Quentin Tarantino continues to dig up his childhood idols to give them another shot at glory. This time it’s Larry Bishop, son of Joey and somewhat infamous for a string of exploitation biker flicks in the 60s & 70s. Bishop writes, directs and stars in "Hell Ride," a cheerfully uninhibited throwback to a long-dead genre. As such, how much one enjoys this picture depends largely whether or not you share the same infatuation with 70's sleaze as Tarantino does.

Bishop stars as the leader of a biker gang out to avenge the death of one of their own, as well as keeping a buried safe deposit box out of the hands of his rivals, led by psycho Vinnie Jones, who favors dispatching his enemies with arrows. Along the way, Bishop has sex, fights, has sex, philosophizes, has sex, rides the open road, has sex, gets shitfaced, has sex, kills people, and has sex. Along for the ride are Michael Madsen as The Gent, who rides his hog wearing ruffled shirts, and Eric Balfour as a young biker who has good reason for wanting to help Bishop get even.

The film is an unapologetic throwback to the 60s-70s biker genre, only with a massive body count (not to mention an even higher boob count). The plot itself is redundant (and nearly incomprehensible during the first half-hour), mostly just an excuse to load the thing with graphic sex, gunfights and endless scenes of these guys motoring down the highway. I suppose comparisons to "Grindhouse" are inevitable. In fact, "Hell Ride" plays much like a lost third chapter of that film. Bishop seems as inspired by Tarantino as Tarantino is of him. But while "Grindhouse" is an homage to exploitation sleaze, "Hell Ride" more or less plays it straight, which often works against it. Some of eye-rolling dialogue unintentionally funny, and though writer/director/star Bishop may be idolized by genre lovers, it’s been forty years since his heyday, and watching countless hot young women throw themselves at an old man is a little creepy. Still, it’s mostly watchable, if not forgettable, and the cast seems to be having a great time, especially Madsen & Dennis Hopper, the latter of whom steals every scene he’s in.