Word About Biehn

To put it kindly, Hog Wild is a disappointment. Though I lay no claim to having much experience with teen flicks of its ilk, even I have seen better ones. (James Spader's Tuff Turf, which has a similar storyline, comes to mind.) However, Hog Wild is one of Michael's first starring vehicles, and he certainly cannot be faulted for taking the opportunity to have his name appear above the title.

The film's plot, such as it is, has to do with a bunch of high school biker thugs terrorizing the normal students, apparently with no effort by any responsible party to control their egregious behavior. Into this free-for-all walks Tim Warner (Michael), who makes an on-again off-again stand against the boorish miscreants. He also falls at first sight for Angie, the leader's girl (though one must wonder what he sees in a woman who panders to someone called Bull, whose behavior fits his name, and who mumbles so unintelligibly that he needs an interpreter). Angie remains stubbornly blind to Tim's charms until the two of them fall into a vat of honey together. At last realizing she's stuck on Tim, Angie gives Bull the ol' heave ho, setting the stage for the two rivals to duke it out in a motorcycle race, which as presented turns out to be a fizzle of a contest. When they both lose to the prime doofus of the movie, they are overcome by the hilarity of the situation and bury the hatchet in laughter.

Clicking neither as drama nor comedy, Hog Wild is a slapdash effort fraught with problems. Its plot is limp, characterization is minimal, and both its good guys and its bad ones are more buffoon-ish than believable. The "teenage" high school students look as though they're pushing 30 (35?), and what few authority figures there are (I think I counted a grand total of three) are totally inept. Finally, the pacing is uneven, building next to no tension to involve the viewer.

As a young actor stuck in a poor production, Michael didn't yet have enough experience or savoir-faire to be able to overcome the handicaps of bad writing, poor directing and working with a cast as inexperienced as he was. Consequently it's not surprising that his performance is a mixed one. His line delivery is at times stilted, and though he does make Tim a likable fellow, his ability to immerse himself in a character is still to be developed. Nevertheless, even in this early effort, Michael's appealing screen presence is evident, and those twenty-something good looks are very easy on the eyes.

Note of interest: Look for a young Matt Craven among the biker gang. He and Michael would work together again in K2 and Breach Of Trust.