Topic: Cool movies involving motorcycles:

[Ted Nomura]

What? NO mention of  Marlon Brando in the 1953 classic The Wild One?

I wasn't even born when this movie came out but I recently saw it in DVD. It wasn't bad...basicly Triumph versus Harley and Harley got an unfair bad reputation because of it. Back in 1977, when my Kawasaki 900's battery died, I pushed the bike to the nearest gas station but the elderly attendant was so afraid that he wouldn't help me. Maybe he suffered a biker abuse in a past. I don't know. Fortunately there was a garage not too far and the attendent was so helpful that he let me keep my bike in his garage overnight so the battery can be fully charged. I had one of the girls I know locally pick me up so I can stay at her place overnight. Naturally I gave the nice attendant a tip for his hospitality.

[Ted Nomura]

I am surprised no-one has mentioned Easy Rider. It has to be a classic.
  Oops. My age is showing.

That was a great movie but I liked "C.C. and Company" better. I saw it in 1971 when I was still in junior high and maybe because it was my first "biker movie" and maybe because it was a first time I saw Ann Margaret (then aged 29) naked. I also liked the Kawasaki sponcership of that movie, which featured the 1970 F5 Bighorn and the new green 1971 model. I also noticed two views of the red 1970 500 H1 in background. I think that was my favorite Kawasaki H1.

[cb650]

Well any movie with a nikid girl is a plus.  The scene in vanishing point is still my fav.



                             Terry

[Ted Nomura]

Well any movie with a nikid girl is a plus.  The scene in vanishing point is still my fav.



                             Terry

Since I grew up in the 1970s, I like the combination of good looking bikes and good looking girls. I guess that's why early 1970s covers of Cycle magazine (like the ones showing Honda XL250 and Kawasaki Z1 with bikini clad girls) were my favorite. I'm not too keen on modern girls though because too many are the same age of my friend's daughters.

[etn4runner]

The Tuuuh-min-ay-tor!

Watched the first terminator today and arnie is riding a cb. Too cool.

[Ted Nomura]

I watched Bruce Lee's Game of Death again and just noticed a brief scene of 1973 Honda CB350G. They also included a 1976 Yamaha RD400 but ironically the engine sounded like a 650 Triumph.

[82CB650SC]

Channel surfing yesterday and flipped on scifi and there was an older inline 4 motorcycle in Return of the Living Dead III. I just caught a quick glance so i didn't see what kind it was did anybody else see the movie and know what kind it was?

[ieism]

I am surprised no-one has mentioned Easy Rider. It has to be a classic.
  Oops. My age is showing.

  Age is not the problem, but the ending where they all got shot of  their bike by some redneck in a car ruined it for me. I liked the part where Jack Nicholson went to pick up his helmet, and returned with a gold american football helmet.

[nickjtc]

I'm surprised no one has mentioned 'The Motorcycle Diaries'. It's a bit cerebral, being about Che Guevara and all that, but the bits involving him and his friend riding on an old Norton are well done. Apparently they filmed all of the get-offs with a stunt bike which was a Norton/Suzuki(?) bodge-up to spare the real Norton which was used for most of the (non-crashing) scenes. According to sources involved with the film the real deal was a lot more reliable than the stunt-double.

Also re: Black Rain. Another film where the sound boys decided to change the sound track of the bike, so in the race scene we hear the Harley changing gears as if it has a 5 or 6 speed gear box.

There is a bit of a chase scene in the Italian Job (the new one, not the Mchael Caine original) where bad guys on BMWs go after our heroes. Again, the sound track is changed so the boxer motors sound like sportbikes.

[Zip]

Hmm . . .

'Harley Davidson and the Marlboro Man,' but only the scenes where there were actually motorcyles moving.  The rest of the movie sucked.

'The World's fastest Indian.'  I love Anthony Hopkins in anything he's been in, and this movie was intelligent all the way through.  Great, innovative ways of showing motorcycles at speed believably.

'Timerider' was a cool movie.  The effects of the modern contraption on those people of the past was often hilarious.  The kicker ending was awesome.

'Never Say Never Again' had a cool chase scene in it, where James Bond (Sean Connery reprising his role after more than a few years) is on a black small bore rocket-bike chased by some psychotic killer chick in a Renault, I think, but I could be confusing two (or more) movies.

'The Long Way Round' featured actor Ewan MacGregor and his friend Charley Boorman as they rode two BMW GS's around the world.  I thought the movie was interesting but the two riders (especially Charley) were always, in my mind, a bit out of their element.  Charley was a pussy.  ;o)

One of the 'Matrix' movies has an insane chase scene on a freeway involving a Ducati (much of it CG-enhanced).

'Faster' and 'Faster II' follow the motorcycle grand prix seasons from 2001 up through about 2004, when they switched from 2-strokes to the 990cc-max 4 stroke motogp format.  Very in-depth, and had me riveted.

I'm also a big fan of 'On Any Sunday,' 'On Any Sunday Revisited,' and 'On Any Sunday - Motocross, Malcolm, and More.'

Zip

[DammitDan]

I also enjoyed Long Way 'Round.

However, I thought Charlie was the stronger character and that Ewan McGregor was the pussy!  Always getting gas splashed in his eye, always saying, "I don't think we should be here, I think we should turn around, I don't think we can make it..."  BAH!

Go make another terrible Star Wars movie if you don't wanna be riding across the Mongolian wastes!

[Phylyn51]

One of my favorites is the part in Weird Science when the two bikers are messin' up the house. The one with the mask cracks me up every time

[ic455]

Weird Science was a good one, I like the big bald guy worried about them telling his kindergarten class about the 'incident'

[burmashave]

How about the Ghost Rider of the Apocalypse in Raising Arizona?  That dude could draw a shotgun and shoot a rabbit while riding.

I'm a big Wallace and Grommit fan, and they sometimes tool about in a red motorcycle with a sidecar (sorry I didn't catch the make).  In Curse of the Were Rabbit, the sidecar detaches to become an airplane.

There's a scene in the beginning of the western Big Jake that involves a motorcycle chasing the bad guys off road through the desert circa 1910.  John Wayne, of course, knows that those new fangled machines will never catch the guys who kidnapped his son.  On the other hand, John Wayne also has no use for his other son's new Colt .45, so who's to say?

I grew up on Speed Racer; he taught me much about driving (I'm not kidding).  The bad guys often appeared as motorcycle riders who could conveniently pour out of moving trucks to attack Speed.

And who could forget Evel Knievel?  We talked about that movie endlessly when it came out, and then came the huge drama and ultimate fiasco about him jumping Snake River Canyon.

[loonymoon]

Cool, Tom Cruise (or stunt double) riding a black Triumph speed triple in MI2..

Not so cool, Mannequin..!!

Cool Will smith riding sportbike ("that thing runs on gasoline you must be mad") in iROBOT

[ic455]

How about the Ghost Rider of the Apocalypse in Raising Arizona?  That dude could draw a shotgun and shoot a rabbit while riding.

That was a funny movie, too.  I think the Apocalypse Rider was played by Randall "Tex" Cobb, he's pretty good in characters like that.