Bullet Points: Chrome and Hot Leather

If you told me a few weeks ago that Rock-n-Roll Hall of Fame singer and songwriter Marvin Gaye, the Prince of Soul himself, was in an action movie, there is a good chance that I would not have believed you.

But then I saw 1971’s Chrome and Hot Leather with my own eyes…

• What’s Going On: Four Green Berets, about to head back to civilian life, are hanging out at The Officer’s Club at the Army Base where they had just finished up training a new batch of soldiers heading to Vietnam. Mitch (Tony Young) can think about only one thing, his fiancée Kathy. Mitch’s buddies, Hank, Al and Jim (played by the aforementioned Marvin Gaye), bust his balls as friends are wont to do. But the jocularity comes to an abrupt halt after Mitch receives some devastating news…
• Mercy Mercy Me: Kathy and her friend Helen were out for a drive when they find themselves sharing the road with a motorcycle club known as The Wizards. One of The Wizards, Casey (Michael Haynes) decides to mess with the two young women and it isn’t long before they are freaking out. Helen decides to make a sharp turn to a side road in order to get away from the bikers, but in the process she cuts Casey off and he and his old lady Susan take a spill on the pavement. Casey is now pissed and he pursues the two young ladies who returned to the main road and are trying their best to get as much space between them and the bikers as possible. When Casey catches up with them he smashes the car windshield with his chain. Helen loses control of the vehicle and it goes careening off the road into a ravine… Helen dies instantly and Kathy would die later at the hospital with her last words being repeating “devils” … which happened to be the logo on the back of The Wizards jackets.

• Got To Give It Up: The leader of The Wizards, T.J. (William Smith, Eye of the Tiger) is pissed with Casey. This is not the first time Casey has caused The Wizards unnecessary problems and T.J. has just about had his fill with Casey’s bullshit… T.J. gives Casey an ultimatum, anymore problems and Casey is out of The Wizards.

• I Heard It Through the Grapevine: Mitch returns home for Kathy’s funeral and his friends are there by his side. When the funeral is over Mitch approaches Sheriff Lewis to see what he can tell him about the incident that cost Kathy her life… Sheriff says the only witness was a traveling salesman who happened to be driving by as the motorcycle gang fled the scene of the crime and the only lead they have is what Kathy said “Devils”. When Mitch pushes Sheriff Lewis about what is being done to catch those responsible, Sheriff tells Mitch he is understaffed and even if he had more men, the motorcycle clubs don’t like to talk to men in uniform. Mitch and his friends find this out first hand when they approach some bikers at a diner and they get zero cooperation… and that’s when the light bulb goes off in Mitch’s head… if they want get in good with the bikers, they’ll need to become bikers themselves. They buy some motorcycles, split up and riding around to known biker hangouts trying to find The Devils.

• Sexual Healing: The Green Berets aren’t having any luck tracking down “The Devils” until Mitch happens upon a gas station and sees The Wizards, devil logo and all. When The Wizards leave the gas station and head over to their pool hall hangout, Mitch follows them and ends up being tested by the leader of the pack, T.J. who gets right up in Mitch’s face… but Mitch doesn’t back down and with that he earns the respect of T.J. and The Wizards… also the admiration of Susan, who is flying solo that night as Casey is apparently out doing Casey things. Mitch and Susan end up knocking boots back at the biker house. Casey shows up post-coitus and beats the ever loving crap out of Mitch! Casey then goes through Mitch’s wallet and finds out he is a military man and knows he has officially caused more problems.
• Let’s Get It On: Realizing they now have a shitstorm headed their way after Casey once again went too far, T.J. rounds up The Wizards and they decide they are going to go lay low in a nearby valley for a few days and then when the heat dies down make their way south of the border. But The Wizards are about to find out the hard way that you can run, but you can’t hide from The Green Berets!

Chrome and Hot Leather was a production of American International Pictures. One of the founders of AIP, Samuel Z. Arkoff, had developed a formula for producing successful low budget movies called the ARKOFF formula, what else?!?

• Action (exciting, entertaining drama)
• Revolution (novel or controversial themes and ideas)
• Killing (a modicum of violence)
• Oratory (notable dialogue and speeches)
• Fantasy (acted-out fantasies common to the audience)
• Fornication (sex appeal for young adults)

I have developed a formula for my Bulletproof Action reviews and it always includes sprinkling in some Bonus Bullet Points at the end…

• Montage Alert: There’s a pretty lengthy montage of The Green Berets learning to ride their newly purchased motorcycles. At first they are falling down and getting stuck in the mud, but by the end of the montage they are doing jumps and tricks.
• Familiar Face: Mitch’s girl Kathy was played by Cheryl Ladd (using the name Cherie Moor) in her first acting job. Ladd is most famous for replacing replace Farrah Fawcett on Charlie’s Angels after Fawcett resigned from the hit show after the first season.
• Missed Opportunity: You might think with Marvin Gaye as part of the cast of Chrome and Hot Leather, that he’d pull double duty and contribute to the movie’s soundtrack. But that was not the case. Porter Jordan was responsible for the soundtrack. Another notable soundtrack credit on Jordan’s resume is The Thing with Two Heads.
• Cheers: Whenever a movie features Green Berets, I can’t help but be reminded of this scene from one of my favorite sitcoms of all-time.