Inspired by a photograph of a biker’s funeral in Life magazine, Corman set to work on a controversial 'youth' film for AIP, detailing the depraved exploits of a gang of Hell’s Angels. The Wild Angels – originally titled All the Fallen Angels until Jack Nicholson came up with a better suggestion – saw Corman taking a brave, almost 'method' approach to his directing, an experiment he would later continue with The Trip. Visiting various biker bars and clubs in LA – and immersing himself in the dangerous world of his subjects – provided Corman with both an inside perspective of the 'outsider' lifestyle and endlessly colourful material and characters with which to invest the script. Having masterfully negotiated an arduous shoot – with a script revised by Peter Bogdanovich and authenticated by prominent Angel 'Big Otto' – Corman delivered the shocking story of Heavenly Blue (Peter Fonda) and his raucous gang of outlaw bikers, as they hit the road in search of a stolen motorcycle and ride straight into a head-on collision with society. Recognising his own position as a maverick filmmaker reflected in their antiestablishment image, Corman developed an affinity with the bikers (whom he saw as “modern day cowboys”) that would prove vital to the finished product. He has since stated: “The Angels were an intriguing social phenomenon, and I wanted to tell it like it was." He also invited a number of the Angels he met to appear in the film, hiring their bikes from them separately for an additional fee. These would later prove to be problematic arrangements, with the volatile bikers refusing to observe the schedule, their presence causing filming to be interrupted by the police and their ageing motorcycles continually requiring maintenance. With black leather-clad Fonda roaring across the screen to the groovy hard rock of Blue’s Theme by Dave Allen & The Arrows, Corman steered The Wild Angels – which would become AIP’s biggest hit yet – into competition at the 1966 Venice Film Festival, and established his mutually crucial connection with the counter-culture audience of the time.