A documentary look at the notorious Canadian biker gang.
In 1966, the Canadian biker gang Satan’s Choice was on the cusp of moving from being a jovial club for like-minded motorcyclists to becoming a criminal enterprise in the tradition of other outlaw motorcycle gangs. This 1966 documentary is a somewhat naive look at the club and its members, who seem to just be out for kicks before they have to settle down into straight society. Presumably, the lure of kicks proved too much, as by the end of the decade, the gang was involved in drugs, prostitution, robbery and violence.
By 1977, there were some two hundred members of the club spread across thirteen chapters, but this high didn’t last. An alliance with the Outlaws MC brought them into violent conflict with the Hell’s Angels, and increasing clashes with law enforcement saw numbers begin to dwindle in the 1980s, as members less committed to the lifestyle – and the risk of injury or death in battles with rivals or imprisonment for crimes – dropped out. Others defected to the Outlaws, and by 2000, the remaining members of Satan’s Choice had joined the Hell’s Angels.
The film barely hints of all this, but instead is a rather entertaining look at what then seemed just another 1960s youth subculture.
