Wild Hogs
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Wild Hogs | |
|---|---|
 Promotional movie poster for the film |
|
| Directed by | Walt Becker |
| Produced by | Kristin Burr Todd Lieberman Brian Robbins Amy Sayres Sharla Sumpter Michael Tollin |
| Written by | Brad Copeland |
| Starring | John Travolta Tim Allen Martin Lawrence William H. Macy |
| Cinematography | Robbie Greenberg |
| Editing by | Christopher Greenbury |
| Distributed by | Touchstone Pictures |
| Release date(s) | March 2, 2007 |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| All Movie Guide profile | |
| IMDb profile | |
Wild Hogs is a 2007 Biker Comedy film movie starring John Travolta, Tim Allen, Martin Lawrence, and William H. Macy. It was released nationwide in the United States and Canada on March 2, 2007. There was a special sneak peek in certain areas on February 24, 2007.
Contents |
[edit] Plot
Woody Stevens (John Travolta), Doug Madsen (Tim Allen), Bobby Davis (Martin Lawrence), and Dudley Frank (William H. Macy) are four successful middle-aged suburban men in Cincinnati who find themselves frustrated with the pace of daily life. Woody is a formerly rich businessman who now finds himself alone and bankrupt. Doug is a dentist who can’t connect with his son and misses his college glory days when he was called “The Golden Knight.” Bobby is a plumber who’s often bossed around by his wife. Dudley is a computer geek who seeks to find a woman in his life. Their one collective hobby has always been to ride together on motorcycles around the city. They even have leather jackets with their biker gang name, “Wild Hogs,” stitched on the back.
After Woody finds out that his marriage is ending in divorce and that he's bankrupt, he suggests that the Wild Hogs embark a cross-country road trip on their bikes to seek adventure. After some hesitation from the three others, the four agree to the trip and set off on their Harley Davidsons.
The road trip is filled with humorous moments. For example, when they cosily sleep close to each other, scantily dressed, a policeman (John C. McGinley) tells them this is lewd and lascivious behavior, but it turns out that he is only teasing: he is gay and actually jealous. Later the four go skinny dipping, but are very uncomfortable when a family goes swimming. When the family discovers that the four men are naked they feel very uncomfortable too and leave. The policeman appears again; he also undresses and joins the four men, showing sexual interest in them; this makes the four feel uncomfortable again, and now they leave.
The fun soon ends when the foursome stops at a small New Mexico bar and stumbles onto a real motorcycle gang called the Del Fuegos. Del Fuego leader Jack (Ray Liotta) tricks the foursome into a bum motorcycle trade, then tells them they should leave before something else bad happens. The Wild Hogs leave the bar without Dudley’s bike.
Less than a mile away, Woody stops, disgraced at what just transpired. He tells his friends that he will walk back and reason with Jack for the bike. But when Woody gets back to the bar, he builds up his courage and cuts the fuel lines to every gang member’s motorcycle in the parking lot before exiting with Dudley’s bike. He returns to his friends with the bike (to much astonishment) and explains that he simply threatened the gang with legal action should they not turn over the bike. At the nervous Woody’s request, they quickly leave the area. Jack orders his gang to follow the Wild Hogs, but when he errantly tosses a cigarette, it hits gasoline on the ground, which triggers a chain reaction that blows up the entire biker bar. The Del Fuegos swear revenge, getting to work on repairing their vehicles.
Meanwhile, because of Woody’s insistence that they should not stop for any reason, the Wild Hogs run out of gas and are forced to stop in the small town of Madrid, New Mexico, to wait overnight for the fuel station’s opening. The four are first mistaken for actual Del Fuegos and feared. Once the mistake is cleared up, the Madrid Sheriff (Stephen Tobolowsky) tells the Wild Hogs that the Del Fuegos terrorize the town and the small police force is unable to do anything about them.
At a chili festival that night, Dudley meets Maggie (Marisa Tomei) and immediately is smitten with her. As he courts her, Bobby comes across two Del Fuegos in town (who have spotted the Wild Hogs and informed Jack). Thinking himself untouchable, because of Woody’s previous “legal action” explanation, Bobby humiliates the two bikers. Under orders from Jack, the two Del Fuegos refuse to do anything, but instead get humiliated and simply leave the area. The town praises all the Wild Hogs as saviors, thinking them a friendly biker gang who can protect them.
