The Hard Ride

1971 "Some machines are more than most men can handle!"
5.3| 1h33m| en| More Info
Released: 22 April 1971 Released
Producted By: American International Pictures
Country: United States of America
Budget: 0
Revenue: 0
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Synopsis

While in Vietnam, a GI promises his dying buddy that he'll take care of his motorcycle, "Baby", when he gets back home. After his discharge, he meets up with his dead friend's girlfriend, gets the bike, and then runs into trouble from some other bikers who don't like the idea of his having the motorcycle or the girl.

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daviddaveinternational I collect old, cheap biker movies. The main reason for that is to scope out the motorcycles of the era. This "Hard Ride" joke of a movie has a very good selection of late-60's/early 70's "choppers". The motorcycles alone are worth the watch. The plot? What plot? The acting? Stiff. Forced. Poor. The only reason I'm giving it a "six" is the tits motorcycles used in the movie. The fake "kick-starting" them is very lame, though. Why can't they ever find actors/extras that actually LOOK like "bikers"? I got "recruited" to be a "biker extra" in the mega-flop comedy "Dutch Treat" circa 1987. I rode my own Harley, wore my own clothes and was actually the only one drinking beer that I had snuck in the "biker bar" scene: "No drinking on the set!" I was told but I snuck it in and threw in some ad-libbing which they used! "The Hard Ride"? Poor movie, great motorcycles. Where are those bikes today?! Some "cheap biker movies" are actually very entertaining when you consider how poor the acting is. However, there's no excuse for plot lines so thin as to be almost nonexistent.
MartinHafer "The Hard Ride" is a decent film---not especially good but they people who made it tried to make a competent movie and it is watchable. However, for folks who LIKE sleazy biker pics, this one will be a HUGE disappointment! Had they infused it with the typical crap you'd find in films like "Satan's Sadists" or "Werewolves on Wheels", it would have been worse but a lot more fun.The film is about an ex-G.I. (Robert Fuller) who has come to a desert town to take possession of his dead buddy's chopper nicknamed 'Baby'. Unfortunately, all kids of nasty folks want the bike and Fuller isn't about to just give it to these jerks. However, this is only part of the film--much of it consists of Fuller and a lady driving around cross country looking for 'Big Red' as well as making out. While all this COULD have been great sleazy fun, it's all played very straight and is non-exploitation all the way. A somewhat dull time-passer and that's about it.
bellaghy I honestly don't know what the previous poster was watching but he obviously ain't a bike lover as this movie has probably one of the best choppers ever seen on film, and when the song Fallin' In Love With Baby is playing you just can't help but smile like Bob Fuller who looks over the moon to be on this baby. I collect bike movies and the vast majority are rubbish with minimal bikes, this is different with i'd say 75% of the movie riding scenes! Fantastic opening sequence too with about 50 scooters riding in formation across a desert with magic music by Bill Medley. The soundtrack LP is easily obtained and is well worth getting hold of too. This movie only lets its self down when it goes into bikie movie clichés like the rumble/brawl scenes. Special mention to the stunning Sherry Bain, a realistic beauty who carries this movie, why she didn't become a major star is a mystery????
garytheroux While the two leads here are adequate for this type of bottom-of-the-bill movie, one has to admit that this is the kind of film one would find at a drive-in in 1971 -- a drive-in occupied entirely by couples far too busy making out in their back seats to ever glance at the screen or even hook the speaker to their car windows. It's hard to figure what's worse here -- the lousy script and direction, idiotic soundtrack music, the cheapo production techniques, the poor editing, the badly choreographed fight scenes ("heightened" by inexplicable slo-mo) or the stupidly clichéd plot and characters. The motorcycle sequences are almost laughable. The childish dopes the movie tries to typify would have been just as awesome on bicycles with training wheels. What an embarrassing waste of film.