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The 10 Best Motorcycle Movies to Watch After ‘The Bikeriders’

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5 months ago

June 22, 2024

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The 10 Best Motorcycle Movies to Watch After ‘The Bikeriders’

The story of the motorcycle rider is one that has fascinated filmmakers and cinema goers alike for over half a century, most recently in Jeff Nichols’ love letter to the 1960s heyday of biker clubs, “The Bikeriders.” Like the photobook by Danny Lyon that inspired it, the film is a series of snapshots of life as a rider and the violence and destruction that often come as a result of this lifestyle, even if the clubs these riders belong to initially just set out to support each other.

“The club starts off as a mutual love and admiration for riding,” said “Bikeriders” star Jodie Comer in a recent interview with IndieWire, “but over time becomes dark and criminal and violent.”

It’s a narrative featured in a lot of films showcasing the world on two wheels, where motorcycle riders are viewed as vandals and terrorists who want nothing more than to upend the traditional way of life. Tied to these films is an examination of masculinity itself and how the threat of someone tougher than you can often breed harsh reactions.

“Because she is on the periphery and she’s a woman, she can see what these men are avoiding and not facing and the danger they’re putting themselves in for the sake of appearing a certain way,” Comer said to IndieWire.

This feminine perspective on such a rough, manly world sets “The Bikeriders” apart from other biker films, even though it directly draws on classics like “The Wild One” for its narrative engine. In the film, viewing the Marlon Brando vehicle ultimately leads Tom Hardy’s character Johnny to creating his own club, which draws in the loyalty and hostility of Austin Butler’s character, Benny. Comer, Hardy, and Butler evoke an almost “Challengers”-like dynamic throughout the film, with both Comer and Hardy vying for Butler’s soul.

But the bad boy image of the motorcycle rider isn’t the only one committed to the screen. In honor of this weekend’s release of “The Bikeriders,” IndieWire has compiled a list of the best motorcycle movies, some of which revel in rebellion, and others that, instead, dissect that desire. Check out the list below.

‘The Wild One’ (dir. László Benedek, 1953)

Image Credit: Courtesy Everett Collection

What many consider the first in what would become the outlaw biker genre, ‘The Wild One’ plays almost like a classic western, with rider Johnny Strabler driving into town with his gang, not looking for trouble, but willing to make some if crossed. Unfortunately, that’s exactly what happens when another gang that’s split off from Johnny’s rides in, creating a real ‘this-town-isn’t-big-enough-for-two’ vibe. Following his breakout in ‘A Streetcar Named Desire’ and preceding ‘On the Waterfront,’ Marlon Brando’s performance as Johnny would come to define a generation of brooding badasses, as exhibited by Tom Hardy’s character in ‘The Bikeriders.’
‘The Wild Angels’ (dir. Roger Corman, 1966)

Image Credit: Courtesy Everett Collection

Though ‘The Wild One’ stands as the template biker film on this list, ‘The Wild Angels’ should be more recognized for popularizing the outlaw anti-hero. Starring Peter Fonda in what would be only his first pairing with a Harley Davidson, the film serves as both an exploitation piece filled with sex, drugs, and violence and an in-depth exploration of the ‘60s counterculture around motorcycle gangs. Bruce Dern is also featured as Fonda’s best friend, with then wife Diane Ladd playing his girlfriend, both of them facing tragic consequences for their proclivities and urge for freedom. In true Corman fashion, he also cast some members of the Hells Angels and Coffin Cheaters motorcycle clubs for authenticity.
‘Easy Rider’ (dir. Dennis Hopper, 1969)

Image Credit: Courtesy Everett Collection

Earning $60 million on only a budget of around $400,000 — provided by Roger Corman and his American Independent Pictures — ‘Easy Rider’ swung open the door for New Hollywood, giving filmmakers the ability to take the reins of the process and shunning studios who’d lost the sense of what audiences wanted. Following bikers and drug mules Wyatt (Peter Fonda) and Billy (Dennis Hopper) as they travel the American Southwest and South with their winnings from a recent cocaine run, the film embraced the beauty of the counterculture with scenes of ‘free love’ and psychedelic trips, but also with a lost sense of naivety that makes the culmination of Wyatt and Billy’s ride all the more tragic.
‘On Any Sunday’ (dir. Bruce Brown, 1971)

