Easy Rider. Motorcycle Diaries. World’s Fastest Indian. These same old, usual films constantly appear to be consisted of in top 5 lists of moto flicks like some Groundhog Day problem with bikers instead of weathermen. And while we’ve certainly blogged about the bike from The Batman, or the bike from the current Bond film, there’s more, I inform you. A lot more! If you dig a little much deeper, you’ll discover some really excellent– and in some cases hilariously bad– big-screen cyclist moving images that’ll not just keep you entertained; they’ll also remind you simply why you enjoy to ride motorcycles in the first place.
And please reason the blatant Aussie bias in this list. As a Sydney bicycle rider born and reproduced, it’s in my veins. But there’s likewise the reality that as movie makers, we’re more than a little consumed with the outdoors, internal combustion and long journeys. It’s simply part of our psyche; or more accurately, it’s what the continent needs people. But fear not, there will be some international additions just to make certain nobody passes away of an unexpected outback overdose.
And for the Aussie readers here– yes you might well have seen a few of these flicks prior to; you can consider this a timely pointer to enjoy them again. So in no particular order, please get your popcorn and dim the lights. Here we go.
5. “Stone”– Australia, 1974
Image Via: YouTube
While simply as drug-addled, B-grade and dated as Easy Rider, Sandy Harbutt’s 1974 film “Stone” likewise handles to be a lot less experimental and eminently more engaging thanks in big part to the inclusion of a raft of approaching Aussie stars including Hugh “Toecutter” Keays-Byrne from Mad Max.
Shot around Sydney, it’s not only an incredible time pill of a city that’s been lost to history, however also of a lifestyle that (while enormously overblown in the movie’s portrayal) simply doesn’t or can’t exist in the modern-day world. The story revolves around a policeman who goes undercover with the Gravediggers Vietnam-vet outlaw motorcycle gang to learn who is attempting to eliminate their members “one by one”.
Image Via: DailyMotion
Pretty clear where Mad Max got its love of the Kawasaki Z 1000 from, yeah? That’s right, Stone did it first. And while there’s likewise the requirement sex, drugs and satan worhsip, Harbutt likewise deals with concerns around returned war vets, PTSD, the function of ladies in ’70s Australian culture, and even indigenous problems.
However let’s not over-egg this custard– this ain’t classicism. It’s a schlocky rollercoaster flight that was probably shot without licenses and certainly with no security officers, and it also includes one of the two all-time finest moto stunts ever captured on film– the other one appearing in the movie below.
Other fascinating little bits include Australian shock jock John Laws doing the trailer’s VO, the fact that the director also plays the role of the Undertaker, and the Sydney chapter of the Hells Angels helping out with the production. Can you picture that happening nowadays? Do examine it out.
4. “Mad Max”– Australia, 1979
Image Via: nsfa.gov.au
Okay, alright. I understand this isn’t strictly speaking an exclusively motorcycle movie and that it’s also not truly a surprise classic, however bear with me. See, I believe the majority of people would see it as a cars and truck chase film, suggesting it often gets overlooked in moto circles. And as a movie that I think has a few of the very best moto action ever exposed onto celluloid, that’s a huge oversight.
You’ll also notice that even in the most current instalment of the movie, motorcycles played significant roles both in their imaginative designs and the movie’s story. Simply put, the Mad Max franchise is among the most important series of bike movies ever made.
Plainly channelling Stone and another non-moto Aussie classic, excitingly entitled, “The Cars That Ate Paris” (see it here), it narrates the story of, “A self-destructing world, in which Max Rockatansky, a cruel Australian cop, sets out to stop a violent bike gang after they murder his better half and boy.” We’ve got the trailer listed below. Regretfully, just the US Release trailer seems to be readily available on YouTube. It still rocks, though.
Image Via: nsfa.gov.au
According to Quentin Tarantino, the movie single-handedly reworded the handbook on shooting chase scenes for both cars and trucks and bikes and became legendary in film production folklore by staging much of the stunts without any authorizations; they ‘d simply rock up to an unsuspecting back road, throw a couple of vehicles and bikes around, sweep up the damaged glass and radiator fluid, and after that piss straight off once again.
With my heart on my sleeve, I’ll inform you that this is among my all-time favourite movies which seeing it for the first time as a kid had a developmental result on me. Hell, it’s probably why I ride bikes today.
Fun truths: the famous “vehicle through the caravan” stunt at the start of the film saw the stunt men strap a Misconception Busters-style JATO rocket to the HQ Holden to liven things up. And kid oh boy, did it do its task well.
“Murray, the explosives specialist who developed the concept of the rocket car, is nostalgic about the science experiment that almost eliminated them, confessing he would not do the scene like that nowadays,” states Guardian Australia journalist Luke Buckmaster.
3. “The Leather Boys”– United Kingdom, 1964
Image Via: IMDB
Stop laughing up the back, you lot. Then again, you aren’t far off, either. See, while the title of this traditional Brit working-class, coffee shop racer drama might raise modern-day eyebrows with its homoerotic overtones that are painfully obvious to us modern-day types, it wouldn’t have been taken that method back in the far more naive and rainy Terrific Britain of the 1960s.
