Rascals

Two Sixties flicks from Roger Corman, making a James Franco sandwich:
 
WILD ANGELS (1966) (C+) - Peter Fonda gives the hippie take on James Dean in this Hell's Angels hellscape of white-supremacist bikers rebelling against whatever the Man's offering in the mid-'60s. Fonda and Nancy Sinatra lead the charge across Southern California, while Bruce Dern and Diane Ladd provide some gravitas to what too often comes across as a disturbing take on Frankie and Annette in their beach movies of the day.

It's really hard to just pass off the Nazi symbols flaunted here as just an anachronism or a passing fad. Roger Corman's direction is clunky, even if his attempt at provocation is to be admired. The nihilism surely hit a nerve in the transitional phase of the 1960s, and the characters had cool names like Blues (Fonda), Loser (Dern) and Monkey (Sinatra). And Gayle Hunnicut shows up with sex appeal to burn. Points, too, for eventually inspiring "Weekend at Bernies." This one is not much more than a curiosity at this point.

RISE OF THE PLANET OF THE APES (2011) (C+) - This fairly ridiculous origin story places James Franco, of all hipsters, at the center of the cause of the planet getting overrun by apes. Franco's Will Rodman, looking for a cure for his father's Alzheimer's disease, "adopts" baby Caesar, who shows remarkable intelligence and bounds up a steep learning curve.

The dialogue is goofy, Freida Pinto does little more than bat her eyes at Franco throughout, the CGI is mildly entertaining, and the supporting characters are alternately cardboard and wooden. John Lithgow gets the thankless role of the father, and he just can't shake his sitcom shtick. The intrigue here rarely rises above the level of a "Batman" TV episode. The final reel offers some cool pyrotechnics and ape antics, but it's way too little too late.

THE YOUNG RACERS (1963) (C-minus) - This is a remarkably boring European-flavored character study of an asshole who races cars. William Campbell is a dud as Joe Machin, an American driver gliding along on a nasty reputation. He cheats on his wife and exploits the loyalty of his brother, who pines for Joe's wife.

Corman hopscotches across the Continent and serves up multiple racing scenes (too many to be effective). Joe bigfoots around, and the viewer must be patient awaiting Joe's comeupppance. This is surprisingly dull, considering it's Roger Corman, race car drivers, and swingin' Europe at the dawn of the '60s.

BONUS TRACK
Primal Scream memorably sampled Fonda's epic speech from "Wild Angels" in the song "Loaded." Blues tells the Man, "We want to be free to do what we want to do. And we want to get loaded. And we wanna have a good time."