Let me introduce you to the movie Without Love (The Loveless) of 1981. The second role of Willem Dafoe, his first major, and at the same time the first film in which he is mentioned in the credits. In addition to Willem Dafoe, it is also worth mentioning that in the film one of the roles is given to Robert Gordon, a neo-rockabilly musician, who, of course, took part in the recording of the soundtrack.
Which led to the fact that most of the critics liked the soundtrack, but did not like the movie. At least, that’s what the English Wikipedia says. Personally, I liked the movie, despite the fact that the movie is by no means Hollywood in scope. No, this is an independent movie, indie, and everything in it fully corresponds to this definition. And, nevertheless, it seems to me that this is one of the best representatives of biker films with a leisurely narration from nowhere to nowhere, a la road movie. And a considerable part of the action takes place on the road.
This movie is often compared to The Wild One 53-year-old – well, well, let’s do the same. On the one hand, the films are similar, but on the other hand, they are still very different. They are mostly similar in their general background: bikers travel from one city to another and make a stop somewhere between two points. This is where most of the coincidences actually end. The Wild One has a much stricter narrative with a slightly different message. Without Love, the picture is much more vague, but more cruel and liberated. The difference is visible in the very first scenes: it immediately becomes clear that almost thirty years have passed since The Wild One and the principles of submission from the director to the viewer have changed somewhat.
And if in The Wild One a small town, which was unlucky enough to be on the biker route, is presented to the viewer as something pure and innocent, then in Loveless the American hinterland is shown by that ass. And the way of life of the protagonist, accordingly, seems to be quite an adequate alternative to vegetating in some very lousy wilderness in all respects. Plus a love line: in The Wild One, emphasis is placed on it, and in Without Love, the hero Defoe is more interested in the cherry Vette C1 than its owner. By the way, since we are talking about cars, we should definitely mention the luxurious Harley-Davidson Hydra Glide, owned by the protagonist. And, in general, more time is given to iron horses here than in The Wild One.
As mentioned at the very beginning, one of the roles was given to Robert Gordon, and he wrote a certain amount of music for this film. It’s impossible not to share this, so here’s a link to all four Robert Gordon songs present in the film, as well as to the delightful title theme, which I love to put in my playlist side by side with the Stray Cat Strut track:
Eddy Dixon – Relentless
So rockabilly fans are invited to see one of the iconic musicians. Fans of Defoe – on Defoe, because if you haven’t seen it yet, then here it is: the first main role of a wonderful actor. In case you watched The Wild One specifically and want something similar, I also definitely recommend this movie. At the same time, Without Love is absolutely peculiar, and even though I constantly compare it with the 53-year-old movie, Loveless is an absolutely independent work, and with Wild One he has in common only an idea involved in plotting and world building. And if you just love movies about bikers and briolinschiks, then this is undoubtedly your film, demonstrating the romance of the road, small towns and fleeting encounters… albeit in very dark colors.
In fact, it’s very useful that you mentioned the Stray Cats here, because it was Robert Gordon who advised the guys to leave the States for England, where the Rockabilly Revival wave began and the music of the 50s was very popular again.
Damn, that’s interesting information. I really couldn’t find anyone on the Internet who advised the Vagrants to go to Britain, it’s a pity…