I'd heard of the film THE LOVELESS years ago but not about its two directors at the time. One, Monty Montgomery, went on to work with David Lynch and did most of his work as a producer. The other was Kathryn Bigelow who went on to do films like NEAR DARK, POINT BREAK and THE HURT LOCKER. Which was more responsible for the way this film turned out we may never know but the film, while not a box office success, has garnered a cult following over the years.

Taking place in the late 50s Willem Dafoe is featured in his first leading role stars as Vance, a greaser on the road heading to Daytona and stopping in a backwoods small town to wait for his friends. Slicked back hair and black leather jacket over a sleeveless white T-shirt his mere appearance informs the viewer that this is a loner, a non-conformist with a chip on his shoulder. He's one of the one percenters before the term was widely known.

The reaction of the townsfolk to Vance is overtly stereotypical. He's trouble and they don't like him, to the point where the owner of the diner almost doesn't allow her waitress to serve him. What we as viewers notice though is that he's law abiding and doesn't cause trouble. He pays for everything he orders or buys throughout the film.

When his friends show one of them is having problems with his motorcycle. The group goes down the road to the local gas station and rents the garage for the night to work on the bike. Through the various customers that come through the station we get a glimpse of the townspeople and their reactions to the group. Once more through their appearance and behavior we get the idea that this is a motorcycle gang but not the typical sort. These men met in prison or on the road and are simply traveling together.

One of the townspeople that stops by is Telena (Marin Kanter), a young girl driving a sports car and someone you know is more likely to inspire trouble rather than walk away from it. Vance asks to drive her car and the pair head out down the road where she tells him her story. Her mother committed suicide and her father gave her the car out of guilt. They pick up beer and whiskey for the gang, drop it off and head to a hotel together.

The sound of gunshots outside and the bursting of their room door has Telena's father grabbing her and taking her out as she yells that she Vance didn't do anything her father hadn't done to her before. It's a troubling scene to think about and one that leaves Vance pondering what she meant.

Things come full circle as that night the gang heads to the local bar to hang out. Telena's father Tarver (J. Don Ferguson) is there and trying to start problems calling the gang members Communists. He has plans for them all and before the night is over things will indeed happen.

While all of this sounds like plenty to work with the film is actually one of the slowest moving pictures I've seen in some time. I don't mean that in a bad way either. It just takes time to build up speed and the highest point of that speedometer isn't all that fast. As Vance says at one point they're going "nowhere fast". There are no fast movements here, no bar room brawls and no drag races to be seen. And yet there is violence and deep emotion on display here.

Dafoe shows here in his earliest lead why he's such a sought after actor to this day. He never gives a bad performance that I've seen. As his sidekick Davis rockabilly singer Robert Gordon does an admirable jobs and comes off quite believable. He should have pursued a career in acting. Kanter does a great job here too making the sweet young possible teen who seems innocent actually something much more troubled than one would expect. Combined with the experimental feeling of the cinematography and direction it makes of an interesting film.

Do I really have to say after the praise I heap on all of their releases how great a job Arrow Video has done here? They start out with a brand new 2K restoration from the original camera negative, approved by co-writer/co-director Monty Montgomery and director of photography Doyle Smith. Then there are their usual set of great extras. Those include a new audio commentary track with Montgomery moderated by Elijah Drenner, "No Man's Friend Today: Making The Loveless" a look at the film with interviews Dafoe, Kanter, Gordon, Phillip Kimbrough and Lawrence Matarese, "U.S. 17: Shooting The Loveless" a new interview with producers Grafton Nunes and A. Kitman Ho, "Chrome and Hot Leather: The Look of The Loveless" new interviews with production designer Lilly Kilvert and director of photography Doyle Smith, "Relentless" a new interview with musician Eddy Dixon, an extensive image gallery, the theatrical trailer, a reversible sleeve with original and newly commissioned artwork by Gilles Vranckx and with the first pressing only an illustrated collector's booklet featuring new writing on the film by Peter Stanfield.

Before director Kathryn Bigelow became widely recognizable with her later effort in 1987's NEAR DARK, 1991's POINT BREAK, 1995's STRANGE DAYS and of course, right down to 2009's Oscar-winning war drama THE HURT LOCKER, she made her first feature debut in a low-budget independent drama called THE LOVELESS when she was still studying in NYC as a film student. THE LOVELESS is a stylized and eccentric genre movie that pays homage to 1950s biker movies (notably Marlon Brando's THE WILD ONE) with art-house sensibility. This movie is also notable as Willem Dafoe's first lead role.

Set in 1950s, the story centers on Vance (Dafoe), a leather-clad biker who rides into a small Southern town where he supposes to meet up with his fellow motorcycle gang at a cafe somewhere at Highway 17. Their plan is to head over to Daytona Beach for the races, but they forced to postpone for a while when one of their motorcycles breaks down. While waiting the broken motorcycle to get fixed in a nearby garage, Vance and his motorcycle gang hang around at the cafe. Along the process, Vance flirts a bit with a widowed waitress named Augusta (Liz Gans). She also hooks up with Telena (Marin Kanter), the rebellious teenage daughter of a psychotic father, Tarver (J. Don Ferguson).

THE LOVELESS is also co-directed by Monty Montgomery, who is best known for producing David Lynch's WILD AT HEART (1990). Both he and Bigelow favors a lot in fetishism (mostly close-up on leather outfit, motorcycle, chrome) that it's quite mesmerizing to watch their stylized eroticization of a '50s biker culture. Somewhere in between, you can also see Bigelow's earlier attempt in lurid direction that will later becoming one of her trademarks in her subsequent movies. Despite its low-budget standard, the visual is adequate enough for this kind of genre, while Robert Gordon's (who also appeared as an actor here, playing one of Vance's motorcycle gang member named Davis) rock soundtrack is a standout. As for Willem Dafoe, he made quite an impression playing a stoic lead character.

But most of the movie is a disappointment. Despite clocking at a brief 82 minutes, the movie can be excruciatingly tough to sit through. The pace is deliberately slow to a crawl, especially in the long-winded first hour. Here, the movie lingers in a circle as we watch the characters sit around and talk about nothing in particular. Other times we see them stare silently into space, waiting for something to happen, and all the mundane tasks that goes on and on. The purposefully-stylized dialogues, which meant to be cool, are mostly borderline into self-parody. Meanwhile, the sudden burst of violence that occurs in the final act, fails to deliver any would-be shocking impact.

Suffice to say, THE LOVELESS isn't much of a recommended effort, other than those who always curious to see how Bigelow and Dafoe get started during their early careers.

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