pinchuk  |  July 5, 2011

Oh, but for the days before Photoshop.
Oh, but for the days before Photoshop.

You know, I’ve never been big on bad movie nights. I can appreciate a hilariously-awful movie, sure. I paid good money to attend one of Tommy Wiseau’s midnight screening of the Room a few months back. However, the programming for these kind of get-togethers too often veers from humorously bad to just plain bad, and I’m not that much of a glutton for punishment. That said, I’ve got a movie here that I was introduced to through a bad movie night; a genuine exploitation flick that would’ve played in one of those oh-so-romanticized grindhouse theaters in the 70s. It isn’t weird in the way these other weirdies have been so much as it’s just utterly ridiculous, without any outward sense of self-awareness about it.

At least, I don’t sense any self-awareness. Can you sense any in this trailer?

Not to be confused with the heist movie based on the Vertigo comic or the 80s rip-off with a title only a letter off from this movie’s alternate name, the Losers (or Nam’s Angels, as it’s sometimes called) is the kind of cult shocker that’s usually ladled into the trash cultural stew of a White Zombie album or a Tarantino film. A clip of it even showed up on the TV in that scene in Pulp Fiction where Bruce Willis’ lover is busy “watching a motorcycle movie.” I’m sure QT was having himself an in-jokey chuckle when he wrote that line in, because this motorcycle movie’s about the Hell’s Angels (OK, the “Devil’s Advocates”) coming over to Vietnam to fight the Viet Cong… on bikes with sub-machineguns mounted on their handlebars.

If it wasn't already as ridiculous as it sounds, the Devil's Advocates frequently pop wheelies so they can shoot as sneaky VC's hiding in the tree tops.
If it wasn't already as ridiculous as it sounds, the Devil's Advocates frequently pop wheelies so they can shoot as sneaky VC's hiding in the tree tops.

Supposedly, the plot of the Losers was inspired by the time the Hell’s Angel’s “Maximum Leader” personally telegrammed Lyndon Johnson an offer to volunteer his clubs’ heavies for guerilla warfare in Vietnam. Whoever’s imagination was captured by that incident was also looking at the Dirty Dozen and the Wild Bunch, because the tagline for the Losers succinctly describes it as “the Dirty Bunch on Wheels.” Only the high concept's never really that clear or neat because this is a real exploitation movie, not a pastiche. Ergo there are a number of key scenes are handled awkwardly and sub-plots are left dangling - - and none of it happens in a knowing, tongue-in-cheek way.

Anyway, you’ve got the usual skeleton of morally-gray roughnecks brought together by the man for a suicide mission. A couple of the bikers might be veterans with prior involvement with intelligence operations, but I’m still not quite sure how it shakes out. That particular bit of exposition is confusingly, and clumsily, presented late into the run time. One guy’s got an in-country girlfriend and their sappy reunion seems to entirely consist of them telling each other “it’s been so long.” That part makes such a tonal switchback turn that the host of this bad movie fast-forwarded through all 10 minutes of it, and nothing was really lost to us.

Just how political is that swastika?
Just how political is that swastika?

Oh, and another one of the Devils Advocates might be a neo-Nazi--or maybe just a Buddhist with a cavalier hatred of the Vietnamese. I can’t recall if the swastika on his bandanna ran clockwise or counter-clockwise, but he does find such glee when he turns his Harley into a sped-up half-track with a rocket launchers and .50 cal MG’s.

Seemingly in defiance of Godwin’s Law, bringing up the Nazis might actually be appropriate, because I see this war-time romp’s on a tamer end of the curve of bad taste that includes something like Ilsa: She-Wolf of the SS at its steepest extremity. Time may have softened the tackiness a little, but this remains a ludicrous farce that was made about a war that was still happening at the time. That it makes some bumbling, blundering attempts at "message" moments really seasons it the unmistakable bad taste of vintage junk. Of course, if you're the kind of cinephile who loves him some vintage junk on a bad movie night with his pals, then the Losers is a flick to properly fit your agenda.

Check out some previous "Weirdies" below...

Filed under: Nam's Angels
8 Comments
AtomicEdgeon July 5, 2011 at 7:15 a.m.

I definitely think more posters need to be painted. The classic Star Wars posters are some of the most memorable of all time.

jimjimmanon July 5, 2011 at 9:48 a.m.

There is no link to the trailer.

Great article, though.

PenguinDuston July 5, 2011 at 11:49 a.m.
Cool article.  For some reason it made me remember 1982's Megaforce.  God that was an awful movie, but to my kid mind at the time it was everything I wanted to see in a video game; motorcycles shooting rockets, cars with lasers and plenty of gold lamé jumpsuits.  You should write something about it someday, Tom.  For some reason bikes with weapons attached to them, not matter how impractical, always seemed like the coolest thing in the world to me.
Chipotleon July 5, 2011 at 4:57 p.m.

Really glad Tom started writing for Screened. Good stuff.

MrPinkon July 5, 2011 at 6:32 p.m.

Wow Tom Pinchuk really dug up some dirt this time. Can't recall this one at all, and that's what I like. Nice job pointing this out.

Lydian_Selon July 6, 2011 at 4:11 a.m.
I always remember that part of Pulp Fiction, though never actually gave any thought to it being an actual feature of some sort. If you don't live in the U.S. you kinda just assume that most American programming looks like that.
Quateron July 7, 2011 at 5:47 a.m.

I've never understood the point of making a distinction between "intentionally bad pastiche" vs. "genuinely bad film". I finally saw Planet Terror for the first time last week and enjoyed it in its ridiculous way, but I fail to see how its having been intentionally made as a rip-off of '70s exploitation movies makes it any different from an actual, real one like this. It's about the finished product, not the pre-production intent. In 40 years' time, when people look back on the recent crop of "Grindhouse" piss-takes, it won't make any difference whether the filmmakers did it intentionally or not, the final result still appears to be cut from the same cloth.

No_name_here staff on July 8, 2011 at 2:14 a.m.

@quater said:

I've never understood the point of making a distinction between "intentionally bad pastiche" vs. "genuinely bad film". I finally saw Planet Terror for the first time last week and enjoyed it in its ridiculous way, but I fail to see how its having been intentionally made as a rip-off of '70s exploitation movies makes it any different from an actual, real one like this. It's about the finished product, not the pre-production intent. In 40 years' time, when people look back on the recent crop of "Grindhouse" piss-takes, it won't make any difference whether the filmmakers did it intentionally or not, the final result still appears to be cut from the same cloth.

A valid question, but I'd say that the genuinely bad films are often a lot more boring than the intentionally bad pastiches. The latter are usually made with an "all killer, no filler" approach that cherry picks all the best moments of the former that you have to sit through long stretches of boring, aimless material to get to.

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