Motorcycle Movies

Great movie, 5 bikes out of 5.
Good movie, 4 bikes out of 5.
OK movie, 3 bikes out of 5.
Poor movie, 2 bikes out of 5.
Bad movie, 1 bike out of 5.

Where better to start than the one that started it all?
The Wild One is a cheesy 1950s subculture movie, but it's a really well-done cheesy 1950s subculture movie. That alone is worth the price of admission.
A great movie, 5 bikes out of 5.

Genre:
Action Movies
Directed by:
Laslo Benedek
Starring:
Marlon Brando
Mary Murphy
Robert Keith
Lee Marvin
Jay C. Flippen

Where The Wild One made people sympathetic toward Bikers, Easy Rider made people want to BE Bikers.
Easy Rider was and is the quintessential Biker Movie for Baby Boomers. It's dated but in no way stale.
A great movie, 5 bikes out of 5.

Genre:
Adventure Movies
Directed by:
Dennis Hopper
Starring:
Peter Fonda
Dennis Hopper
Jack Nicholson

You just don't run across very many good, comedy movies with motorcycles.
I didn't have very high expectations for Wild Hogs. I like my Biker films to be kind of rough-and-tumble - something that these four main characters are not. Not to mention that they're kind of on the back side of their popularity curve. It's not that I don't think an actor can make a come back, it's just that, since this plot seemed so unusual for these actors, I was afraid that they may have become desperate. I was wrong; this is probably my favorite comedy motorcycle film.
Good movie, 4 bikes out of 5.

Genre:
Action Movies, Comedy Movies
Directed by:
Walt Becker
Starring:
Tim Allen
John Travolta
Martin Lawrence
William H. Macy
Marisa Tomei
Jill Hennessey
Ray Liotta
Peter Fonda making a cameo appearance.

Biker Movies enter the 21st Century.
It was inevitable - just as Import Tuners have largely replaced Detroit Muscle Cars in today's films, it was just a matter of time before Rice Burners moved in on Custom Cruiser Bikes' turf. Biker Boyz has lots of bikes, lots of action, good cinematography... If this is the future of Motorcycle Movies, I'm OK with it.
Great movie, 5 bikes out of 5.

Genre:
Action Movies
Directed by:
Reggie Rock Bythewood
Starring:
Laurence Fishburne
Derek Luke
Orlando Jones
Kid Rock
Dijimon Hounsou
Lisa Bonet
Brendan Fehr
Rick Gonzalez
Meagan Good

There's a flaming skeleton, riding a motorcycle and it stars Nicholas Cage. What could be better, right?
That's what I thought when I saw the preview for Ghost Rider. What I realized as I was watching this film is that it's not really a Motorcycle Movie; it's a Comic-book Superhero Movie - and as a general rule, I don't like Comic-book Superhero Movies. Ghost Rider's motorcycle is more like Spiderman's webs than like Batman's Batmobile.
OK movie, 3 bikes out of 5.

Genre:
Action Movies
Directed by:
Mark Steven Johnson
Starring:
Nicholas Cage
Eva Mendes
Sam Elliott
Wes Bentley
Donal Logue
Matt Long
Peter Fonda as the Devil himself.

A Motorcycle Movie with English sub-titles.
I enjoyed Motorcycle Diaries more than I thought I would. It definitely doesn't follow the testosterone-pumping pattern of typical U.S. Motorcycle Movies:
- First, it's a bit unsettling for me to see two men sitting so closely together on one motorcycle... on purpose... and it was only a 500cc motorcycle at that. I know, Jack Nicholson sat behind Peter Fonda in Easy Rider, but at least they weren't spooning!
- Second, there is no motorcycle in the second half of this movie.
Just as in Easy Rider, this movie is about a journey of discovery; the motorcycle just makes the trip more fun.
Good movie, 4 bikes out of 5.

Genre:
Action Movies/Adventure Movies
Directed by:
Walter Salles
Starring:
Gael Garcia Bernal
Rodrigo De la Serna

A 70 year old man, on a 40 year old motorcycle and a shoe-string budget, doing 200 mph on The World's Fastest Indian - and it's a true story!
Great movie, 5 bikes out of 5.

Genre:
Adventure Movies
Directed by:
Roger Donaldson
Starring:
Anthony Hopkins
Diane Ladd

A police officer goes under cover to take down an Outlaw Motorcycle Gang from within - and it's a true story!
Beyond the Law has a lot going for it: the whole good-guy-flirting-with-the-dark-side thing, motorcycles, action and the old, less flaky, Charlie Sheen. Hairstyles are a little dated and there are conspicuously few tattoos, but over all this is a pretty realistic-looking movie.
Good movie, 4 bikes out of 5.

