Vicious Cycles - 1967

Added by JD - August 24, 2017 7:19 PM

The Vicious Cycles are a motorcycle gang. Or, at least, they sort of are: the gang members in this film don't actually ride motorcycles. Rather, they stand in a pose as if they were on motorcycles, then "ride down the road" using stop motion photography. Along the way, they meet a cute blonde trying to hitch a ride and also encounter a couple of other cycling clubs that get around the same way the Vicious Cycles do, including a group of meek scooter riders called the Mild Ones. Antics include the leader of the Vicious Cycles challenging the leader of the Mild Ones to a drag race -- the leader of the Mild Ones declines, so the Vicious Cycles "run them off the road" and cause a big crash.

The film features no dialogue. Instead, the story is communicated entirely thru facial expressions and gestures (for example, the Vicious Cycle gang leader challenges the leader of the Mild Ones to a race by poking the other guy in the nose, then pointing at himself, then pointing down the road toward the red light where the cute blonde stands ready to give the signal to start). This works better than actual lines would have and makes the whole thing quite a bit funnier than it would have been otherwise.