Mrs Zip and the kids are gone this weekend, so I’ve busted out all my Bike movies to watch this weekend while I work.
Here’s my top 10 biker movies of all time.
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- Easy Rider (1969) – Hands down the most influential movie in how I ride and what I like about riding. It needs no introduction or explanation. I must love it enough, much of this blog is dedicated to the movie. A must own.
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- World’s Fastest Indian (2005) – I’ll never get sick of this movie. 67 year old Burt Munro was the real deal, and the movie was made by the person who documented him when he was alive 40 years earlier. My attitude about biking is reflected in the line of the movie where the doctor tells Burt “unfortunately your motorcycling days are over” and he responds “like hell they are…”
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- Sons of Anarchy (series 2008 – present) – Not technically a movie, but a great TV series. Love the story lines, love the characters, and love the bikes. Can’t wait for season 2
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- Then Came Bronson (movie and series – 1969 – 1970) – there’s some days, I wished I was Jim Bronson. Travelling from town to town, living off my wits and riding wherever the wind blew me. Worth watching over and over.
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- Electra Glide in Blue (1973) – Story of a good cop in a world of bad ones. Great movie. Robert Blake and the photography is great, and the scenery is stuff I ride all the time. Stands on its own as a good movie, but add in motorcycles and its even better. The one negative I can say is that prick-cop named “zip”. He’s no Zip.
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- Hells angels on wheels (1967) – Actually, really a pretty decent low budget movie for its time. Sonny Barger is in some of the opening scenes, and Jack Nicholson starts to show his intensity as an actor. A pretty watered down glimpse of the Hells Angels, but I’m sure shocking for it’s time. Movies like this fueled the image of Motorcyclists that harley moco makes so much money on now. I actually quite like this movie.
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- Viva Knevel (1977) – When I was a kid, my principle told the school to be happy who they were. That they did not want to be anyone else. I raised my hand obnoxiously and told him that I in fact wanted to be Evel Knevel. I wasn’t lying. Not a great movie to be honest, and Evel was a terrible actor, but he was an American Original and was another big influence on me when I was young.
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- The motorcycle diaries (2004) – True story of Ernesto Che’ Guevara and his motorcycle trip with a friend across south America. I’m no fan of Che’ Guevara, but it’s an interesting movie of touring on an old motorcycle.
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- Wild Angels (1966) – Peter Fonda plays the leader of the hells angels in venice CA, and Bruce Dern plays his good buddy “loser”. the cheese stands on its own, but the music accelerates it. It’s good because its a 60’s period piece, has Peter Fonda and really cool bikes. Worth watching a couple of times. Just trip out on the bikes, the clothes and the roads.
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- Rebel Rousers (1970) – Watch it once, then you don’t need to watch it ever again. It’s good because it was Jack Nicholsons follow up movie to Easy Rider. Really corny, but the bikes in it are pretty bitchen. It’s the kind of movie you used to watch at 3AM on saturday morning before we invented late night infomercials.
Now I realize the historical significance of the Wild One, but I can’t stomach the movie. It’s overly corny and Inaccurate in what really happened at Hollister. Once they hit the town and stop riding, I quit watching. I left it off the list, because quite honestly I don’t like it. The only thing I can say good about it is I love those post war-era bobbers. I’ve never made it more than 3/4 of the way through that show.
Also, Wild hogs made me throw up in my mouth. Couldn’t even muster a smile.
Now you’ve started something! It’s nip-and-tuck for 1 and 2: probably I’d agree with your order. I would find a place for Black Rain, in which Michael Douglas ‘proved’ a Harley XLCR Cafe racer could out run a Z1 (?). I’ve ridden an XLCR….it couldn’t stay with a Vespa scooter! I would include Wild Hogs, because it made me laugh like hell, and there’s a ‘short’ called ‘Vicious Cycles’ that cracks me up! But if you are a Brit TT lover, you just HAVE to include ‘No Limit’!
3 more movies I apparantly need to see now. I've heard black rain is good.
