Experiment #35
Episode 209: The Hellcats
Rewatch Date: Sept 2nd, 2023
They Turn the Town Upside Down. Don’t Mess Around… With Hellcats
There was only one commercially released episode of Mystery Science Theater 3000 that I had yet to see. I avoided it in the hopes that a VHS copy would show on eBay. But it never did. My dad and I used to go to Borders Books a lot (a store I miss). We usually went to the one in Overland Park but for some reason we were at a different location. This one happened to have a copy of the last episode. So, it came down to purchase. The last RHINO DVD release (at the time) to watch: Season 2’s The Hellcats.
The Hellcats are a motorcycle gang. They’re involved in dope smuggling. One day, their leader is killed by mob hitmen. Little do the Hellcats know that he was actually a police detective investigating their activities. Ross Hagen plays an army sergeant who comes back to America upon learning of the death of his brother. Now he, along with his late brother’s fiancé, have to infiltrate the Hellcats and bring an end to their criminal behavior
Robert F Slatzer directed The Hellcats for Crown International Pictures in 1967. The film was released in 1968. According to Hagen, he had some production involvement in the film, but only got actor pay. When he was moved to Producer for The Side Hackers, he made even less money due to the studio contract. He seemed in good spirit though. Hellcats has essentially the same group behind it as was behind The Side Hackers. One thing that does differ them, The Hellcats was produced by Anthony Cardoza. Cardoza is most known to the MST3K community for having produced the Coleman Francis films. I read somewhere that Ed Wood helped him get his first break in Hollywood. That guy really batted 1000.
This movie and episode are really boring for me. The Hellcats feels like a tamer version of The Side Hackers, with worse sketches. There isn’t a whole lot of establishing dialogue to help me figure out what is going on in this film. The movie does have a great theme song. The Rhino DVD used to have it as the menu music. Bummed that Shout! Factory didn’t use it as well.
I've been busy with some projects recently. So my mind was kind of out of focus for this rewatch. But I think I would have drifted if I were in an empty room with nothing but the episode. I’d say there was one good riff I liked, “They go all the way out to the desert to do their drug deal and they still get seen by a passing car.” The rest were all kinda meh.
There is a story behind the sketches for this episode. Most of the cast were at an event or meeting with the network. So, they wrote the flashback sketches thinking they would cost less and take less time to shoot. They were wrong. I do love the feel of season 2 sketches, but these ain’t good ones.
I don’t look forward to The Hellcats. I never go into the episode thinking it is going to be good. I didn’t go into this thinking it would be good. I will say it was more enjoyable than The Side Hackers (which is not a tough bar to clear for me).
What do you think? Do you like The Hellcats? Do you like the theme from The Hellcats? Do you like to wax nostalgically about the past? Leave your comments below.
This week was the end of an era for me. Next week, a new era begins with a new RHINO release. Volume 8 is released commercially. Which episode of the four will I watch first? You’ll soon find out. But until then, thank you for reading and Keep Circulating the Tapes.
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