Barbara Peeters first conceived the idea for the film when, while working on Richard Compton's biker drama Angels Die Hard, supporting player Rita Murray told her she was looking to produce films of her own.[7][8]
Peeters invented the plot on the spot, and rush-wrote a first draft overnight to present to Murray and her investors days later.[9] She was given $90,000 to make the film. Peeters said she made the film for $60,000 and gave the balance back to the investors. "How stupid can you be?" she later laughed.[2]
Peeters had made films before but says this was her "first real movie that was mine."[2]
Beach Dickerson has a small role and helped produce the movie, which was shot on location in California. The script's original title was The Hunt.[10]
Peeters said she cast Peabody because "She was gorgeous she was six feet tall she was a biker."[2] The film also marked the first speaking role for Dan Haggerty.
Peeters included a scene where a head spewed blood because "it's a story about a girl who goes slowly insane while looking for her brother's killer. How could I make the audience understand what she's going through unless they are shocked in the same way she was."[11]
Peeters cast some real bikers with whom she had worked with on other biker movies.[2]
Release
Peeters received a distribution contract from Roger Corman for the movie and she worked for him for the next eight years.[2]
Corman said Peeters "did quite a good job" and thought "the film was notable because Barbara got a really beautiful girl to play the lead who was really striking on the motorcycle. We used her in the ads, in the trailers, and on TV dates."[12]
^Stalcup, Scott R. (March 2021). "Book Review: Hoodlum Movies, Seriality and the Outlaw Biker Film Cycle, 1966–1972. Peter Stanfield. Rutgers University Press, 2018". The Journal of American Culture. 44 (1): 67–68. doi:10.1111/jacc.13224. S2CID234842247.
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