Produced by Dan Halperin and Scott JT Frank;
Directed/ Written by Detdrich McClure; Camera by David Morrison;
Edited by David Lindblom; Production Design by Rando Schmook;
Sound Design by Steve Hunter Flick, Chip Albers and Peter Brown.
With: Glenn Plummer, Chris Spencer, J. Lamont Pope.
Running time: 90 MIN.
This contempo take on "Easy Rider" might have been dubbed
"Boyz on the Road." There's a restless bravura
to Detdrich McClure's "Road Dogs," a story about two
African-American men who leave their violent past behind them
on a motorcycle odyssey but find that their past follows them
wherever they go.
Just out of jail, Panther (Glenn Plummer) is an ex-gang member
who thinks he'll be able to go straight if he can only leave LA.
His devoted sidekick Ray (Chris Spencer) wants to be just like
him, so together they embark on a journey across the country that
leads to various misadventures. They pick up "College
Boy" (J. Lamont Pope), a hitchhiking film student who's led
a sheltered life. They encounter racism in the South. And
in the film's most inspired, unexpectedly funny bit, they meet
a couple of smack-talking, small-town white girls who fancy themselves
rappers. Though dangerous episodes punctuate their journey,
the film is not so much a celebration of violence as it is a fast-moving,
enjoyable road movie.