Wheels of Fire (film)

In a future in which war and cataclysm have destroyed society as we know it, the survivors scrape by and warriors, bandits, mutants, mercenaries, and thugs battle on the highways with people just trying to make lives for themselves caught in the middle. The only semblance of order is an organized militia called “The ownership” which seeks to peacefully convert scattered settlements to stable governments loyal to them through use of gasoline and protection as incentives. Trace is a wanderer who once worked for The Ownership but has since left that life for one on the highways. He makes a stop at a small outpost where his sister and former traveling companion Arlie is staying with her current boyfriend, Bo. Trace arrives just in time to witness a prize fight set up between Bo and a local gang member, with Bo having bet the keys to Arlie’s car against the gang members. The gang member switches places with a more menacing and capable accomplice before the fight begins and Bo is quickly outclassed and defeated. Trace jumps in to recover his sisters car keys and defeats the gang member. The crowd erupts into a melee and in the ensuing chaos The trio escape to their vehicles. Gang members give pursuit but Trace in his car and Arlie in hers are able to defeat them. Just as things seem safe, Trace notices a group of vehicles approaching in the distance and they are identified as a band led by a dangerous man called “Scourge.” After a brief argument, Arlie and Trace agree to split up and meet the next day 90 miles away. Before leaving Trace warns Arlie he does not trust her boyfriend, and Bo is just using her for whatever he can get. Most of Scourge’s men follow Trace, but some follow Arlie and Bo. Trace gets into a drawn out battle with the men who followed him and emerges victorious before heading on his way. Bo and Arlie stop to make out and are captured by scourages men. Bo betrays Arlie and asks to join the bandits. He is told he may, but only if he survives the initiation, and is then beaten and dragged behind a truck. Arlie is taken by scourge to be his sex slave. Trace shows up too late to stop it, but stops Bo being tortured. He questions Bo before shooting him. Back on the road trace sees a soaring bird of prey, and sees a commotion in the distance. He investigates and finds a mercenary being attacked and outnumbered by Scourge’s men. Her car is destroyed and there is no one left alive to question, but Trace and the mercenary are victorious. After a stand off in which she tries to steal his car, the mercenary introduces herself as “Stinger,” and tells him she is also looking for Scourge. She also calls to her the bird of prey Trace saw earlier and he realizes it is her trained bird. The two join forces and continue on. When Trace and Stinger stop for the night, Stinger wanders off and falls into an entrance used by “The Sand People,” a tribal society of subterranean dwelling cannibalistic mutated humans. Stinger meets a young woman named Spike, who was previously captured. Spike tells Stinger of their predicament, and explains that she can understand the sand people despite their strange language because Spike can read minds. Trace wakes and notices Stingers bird circling and Stinger gone. He follows the bird to find the entrance. Inside he saves the two women in the nick of time and they make an escape, in part due to the discovery the mutants fear fire. Stinger, Spike, and Trace leave together and find an Ownership fuel convoy that was attacked and left. It is being scavenged by cave man like humans in cloths carrying crude club like weapons. There is one survivor, a small man who speaks through babbling and hand signs. Spike user her mind reading to communicate and they discover that he is a “True believer,” part of a peaceful commune building a make shift Rocket they believe will take them from the plights of the Earth. Returning the man to his camp they are welcomed warmly and Spike is delighted by the people’s happy thoughts. In the camp the Ownership ambassador meets the group as well. He and Trace are old acquaintances. The ambassador tells Trace the convoy was a fuel supply for the Believers Rocket, and that the Ownership wishes to supply the fuel to gain allegiance from the believers. Trace is non pleased. He speaks with Stinger and discovers she is working for the Ownership to kill Scourge. The two fight, and then make love. Trace decides to leave to find his sister. Meanwhile, Scourge has decided to attack the True Believers camp as part of his plan to destroy the Ownership and ensure his personal philosophy is the only governing power. Scourge’s men attack and destroy the True believer camp, killing the leader of the believers, the Ownership Ambassador, and many others. Trace returns to find Stinger and the Ownership forces plotting a retaliatory strike on Scourge. Trace notices his sisters locket around the neck of one of Scourge’s dead men- taken from her after Scourge allowed his men to use Arlie as a sex slave as well. In a rage, Trace ignores Stingers requests for him to wait for the Ownership forces and a joint strike. Trace has Spike use the locket and her powers to find Arlie and Trace leaves alone to get her. He goes to Scourge’s fortress and finds Arlie, battered and traumatized by her ordeal. He is captured trying to rescue her however and is tainted by Scourge. Trace manages to escape with Arlie and the Ownership forces advance on Scourge. While escaping Trace sees Stingers bird and realizes that the Ownership is on the move, and heading straight into a trap set by Scourge that will wipe the entire force out in one blow. Trace has no way to earn the Ownership forces in time, and a firefight breaks out between Trace and Scourge’s men. Arlie rushes to detonate the trap early and save the Ownership forces. She is shot in the heart, but manages to push the detonator and the trap is disarmed. Scourge prepares for a battle and the Ownership forces advance and over power Scourge. His forces retreat to the fortress under fire. Trace follows Scourge, but Scourge manages to make it to his car and speed off. Trace takes Arlie’s car which was seized when she was Algiers and once again chases Scourge. Stinger leads the Ownership troops in claiming the fortress. Stinger is knocked from the fortress ramparts by Scourge’s second in command after she shoots him. Spike finds Stinger as she is dying and comforts her in her final moments. Trace crashes Arlie’s car into Scourge by jumping it of a cliff after exiting the vehicle and landing it on Scourge. Trace meets up with Spike who informs him of Stingers death. Trace gives Spike his sisters locket and leaves her to rebuild a better society before driving off in his own car into the wastes. We see Stingers bird soar overhead and the credits roll.

Roger Corman had money in the film. His former company, New World Pictures refused to distribute it, contributing to Corman suing New World.[1]

• Wheels of Fire at IMDb