“Love is a flower that needs peace to grow, but if shades of fear are all we know, then we’re losers… losers.”
-Excrutiating theme song to “The Losers” by Stu Phillips.

This curious war film from 1970 is one of the stranger exploitation titles from that era. Sort of a low-rent combination of “The Dirty Dozen” and “The Wild Bunch,” “The Losers” wants to be several things to its prospective audience. It wants to be an antiestablishment biker film; a sex and drugs exploitation film; alpha male action film; and scathing anti-war film. Such high aspirations - and “Invasion of the Bee Girls’ William Smith too! It’s Vietnam 1969 (actually Cambodia in the film – and shot in the Philippines just to add to the confusion). The war is still raging and explosions and gunfire continuously pepper the jungle. CIA operative Chet Davis (director Jack Starrett) has been captured and is being held in a Red Chinese compound. A secret rescue mission is quickly set into action with five members of a tough biker gang called the Devil’s Advocates.

The gang, a few of which are Vietnam vets, is comprised of leader Link (Smith), Duke (Adam Roarke), Limpy (Paul Koslo), Speed (Eugene Cornelius) and Dirty Denny (Houston Savage). The plan is to have the gang retrofit some Yamaha bikes with guns and armor and then storm the compound and rescue the agent. Though Link has had some issues with the CIA operative in the past, he is deemed the perfect leader for this mission. The road to the actual rescue is a long one as the vets travel through the war ravaged land drinking, smoking, screwing and mindlessly bar-brawling. Duke’s real motives for joining the mission are revealed when he breaks away from the group’s debauched spree to see Suriya (Lillian Margarejo). The two met and fell in love during his original tour of duty and he’s determined to take her back to America with him. Limpy falls quickly for a beautiful Vietnamese prostitute with a mixed, African American baby. After meandering for almost over an hour, the bikes have been transformed and the rescue is set into motion. But who will survive and what will be left of them?

“The Losers” was directed by the late Jack Starrett who made some great action and exploitation titles in the ‘60’s and ‘70’s; “Cleopatra Jones,” “Race with the Devil” and “Slaughter” were far better films than they had any right to be. Starrett was always able to get solid performances from his casts and, more importantly, could really deliver the action set pieces. (He was also a seasoned character actor, which might explain his ability to coax strong performances from his actors.) “The Losers” delivers on these two elements in spades with a great cast and some truly incredible action scenes. The opening moments of the film skillfully capture a frenzied battle scene. Given the small budget, it’s amazing how complex and exciting it’s realized. The film’s script, however, is a mess with a meandering structure that is essentially 70 minutes of build-up, fifteen minutes of explosions and another ten minutes of anti-climax. Writer Alan Caillou has written some superior exploitation films as well, including the drive-in favorite “Kingdom of the Spiders.” For a film like “The Losers” to work properly, the high concept has to be supported by at least a little character development.

Films like “The Dirty Dozen” worked because the writers took the time to establish the characters and their relationships; the audience had a vested interest in the outcome. It is never quite clear what the relationship is between these renegade bikers (aside from their Advocate affiliation) or why they chose to take on this mission. It’s almost as if Caillou was aware that this story had already been told - and didn’t feel the need to explore anything beyond the bare essentials. Another problem is that however slight the characters are, their indifference to the whole task at hand becomes tiresome. If they had been coerced into the job through black mail, at least their boorish, lackadaisical behavior might have made sense. It’s ultimately difficult to care about the story when the leads seem so indifferent to their task at hand. The anti war message also falls to pieces in the end, given how little time is spent getting to know the characters. Ultimately, it is just an exploitation film – and if viewed with this mind it does offer mild distraction.

The cast is solid, especially Smith as the biker leader. His character is, ironically, one of the sketchiest of the bunch but his performance hits just the right note of amiable male bravado. It’s a great precursor to the buff Arnold Schwarzenegger-type of roles that would permeate the action films of the ‘80’s. He would go on to make several great exploitation films including the aforementioned “Bee Girls” and “Grave of the Vampire.” Roarke is also good as the romantic lead Duke, though he’s given some of the worst dialogue. His tender scenes with his Vietnamese girlfriend are embarrassing to watch. Though the pseudo love montage with inappropriate theme song (see above) doesn’t help matters. Koslo as Limpy gives the only authentic performance, but his character is given the most nuance. His relationship with the prostitute is quite touching (in drive-in terms).

This DVD release by Dark Sky Films gets major points for an interesting commentary by actors Smith and Koslo who add an interesting insight into the difficult production. Koslo is especially fun to listen to; his enthusiasm and long memory make the action onscreen far more involving in retrospect. The film itself is presented in its original 1.85:1 ratio in a wonderful remastered print. It both looks and sounds great; the Dolby Digital mix especially impressive. The extras include the engaging commentary, a photo gallery, radio spots and trailer. The trailer adds great insight into the marketing of this strange film. Apparently, the distributor had no idea how to sell it. It’s as meandering and unfocussed as the film itself. Bonus points for the inclusion of the trailer for the cult classic “Werewolves on Wheels.” It’s a terrible print, but it’s great fun to watch - and there is no mistaking what’s in store as far as that title is concerned.