The best of motorcycle movies
Posted: Wed Nov 01, 2006 5:55 am
The best of motorcycle movies
Wednesday, November 1, 2006 - By LOUIS B. PARKS - Houston Chronicle - chron.com
The best of motorcycle movies Movies love loner heroes and fast-moving action, so motorcycles are a perfect match. Here are some of the best:
The Wild One (1953)
The granddaddy of biker-gang movies, it focused on the confusions of youth. The gang comes riding (in front of blue screen) into a little town on their mean hogs, engines roaring and scaring the hell out of all the uptight folks we always wanted to scare. When Johnny (Marlon Brando) is asked, "What are you rebelling against?" his answer — "Whadda ya got?" — spoke to a restless post-war generation.
The Great Escape (1963)
Watching Steve McQueen as an escaping World War II POW hopping fences on his motorcycle as he's being chased by Nazis, every red-blooded man in America wanted to get on two wheels.
Thunderball (1965)
A motorcycle was the ideal weapon platform for kinky black-leather clad killer beauty Luciana Paluzzi to launch rockets up the tailpipe of her victim. Ka-boom, baby.
The Wild Angels (1966)
The success of this outrageous low-budget Roger Corman film starring Peter Fonda and Bruce Dern spawned the biker film cycle that led to Easy Rider. One critic called it "perhaps the most explicitly nihilistic movie ever made." We went just to see the bikes.
Easy Rider (1969)
An unlikely combination of elements — timing, talent, luck, the then unknown Jack Nicholson, the youth revolution — turned another potentially bad drive-in biker movie into a compelling hit that touched a generation's paranoia of the establishment.
Electra Glide in Blue (1973)
Robert Blake — yes, that Robert Blake — stars as a motorcycle cop in this hard to explain but strikingly different black comedy.
The Terminator (1 & 2) (1984, 1991)
What could be a more macho vehicle for the perfect killing machine (Arnold Schwarzenegger) to ride than a honkin' big Harley Fat Boy?
Faster (2003)
A documentary on the MotoGP is narrated by Ewan McGregor. It's a series of races taking place all over the world.
Dust to Glory (2005)
This documentary on the 2003 running of the Baja 1000 in Mexico, in which all kinds of vehicles compete, spotlights motorcycles as co-producer Mike McCoy was a rider with a camera on his bike, trying to do the entire race alone.
The World's Fastest Indian (2005)
Old codger and New Zealand bike nut Matt Bruno, played quietly by Oscar winner Anthony Hopkins, brings his hand-rebuilt 1920 Indian motorcycle to the U.S. speed trials in 1967. This based-on-fact story is a far cry from Easy Rider, but also speaks of individuality.
Wednesday, November 1, 2006 - By LOUIS B. PARKS - Houston Chronicle - chron.com
The best of motorcycle movies Movies love loner heroes and fast-moving action, so motorcycles are a perfect match. Here are some of the best:
The Wild One (1953)
The granddaddy of biker-gang movies, it focused on the confusions of youth. The gang comes riding (in front of blue screen) into a little town on their mean hogs, engines roaring and scaring the hell out of all the uptight folks we always wanted to scare. When Johnny (Marlon Brando) is asked, "What are you rebelling against?" his answer — "Whadda ya got?" — spoke to a restless post-war generation.
The Great Escape (1963)
Watching Steve McQueen as an escaping World War II POW hopping fences on his motorcycle as he's being chased by Nazis, every red-blooded man in America wanted to get on two wheels.
Thunderball (1965)
A motorcycle was the ideal weapon platform for kinky black-leather clad killer beauty Luciana Paluzzi to launch rockets up the tailpipe of her victim. Ka-boom, baby.
The Wild Angels (1966)
The success of this outrageous low-budget Roger Corman film starring Peter Fonda and Bruce Dern spawned the biker film cycle that led to Easy Rider. One critic called it "perhaps the most explicitly nihilistic movie ever made." We went just to see the bikes.
Easy Rider (1969)
An unlikely combination of elements — timing, talent, luck, the then unknown Jack Nicholson, the youth revolution — turned another potentially bad drive-in biker movie into a compelling hit that touched a generation's paranoia of the establishment.
Electra Glide in Blue (1973)
Robert Blake — yes, that Robert Blake — stars as a motorcycle cop in this hard to explain but strikingly different black comedy.
The Terminator (1 & 2) (1984, 1991)
What could be a more macho vehicle for the perfect killing machine (Arnold Schwarzenegger) to ride than a honkin' big Harley Fat Boy?
Faster (2003)
A documentary on the MotoGP is narrated by Ewan McGregor. It's a series of races taking place all over the world.
Dust to Glory (2005)
This documentary on the 2003 running of the Baja 1000 in Mexico, in which all kinds of vehicles compete, spotlights motorcycles as co-producer Mike McCoy was a rider with a camera on his bike, trying to do the entire race alone.
The World's Fastest Indian (2005)
Old codger and New Zealand bike nut Matt Bruno, played quietly by Oscar winner Anthony Hopkins, brings his hand-rebuilt 1920 Indian motorcycle to the U.S. speed trials in 1967. This based-on-fact story is a far cry from Easy Rider, but also speaks of individuality.