Dudley spends the night with Maggie. The next morning, The Del Fuegos arrive en masse and Jack yells to the townspeople that his gang will slowly destroy the town until the Wild Hogs come out to fight. Woody reveals he lied about the biker bar incident and his friends are disappointed with his deceit. When the Del Fuegos start to wreck Maggie’s diner, Dudley goes out to meet them. The rest of the Wild Hogs arrive to back up Dudley and a four-on-four fistfight begins between four Del Fuego bikers and the Wild Hogs. Easily outmatched, the Wild Hogs are beaten up, but refuse to stay down and see the diner destroyed. With their dignity on the line, they continue to get up and take punch after punch, much to the amazement of Jack. Just then, the townspeople all arrive carrying makeshift weapons and defend their new friends; they demand the Del Fuegos leave the Wild Hogs alone and get out of town. The situation is defused by the arrival of Damien Blade (Peter Fonda), a legendary Southwest biker and founder of the Del Fuegos. Blade chastises Jack and the Del Fuegos for picking on four men and the townspeople (and we learn that Jack is actually Damien's son). The Del Fuegos, feeling guilty, leave. In a salute to Easy Rider, Blade tells the Wild Hogs that they need to "lose the watches," referring to the scene when, just before departing on their cross-country chopper-born odyssey, Wyatt (Fonda's character), takes off his watch and throws it in the dirt.
Bobby and Doug’s wives arrive in town. Bobby tells his wife that he dislikes her controlling him and the two reconcile. Doug impresses his son by telling him of the adventures. Dudley says he will return to town soon to enjoy time with Maggie. The four head for the Pacific coast.
During the closing credits, a fake episode of Extreme Makeover: Home Edition where the Del Fuegos are given a brand new bar is shown. Jack holds back tears unsuccessfully.
[edit] Box office
The film earned a surprising $40 million during its opening weekend. As of March 29th the film stands with a box office total of $125 million. [1].
[edit] MPAA rating
This film has received a PG-13 rating for crude content, and some violence.
[edit] Cast
- John Travolta - Woody Stevens
- Tim Allen - Doug Madsen
- Martin Lawrence - Bobby Davis
- William H. Macy - Dudley Frank
- Marisa Tomei - Maggie
- Ray Liotta - Jack
- John C. McGinley - Highway Patrolman
- Tichina Arnold - Karen Davis
- Shane Baumel - Toby
- Kevin Durand - Red
- M. C. Gainey - Murdock
- Jill Hennessy - Kelly Madsen
- Michael Hitchcock - Kent
- Billy Lockwood - Del Fuego
- Stephen Tobolowsky - Charley
- Drew Pinsky - Doctor
- Peter Fonda - Damien Blade, father to Jack (Blade)
[edit] Controversy
In March 2006, the Hells Angels sued the Walt Disney Company for allegedly engaging in trademark infringement. The lawsuit, filed in the U.S. District Court of California alleges that the film uses both the name and distinctive logo of the Hells Angels Motorcycle Corporation without permission.
[edit] Sequel
Director Walt Becker has reportedly expressed interest in a Wild Hogs 2 due to the success of the movie, which grossed about $40 million in its first weekend, far above expectations. Becker has stated that in the movie John Travolta's character would take interest in an underaged girl, and a complex Lolita-esque love story would take up most of the movie. Becker wants all of the original cast members (John Travolta, William H. Macy, Tim Allen, and Martin Lawrence) to return. During a recent interview at the annual ShoWest convention in Las Vegas, John Travolta said that crew members wanted to make the sequel centered in Europe. Travolta, who has a reputation for not liking sequels, said that it is a good possibility that he will return given that he reads the script first [2]. There is no word on when filming could begin. [3].
[edit] Trivia
- Opened at # 1 during its opening weekend in the U.S. earning $39.7 million.
- During the credits at the end of the movie, a mock clip of Extreme Makeover: Home Edition plays featuring Ty Pennington and the Del Fuegos. In it, the gang finally receives a home because they lived in a broken home, but "never really had a home".
- Peter Fonda portrays a character that is an obvious extension of Wyatt from Easy Rider.
- M. C. Gainey, who portrays Murdock, is popular for his character Tom on the TV show, Lost. In a nod to the series, Blade says to Jack, "Let it go, Jack", a line spoken by the character Christian to his son, Jack, on Lost.
- Paul Teutul, Sr. and Paul Teutul, Jr. from American Chopper appear briefly during the film. Paul Sr. is credited as "Paul," however, Paul Jr. is credited as "Mike," which also happens to be the name of his real life younger brother.
- The scene in the Del Fuegos bar when Woody was squinting was almost entirely improvised. The cast had done the scene a couple of times and would ad lib occasionally. One time John Travolta just started squinting in a Clint Eastwood impression. The other characters' reactions were real. They were expecting John to say his lines but kept going with it.
- Although the guys are portrayed as being suburbanites-turned-bikers from Cincinnati, Ohio, none of the filming in the movie actually took place in Cincinnati.
- In the early scene where Dudley loses control of his bike after parking, it is obvious from the distinctive road signs that they are filming in downtown Albuquerque
- The police officers that appear in the town of Madrid, say they got their firearms training from Doom the video game. The Sheriff later says "This is like the 12th level of Doom".
- During the scene where the Wild Hogs are disposing of their phones, part of the dialogue between Allen and Travolta references Allen's role as Buzz Lightyear in Toy Story.