Genre:
Action Movies
Directed by:
Larry Ferguson
Starring:
Charlie Sheen
Michael Madsen
Linda Fiorentino

A Biker Flick, British Horror Movie and Zombie Movie all in one! It's a one-of-a-kind.
Psychomania (1973) is a great movie and should be better known.

The Living Dead, a gang of young motorcyclists, unlock the secret to immortality and, literally, Raise Living Hell in a sleepy little town. Great action, great British and Japanese motorcycles, great story line and a weird cinematic flavor that could only come from a 1970s era film (think Clockwork Orange meets Grind House).
Great movie, 5 bikes out of 5.

Genre:
Horror Movies
Directed by:
Don Sharp
Starring:
Nicky Henson
Mary Larkin
Ann Michelle
Roy Holder
Denis Gilmore
Miles Greenwood
Peter Whitting
Rocky Taylor
John Levene
Beryl Reid
George Sanders

A movie full of sensitive emotions, big hairy Bikers and... Cher - what does it sound like to you?
Well, despite what it sounds like, Mask is not the Brokeback Mountain of Biker flicks. It is a reasonable blend of biker culture and chic flick. Unfortunately, "reasonable" very often parallels bland.
OK movie, 3 bikes out of 5.

Genre:
Drama
Directed by:
Peter Bogdanovich
Starring:
Cher
Sam Elliott
Eric Stoltz
Laura Dern

History has not been good to the mullet. Likewise, Hollywood has not been good to the Boz (or maybe the Boz hasn't been good to Hollywood).
Brian Bosworth was a big name in the 80s and Stone Cold tried to cash in on the name. Unfortunately Bosworth wasn't a great actor and his old performances haven't improved with the passing of time. Still, this movie is not without its fans (there was even a sequel Cold Stone 2 - Heart of Stone); I'm just not one of them. If you want a cop-infiltrates-biker-gang movie, I suggest Beyond the Law.
Poor movie, 2 bikes out of 5.

Genre:
Action Movies
Directed by:
Craig R. Baxley
Starring:
Brian "the Boz" Bosworth
Lance Henricksen
William Forsythe

I didn't want to include this movie, but reader demand dictates that I should. Here goes...
This is not a motorcycle movie. This is a movie about two handsome guys playing a game of macho dress up. The story line is a jumble of tired scenes that movie writers turn to when they have no original ideas of their own. The interaction between the characters is awkward - annoyingly so - with pauses in the dialogue that lead me to believe that the actors didn't spend much time working on their lines.

Suggestion to the Hollywood powers that be: STOP MAKING MOVIES WHERE A HELICOPTER WITH MACHINE GUNS SHOOTS UP A SKYSCRAPER IN A MAJOR CITY! Just because it worked once in The Matrix doesn't mean that it will ever work again.

An old friend is having money problems. Harley and Marlboro decide to rob the bank that's causing those money problems. The bank turns out to be a front for a major drug dealing operation. All of Harley's and Marlboro's friends are killed by the drug lord's henchmen. Harley and Marlboro get even, get away and, somehow, everyone that's still alive leaves with a smile on their face.
Poor movie, 2 bikes out of 5.

Genre:
Action Movies
Directed by:
Simon Wincer
Starring:
Mickey Rourke
Don Johnson
Tom Sizemore

Motorcycle-riding, martial-art Priests that battle vampires in a post-apocalyptic, steampunk, spaghetti western setting?... Awesome!
It's like watching "Road Warrior", "the Matrix", "Iron Monk", "the Good the Bad and the Ugly" and the good parts of "Van Helsing" all at the same time.

So, what kind of motorcycles do the Priests of the future ride? Flat black, rechargeable, turbine powered one-offs with nitrous, off course. Yeah, I know, but it is a fantasy movie after all (remember the whole vampire thing?). They look cool - kind of like an engine with handlebars and two 300-series tires tires attached.

I know what it sounds like, but you're just going to have to trust me - Priest is a pretty good movie.

Good movie, 4 bikes out of 5.

Genre:
Action Movies
Directed by:
Scott Charles Stewart
Starring:
Paul Bettany
Karl Urban
Cam Gigandet
Maggie Q
Christopher Plummer

Love the Face Tattoos


Love the Motorcycles

Animated movies based on children's books of the same names - rated for ages three through nine but I'd say closer to three than nine. The production quality is low and they're so old (Runaway Ralph stars Ray Walston and a very young Fred Savage), that I just can't imagine these movies successfully competing against anime and modern video games for a nine-year-old. Buy the Ralph Mouse Motorcycle Books instead.
Bad movie, 1 bike out of 5.

The Great Escape
Streets of Fire
Torque
City Limits
Mad Max