However the real reality is that the film did really deal with the topic of being queer around the now famous coffee shop racer scene in London in the late ’50s and early ’60s. How’s that for cutting edge, huh? A movie about motorcyclists that likewise blatantly broke the Hollywood Production Code, too. Rebels with a cause, much?
And while the cooking area sink drama element does greatly outweigh the sweet Triumph motorcycles and Nortons in the movie, this is a genuine classic that has actually stood the test of time.
Image Via: IMDB
But putting on my moto glasses for a second, just how amazing is it that we have a movie made right in the heart of the coffee shop racer period that captures the phenomena in such amazing information? It’s like having a film shot at the Hollister riots or at the Los Angeles Motordrome at the height of the Boardtrack racing era.
Provided an X ranking at the time due to its “questionable” content, the movie informs the story of “An immature teen [who] marries a young bicycle rider however ends up being disenchanted with the truths of working class marriage and her husband’s relationship with his best friend.”
Places utilized for the film include the legendary Ace Cafe in its heyday and a textbook and gloomy early 1960s London. Additionals used in the movie included regional coffee shop racers and the Ace Coffee shop crowd, too. In other words, if you enjoy coffee shop racers and you haven’t seen this movie, you’re truly missing out.
2. “The Wild Angels”– America, 1966
Image Via: The Vintagent
Plainly a model Easy Rider of sorts, this 1966 film sits squarely in between Marlon Brando’s “The Wild One” from 1953 and 1969’s Easy Rider, brimming with Peter Fonda ahead role, together with the uber popular Nancy Sinatra and Father of Jurassic Park’s Laura Dern, Bruce. Likewise quite motivated by the rise in appeal of the Hells Angels, thanks in no little part to Hunter S. Thompson’s book of the very same name, director Roger Corman utilized real club members as extras while also ensuring that all the stars cast for the film might ride bikes to up the realism.
The story follows “The ‘Angels’, a San Pedro bike gang that parties in the Coachella Valley’s Palm Springs Indian Canyons, California, and wreaks havoc with the regional authorities.” Essentially one long build-up to the story’s climatic last celebration in which a funeral is held for (not spoiling any paper thin plots here) among the movie’s main characters.
Image Via: The Vintagent
Musically popular for its, “Just what is it that you wish to do?” quote as tested by British band Primal Scream, it’s also a great brochure of proper 1%-er bikes of the mid ’60s. Or as Fonda himself put it about his “Dragon” bike he rode in the movie:
“In some ways, the Dragon is even more of a bicycle rider’s bike; it’s the granddaddy of all choppers and it cemented my function as the initial, in chopper history. The bike was developed from the ground up to ride. It manages pretty well, feels comfy, has great power, and you hardly ever run over lil’ kids on tricycles.”
Being a Roger Corman movie, it’s exploitation par excellence– and in my book an even more enjoyable movie to see than its more youthful brother or sister, Easy Rider. You can see the complete thing here.
1. “Silver Dream Racer”– United Kingdom, 1980
Image Via: IMDB.com
One of those “let’s shoot at an actual, real life occasion so we do not have to invest too much cash on extras” motion pictures ala James Garner’s Grand Prix, the motion picture stars UK pop star David Essex and a very Liv Tyler-looking Cristina Raines in a traditional underdog-with-untested-idea-beats-the-big-boys-after-a-series-of-heartbreaking-setbacks type affair. Just like many films of this category, the reason to enjoy the motion picture is mainly to do with the quality racing (consisting of Brands Hatch, Donington Park, and the popular Silverstone circuit) and the duration hardware on display.
Many unexpected is the fact that the bike at the centre of the story is a genuine racer developed in North Wales by Barry Hart and his Barton Motors, and named the “Phoenix”. And while some reports recommend that the bike wasn’t near to being competitive back in the day, I need to say that its looks were quite ahead of the video game when you compare and contrast it to the other “real” bikes in the movie. Hell, from some angles, it almost looks like a ’90s bike.
Image Via: IMDB.com
WIth a bunch of Americans also cast in a clear attempt to expand the movie’s international appeal, you’ll likewise see Beau Bridges (bro of Jeff Bridges) and a raft of usual suspect British Actors attempting to make ends satisfy between stints in West End Shakespeare gigs. Any grownup who matured seeing British television of the ’80s will acknowledge a whole slew of ’em in there; even Physician’s Who’s assistant Sarah-Jane Smith makes a look.
A quick look at Rotten Tomatoes will prove that it’s not the world’s best motion picture by any stretch of the imagination, however for those people who get all hot and troubled by historic moto racing video footage (that suggests you, dear readers) then I ‘d suggest that there’s no finer record of late ’70s British GP racing than this great way to invest an hour or more with some beers and a few mates. You can see the complete movie here.
Source: https://www.webbikeworld.com/top-5-motorcycle-movies-youve-never-seen/