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The Loveless (1981)

Directed by Kathryn Bigelow (Near Dark) and Monty Montgomery

Remember Marlon Brando?  Remember Marilyn Monroe?  Remember rock 'n' roll and teenage rebellion?  Not since the days of James Dean has a film been made which properly evokes the frustration and anger of youth.

"Everybody looks cool and there's a lot of rockabilly on the soundtrack." - Michael J. Weldon, The Psychotronic Video Guide

"A sort of unholy collision of The Wild One, Kenneth Anger, and Two-Lane Blacktop." - Nathaniel Thompson, DVD Delirium

"If 50's nostalgia is something that interests you and you're okay with that being filtered through a unique eighties aesthetic, odds are pretty good that you'll enjoy this one." - Ian Jane, Rock! Shock! Pop!

The United States, late 1950s.  A time of generational conflict, of immense social change, of bold fashions and toe-tapping music - just some of the elements that collide in thrilling fashion in The Loveless, the feature debut of both its star Willem Dafoe (The Lighthouse), and its directors, Monty Montgomery (producer of David Lynch's Wild at Heart) and future Academy Award winner Kathryn Bigelow (Near Dark, Point Break).  

A motorcycle gang roars into a small southern town en route to the Daytona races, unnerving and angering the locals with their standoffish attitude and disrespect for social niceties.  When one of their number, the charismatic Vance (Dafoe), hooks up with sportscar-driving Telena (Marin Kanter, Endangered Species), he incurs the wrath of the girl's father, setting the gang on a collision course with the rest of the town as simmering tensions boil over into violent retribution.

Raw, angry and honest, The Loveless evokes with unflinching clarity, both an attitude and a bygone era, exploring the tensions between two very different Americas.  Sworn to fun... loyal to none.

Restoration courtesy of Arrow Films and the American Genre Film Archive.

Part of Reel Representation at FilmScene.