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(1991) MGM  Director:  Simon Wincer  Starring: Mickey Rouke, Don Johnson, Tom Sizemore, Vanessa Williams, and the late "Big" John Studd

I tend to stay away from reviewing films that I had seen prior to the review process...

...simply because I try to be objective...and, I hardly have the time to watch alot of the DVDs and VHS I buy.  Hello, my name is Anthony...and I'm a binge viewer. But...I've always loved this film.  I first caught it during it's theatrical run in '91, and was one of the few people to pick up on the subtle subtext that the film presents.   I could use the 4 years (and two useless degrees) of college I have under my belt and say things like how the film could be viewed as a metaphor for old "American Way" values taking one last stab at modern consumerism.  It's two iconic protagonists could be viewed as iconoclasts representing the American way of life.  I mean, what's more "American" than cowboys and bikers?

I could even read more into the flick than what's actually there and say that it could be seen as an unofficial "sequel" to another great "bike" movie, EASY RIDER.  Don Johnson's "Marlboro" (aka Dennis Hopper's "Wild Bill" ) and Rouke as "Harley" (aka Fonda's "Captain America" ) could be looked upon as Fonda and Hopper's bikers finally reaching the end of the road they were on, finally discovering the "it" they were searching for.  Whereas EASY RIDER represented the riders on the road as Baby Boomers trying to come to grips with the end of their innocence (the end of the 1960s), HDATMM could be those same Baby Boomers taking one last stand at the end of their era (the beginning of the then-new decade of the 1990s) and fighting against the beginning of a new ( the so-called Generation X...with their "grunge rock" and "inner-net"....whippersnappers. ) .  But, I'm probably wrong and just trying to rationalize a film that just plain, Big Dumb Action for me.

Plus...Rouke's got a cherry bike.  I'd kill for it. The Plot:  Set in 1996 (THE FUTURE!!!!!!! ), where gas is about 8 bucks a gallon and the entire town of Burbank has been converted into an airport, we find Harley Davidson (Mickey Rouke...one of the few people in Hollywood whom I fear..because he quirky.  Ya know, like Brando. ) and his ol' buddy, the Marlboro Man (Don Johnson) joining forces with a few other oddball friends to help save their favorite hangout from an evil bank looking to forclose.....

Rouke's Harley from the flick

...by robbing the same bank.  These guys ain't exactly Dr. Mabuse when it comes to planning heists.  When they pull the job, they actually accidently snag a hallucinagenic drug you take optically (THE FUTURE!!! ) and run afoul of some of the bank's security agents...who wear bulletproof clothing (THE FUTURE!!!! ) .  Harley and Marlboro go on the run which leads to a climatic battle with an evil bank exec (played by Tom Sizemore) ripped off directly from ROBOCOP.  The tortured Marlboro along the way makes peace with his commitment issues and his past, and Harley goes on to be....uh, Harley, I guess.  The End.

Rouke and Johnson as Harley and Marlboro

Like I said...I'm a huge fan of this flick.  so much so, that a few years back, I ran across a jacket exactly like Rouke's from the film and purchased it.  I was broke for a week (it wasn't cheap)...but I was cool.  A legend in my own mind.  The kicker: I hardly wear the thing...for fear of blemishing it.  Such obsessive compulsive behavior runs in my family, I'm told.  If I could afford a bike like his....I'd sell my mother.  Anyways, highly reccommended for action fans and obsessive compulsives of all walks of life.

The current MGM "Movietime" DVD release