Biker movie

The history of motorcycle movies dates back to the beginning of the 20th century. The earliest motion picture on a motorcycle theme, which is currently known, is considered to be “Uncontrollable Motorcycle”, a black and white short film in the “black comedy” genre. It tells about a child who is offended by his older brother and intends to repay him a hundredfold for his grievances. The young avenger did not think of anything better than to blow up his brother’s motorcycle, but to do it in such a way that no one would think of him. Yes, that’s just the power of the charge did not calculate and blew up the house where he lived with his brother.

In addition to short “black comedies”, filmmakers offered films on the theme of motorcycle racing to the attention of the audience. The fact that the topic has practically not entered is evidenced by the extremely low total number of films – only 14 for the period from 1909 to 1953.

“Savage” shakes the swamp

Probably motorcycle movies would have had to flounder at the level of survival, without significant box office, if it were not for the intervention of bikers. Of course, they did not intervene directly, but indirectly, focusing the attention of the public on themselves during the famous Hollister riot that occurred in July 1947 during the Gypsy Tour motorcycle competition .

The media described the events as pogroms and terrible riots, but in reality no one even died. A maximum of three people broke their legs and received a head injury. A typical result of a hell of a mess. However, the public remembered this incident, and in the bowels of Hollywood, the idea was ripe to shoot a tape based on these events.

The idea was embodied in 1953 in the “Wild”. In part, the film reflected Hollister events. The Black Bikers gang, led by Johnny, played by Marlon Brando, breaks into a motorcycle race illegally, but the bikers are kicked out. In retaliation, they steal the award cup and go to a nearby town. There they have fun and hooligans, sort things out with another biker gang and local residents, while Johnny is having an affair with the daughter of the local sheriff. As a result, the situation is heating up to such an extent that the residents are ready to enter into an open conflict with the bikers. The “Black Bikers” have to give in, and they leave the city.

The impact that “The Savage” had on bikers and cinema was fully appreciated a few years after its release:

1. In the cinema, when shooting other films about bikers, the developments, techniques and plot moves used in the “Wild” were used.

2. For bikers, it has become a cult film. In addition, people became interested in the biker movement, they wanted to become part of it.

3. The film created associations between some things and bikers, for example, a leather jacket after “The Savage” is not perceived differently than a biker jacket.

Golden period

50-70s can rightfully be called the heyday of “bikers”, i.e. biker movies. And this is no coincidence. The favorable attitude of the public towards the “Savage” gave confidence to Hollywood bigwigs that they found their gold mine in the “bikers”.

And off we go. The conveyor way of filmmaking has triumphed. An unbridled riveting of the same type of biker films like “The Savage” began.

The reputation of a cult film in these years was only able to earn “Easy Rider”, which, by the way, violated all the established cinematic canons of that time. No solid plot, no professional camera work, no normal storyboarding of scenes, no hefty budget – everything seemed to be against his success. Except for one thing – the film managed to accurately convey the nerve of time.

Here you will not see typical stereotypical bikers who will misbehave, commit crimes and fight. On the contrary, the main characters of “Easy Rider” are more like hippies: on their own wave, peaceful, avoiding conflicts with the rednecks. “Captain America” ​​and Billy live their own high, do not touch anyone, do not impose their own vision of life. However, such behavior drives the conservative American bastards to white heat, they are annoyed by people who are not like them.

There is no happy ending in the tape, the main characters die. By the way, such an ending, typical in our time, in the late 60s. caused surprise and a break in the pattern. Actually, “Easy Rider” for that time was one and a big break in the pattern, a bold experiment in exploring the theme of freedom and its limits.

The era of the decline of biker cinema

Fatigue from biker films manifested itself in the 80s. due to oversaturation of the market. Yes, and the audience is tired for the most part of the same type of films. From what was filmed then, it would be worth adding to your collection, perhaps, only “Harley Davidson and the Marlboro Man”.

The interesting thing is that while watching this film, you don’t see anything special in it: an ordinary buddy movie and a funny action movie about the adventures of two biker buddies, which is clearly inferior to both The Savage and Easy Rider. However, the cinema catches the image of biker friendship like water, which withstands seemingly insurmountable obstacles in the face of an influential corrupt banker and wins in the end.

Biker series

Now the focus of filmmakers is shifting more and more to shooting serials, and not movies for 1.5 – 2 hours. Due to the information overload of modern life, series are better able to keep people interested and involved, so the choice of the film industry was made in their favor.

The biker theme has also evolved from movies to series, among which there are high-quality copies. The best at the moment I will call the series “Sons of Anarchy”. Why is that? Because other series are not even close, at least in 2 aspects:

1. The plot of “Sons of Anarchy”, reminiscent of the best works of Shakespeare, is a separate topic for conversation. In the disputes of fans of the series about the motives for the contradictory actions of the main characters, many copies were broken.

2. Image of biker paraphernalia. Probably, only experienced bikers will be able to see the smallest details that have been worked out to create more authenticity of what is happening on the screen.

Source: cryptomoto.org