Hells Angels with Sandy Alexander

In February 1970, the Freex visit the garage of the Hells Angels to informally discuss American politics and motorcycle maintenance. In this video, David Cort leads an extensive interview with the group’s president, Sandy Alexander. A five-year veteran of the U.S. marine corps, Alexander emphasizes his commitment to supporting the troops fighting American wars abroad, while speaking adamantly about the Angels’ need to dismantle misconceptions of their group circulated by television and police. These misconceptions are further exacerbated by imitators who merely borrowed from the “look” of the group without subscribing to their philosophy of “love, loyalty, and dedication.” On this count, Cort and Alexander address the importance of community and education, consequences of the pervasive paranoia in the U.S., making reference to Big Brother and Orson Welles’s 1984, and the current status of the failing justice system in the U.S.

— Faye Gleisser