Vicious Cycles is on You Tube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UAj0NvKt9pM
I think you'll enjoy………….
haha, what's not to love? That needs to be a blog post
hell ride is awsome
No limit should certainly be in there and so should Stone and The Glory Stompers.
I like “Harley Davidson and the Marlboro Man”. Dumb story line, but I love the custom FXR Mickey Rourke rides.
Me too. Wild hogs was really not that funny to me despite liking who was in it.
Great escape wasn’t a bike movie but the scene at the end was a classic
I keep thinking about this, Mr Z! Here's one to avoid: Silver Dream Racer, co-starring Beau Bridges no less, and all about a guy with ambitions to build a Grand Prix racer…..AVOID!! And here's one to play when the kids are in bed: Girl on a Motorcycle, with former Rolling Stones squeeze Marianne Faithfull. (The kids need to be in bed so they don't laugh at the drivel we once thought was cool!)
“Hell Ride” Starring Michael Madsen. Its done in true cheesy style of all great biker movies of the past. The bikes are great as well as the off beat humor only a biker can truely appreciate. You’ve got to get it out.
I'd have to add Magnum Force if only because the best characters in the movie were the ex-Airborne Rangers-turned-vigilante-motorcycle-cops.
Electra Glide In Blue is my one of my all-time favorites. The story resonates all the more because it is the antithesis of a feel-good movie. It's a bitter pill indeed to choke down for anybody to realize he doesn't have the scope to match his ambitions, especially when the ambitions weren't all that lofty to begin with.
Thanks for posting all the pics. I;m enjoying every one of 'em, because it isn't likely that I'll ever get any of that sand in my shoes.
Man you guys need to see 'STONE'.
Members of the Grave Diggers Motorcycle Club are being knocked off one by one, and someone needs to find out why?
Sandy Harbutt's timeless Australian cult film about a bunch of motorcycle renegades.
1974 classic
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I have to say Psychomania (1971) should get a mention just because its a weird story line as well as a biker gang movie.
Bikers killing them self so they come back as immortal – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vby7lSQMEnY
Another addition is a hilarious movie (rather documentary) called Cycles South. It is an absolute riot made in good ol' 1971. Its about 3 guys taking a road trip heading south while smoking up, tripping and enchanting people especially women along the way.
Free Bird was an awesome movie
Check out 'The Loveless' and 'Fixing the Shadow' with Charlie Sheen and Michael Madsen. Brits might like 'Freebird' but I couldn't get into it.
then came bronson was such a cool show. Almost zen like. I wish it had been remade with michael parks as an old man still riding his harley 850 sportster maybe around australia in his retirement! When is someone going to make "Zen and the art of motorcycle maintenence! "
Check out an Aussie movie called Stone. It's about a biker group that is being murdered 1 by 1, so a cop becomes a member to find the killer. Also there was a mini series called Bikie Wars, Brothers in Arms. It's based on the true story of the origins of the bandidos in Australia and how a feud with another MC resulted in a shoot out that left 7 people dead in 1984
Biker boys is always my favorite bike movie. Also i liked the bike Sylvester used in the Expendables. But by far the best TV show of bikes was the Sons of Anarchy. Some of what I need to state will read as type vainglory. So let me get this off the beaten path: I fucking love dumb popcorn films. They can be about superheroes, dinosaurs, outsiders, a transport that can't back off; I'm not exacting. Motion pictures are unparalleled in their capacity to depict scale. movies 2 k On the off chance that you have a monster screen, colossal speakers fit for impacting everybody with momentous commotion, and several individuals assembled oblivious, you can — and should — occasionally utilize those devices to give unadulterated, overpowering scene. Easy Rider was also one of my favorites.
I’m surprised no one mentioned “On Any Sunday.” A documentary on motorcycle directed and narrated by Bruce Brown (Endless Summer.) It’s well done and was even nominated for an Academy Award. Hell, it’s got Steve McQueen – ’nuff said. I’ve seen (and own) all the ones on the list and I agree pretty much 100%. But On Any Sunday is has some great race footage.