Image Credit: Everett Collection / Everett Collection

Nominated for Best Documentary Feature at the 1972 Academy Awards, “On Any Sunday” unveils the world of motocross sport with slowed-down, hi-speed inventiveness and nuanced human examinations. Produced by and featuring Steve McQueen, the film also showcased lesser known riders like Malcolm Smith and David Aldana, unveiling the different types of personalities each form of racing, whether it be motocross or desert or riding at a national level, attracts. While previous pieces of cinema, such as ‘The Wild One,’ had depicted motorcycle riders as the ‘bad guy,’ ‘On Any Sunday’ helped change people’s perceptions of these leather-clad daredevils.
‘The Loveless’ (dir. Kathryn Bigelow and Monty Montgomery, 1981)

Image Credit: Atlantic Releasing, Kathryn Bigelow and Monty Montgomery

The feature directorial debut of both Bigelow and Montgomery, the film contains some definite homages to ‘The Wild One’ with most of the action surrounding the presence of a motorcycle gang in a 1950s town that doesn’t want them, but also harkens back to the ‘60s exploitation era with brash outbursts of violence and mayhem. ‘The Loveless’ also sees Willem Dafoe in his first starring role as Johnny Strabler stand-in Vance, who plays more of a witness to the chaos unleashed by his gang’s presence than an actual active participant. In truth, what ‘The Loveless’ contributes to the biker film genre is that often, the presence of the outlaw becomes an excuse for ‘normal, law-abiding folk’ to release their inner monster.
‘Akira’ (dir. Katsuhiro Otomo, 1988)

Image Credit: Toho/Katsuhiro Otomo

Based on the popular 1982 manga of the same name, ‘Akira’ is a one-of-a-kind anime and considered by many to be one of the greatest films ever made. The ‘Akira’ slide move alone, featured in the image above, has gone on to inspire filmmakers like The Wachowskis, Quentin Tarantino, Jordan Peele, and Christopher Nolan. Garnering a cult following from home video sales, ‘Akira’ helped popularize the cyberpunk genre as well as the concept of adult animation. As with many great biker stories, it tells the story of two friends in the same gang who are torn apart after one experiences an accident. Where it shifts from the traditional outlaw biker film narrative is that this story is set in a dystopian Neo-Tokyo and the accident grants the victim telekinetic powers that come to threaten the entire city. It’s a pulpy masterpiece for sure, but one hell of a ride.
‘Roadside Prophets’ (dir. Abbe Wool, 1992)

Image Credit: ©New Line Cinema

A road movie in the sense of ‘Into the Wild,’ where it’s largely populated by random connections taking place as two riders take to the road on separate missions, together, ‘Roadside Prophets’ clearly wants to do what ‘Easy Rider’ did in showcasing the counterculture of the 1960s, just with the slightly weirder counterculture of the 1990s. Starring John Doe of the L.A. punk band X and Adam Horovitz of The Beastie Boys, the film also features cameos from Flea, Timothy Leary, David Carradine, and Arlo Guthrie, as well as a scene with John Cusack featuring perhaps his wildest performance. While it may not feel as impactful as ‘Easy Rider,’ it does bring its own commentary to the biker genre, mocking the self-seriousness and woebegone wisdom associated with motorcyclists.
‘The Motorcycle Diaries’ (dir. Walter Salles, 2004)

Image Credit: ©Focus Films/Courtesy Everett Collection

Many will see this addition as a stretch in relation to Nichols’ ‘The Bikeriders’ or biker movies in general, perhaps for the fact that the eponymous motorcycle, dubbed La Poderosa (The Mighty One) by Ernesto ‘Che’ Guevara and his friend Albert Granado, doesn’t even make it through most of the journey through South America that its lead characters set out to take at the beginning of the film. And yet, ‘The Motorcycle Diaries’ remains on this list for how Ernesto and Albert come to take on what the machinery represents for many. A sense of freedom, adventure, and radicalism that gives way to a new sense of thinking and being.
‘12 O’Clock Boys’ (dir. Lofty Nathan, 2013)

Image Credit: Oscilloscope Laboratories

There’s certainly a bit of exploitation abound in this minimized vision of Baltimore dirt bikers and the young boys who romanticize them, but the reality Lofty Nathan looks for in his documentary is one of simplicity. At its core, ‘12 O’Clock Boys’ is the story of a young Black boy who sees a dirt bike as his way into a community. While the film doesn’t dive into the nuances of the misunderstood 12 O’Clock Boyz riding group, it allows their presence to serve as inspiration for the boy, who, as Nathan films it, has little else to be inspired by within his actual community. What’s fascinating about this documentary, in relation to films like ‘The Wild One’ and ‘The Bikeriders,’ is in how it shows the birth of a rebel at such a young age, when the sense of what rebellion even is still seems so abstract, like every act could be considered such.