Films about motorcyclists in modern cinema represent a certain set of art paintings in which professional riders, athletes, bikers, etc. play a key role.
The development of "cinema" did not always go smoothly and stably. Clashes, contradictions of various trends and trends sometimes hindered the development of the genre.
Start
Film critics recommend distinguishing films about motorcyclists from paintings in which the motorcycle is treated only as a means of transportation. Films in which this vehicle is present appeared almost simultaneously with the emergence of the film industry. It can be seen in the world-famous short films of Harold Lloyd, the American film “Devils on Wheels” (1947), in the Soviet films “Tiger Tamer” (1954) and “Tractor Drivers” (1939), the Danish film “They Caught a Ferry” (1948 ) Films about motorcyclists as a separate subspecies appeared after the Second World War due to the birth of the biker movement. Hollywood could not ignore such fertile soil. So there were films about bikers and motorcyclists. The founder of the genre is considered to be the director Laszlo Benedek and his film project "Savage" (1953). The picture impressed the general population, and many motorcyclists became such precisely under the influence of the work of Benedek. "Savage" outlined many cinematic stereotypes and stamps, which later became an invariable attribute of paintings covering the theme of motorcyclists.
Lively 60s-70s
This time period is deservedly considered the era of mass film production of bike pictures. Films about motorcyclists, a list of which will be presented below, have been released for hire in the United States.
- Dramatic action movies: The Glory of the Stomper, Born of the Restless, The Angry Generation, The Angels of Hell, The Savages on Motorcycles, The Gang in Miniskirts, Wild Wheels.
- Crime fighters: “Devilish Angels”, “Tramp Hut”, “Wild Rebels”, “Chosen by Hell”, “Savages from Hell”, “Angels Can Not Die So Easy”, “Disturbances”.
- Criminal thrillers: “Infernal cats”, “Naked angels”, “Angel released”.
- Melodramas: “Motorcyclist”, “She is the Devil on Wheels”, the film “The Diary of a Motorcyclist”.
Out of the variety, “Hell Angels '69”, “Hell Angels on Wheels” and “Wild Angels” stood out mainly thanks to the wonderful actors (Peter Fonda, Jack Nicholson, Peter Bogdanovich).
When considering movies about motorcyclists, the list of which is given below, it is certainly worth emphasizing the significance of the picture released in 1969. The film “Easy Rider” is a reference film, rock ballad, rich rock music. It is considered an outlet for the aspirations and minds of young people of that era. Most critics call it the key to the 60s film industry. "Savage" (1953) and "Careless Rider" (1969) - these are the best films about motorcyclists, according to moviegoers and critics. The position of films about motorcyclists significantly changed after the rental of these paintings, the "Hollywood Renaissance" ended, and the conveyor production of blockbusters began.
80s and 90s of the XX century
The film industry of the 80s gave the world several weak films, the plot of which was repeated by earlier projects. The film “The Single Hero” is identical in content to “The Hobo’s Cabin” (1967) and “Born Restless”. The main plot intrigue, “Pursuit of the Shadow” (1992), was previously played in Unperturbed (1991), Wild Rebels (1967) and a little later in Believe in Me (1994). The subgenre seemed to be at an impasse; films about motorcyclists turned into standard action films. However, among the variety of standard paintings there were exceptions ("Bolt", "Flaming Motor Hearts", "Fighting Fish"). In the same time period, two films are released, which later became cult. One of them was the picture "Harley Davidson and the Cowboy Marlborough", which was distinguished by a small budget and the presence of two Hollywood stars - Don Johnson and Mickey Rourke. This movie is about true freedom, about the will to win, about the search for truth. Another reference film project in this genre is considered to be the picture "In pursuit of the shadow." The standard structure of the plot narrative of the film is justified by the fact that it was shot on the basis of real events.
Original among the likes
The special attention of every movie lover should be attracted to the film “Gang of Motorcyclists”. This is an action movie released in 1994 by American director John Milius. The plot of the picture is not unique. The family of the main characters Morris moves. Mother and daughter attract the attention of four biker hooligans who have several bloody murders. The skirmish of the head of the family of Carl and the gang on motorcycles is inevitable. The film deserves attention in that it differs from a dozen of them in the filming of J. Milius, who is called the "singer of the cult of the loner and the American way of life."
Biographical Road Movie
The movie Che Guevara: The Motorcyclists Diaries (2004) is a great example of a biographical road movie about the adventures of young Ernesto Guevara and his friend Alberto Granado. The idea of ​​the picture is not directly related to this vehicle, although the main characters go on a fascinating journey across Latin America on an old, 1939 model, Norton 500. The film “Motorcyclists Diaries” demonstrates the formation of the personality of a famous revolutionary. When traveling, friends see pain and suffering, the poverty of the people. In the climax, Ernesto delivers a fiery speech-appeal in which he emphasizes the need to unite the peoples of Latin America. The film “Motorcycle Diaries” was created based on the real diaries of Che Guevara called “Traveling on a Motorcycle." At the same time, the film is not politicized at all, the work of the operator, casting is at its best, as is the musical accompaniment.
Genre Diversity
So that the genre does not sink into oblivion, films about motorcyclists began to be made much more diverse. In addition to the mass of fighters, there were horror films (for example, “Hell Block 13”), mystical films (“I bought a vampire motorcycle”), melodramas (“Light wheels”), comedies (“Threat Masters”), romantic (“Tattoo” Love Story ”), anti-utopias (“ Mad Max ”), post-apocalyptic (“ Don't Call Me Baby ”), fantastic (“ Biker Killer ”), sports, animated and others.
In horror films
Simultaneously with the emergence and flourishing of the film industry, films in which motorcyclists played a dominant role began to appear in various directions of this art. In the horror genre popular among young people, several low-budget comedy-and-parody projects appeared in which motorcyclists played the main or secondary roles: “Bikers in the city of zombies”, “I bought a vampire motorcycle,” “Hell block 13”. These paintings are sometimes characterized by illogical plot twists, a reigning atmosphere of parody, stamped moves and ideas. The movie of George Romero stands out separately - the cult thrash "Dawn of the Dead", in which the main characters are faced with a gang of dashing bikers, looters. In the mystical thriller “The Phantom Racer”, which begins as a film about motorcycle riders, the main character Johnny Blaze, who made a deal with the devil himself, drives a fiery “iron horse”. This miracle of technology is a modern copy of the motorcycle from the painting "Easy Rider".
In comedies, dystopias, and science fiction films
Sometimes in killer comedies, motorcyclists and bikers seemed ridiculous and funny to the viewer, for example, “Like it or not, you lose,” “As soon as you can,” “Masters of the threat.” Extremely popular sub-genre of “motokino” became fantastic paintings like “Killer Biker”. Although the most fruitful direction was provisionally called post-apocalyptic and anti-utopia. The films “The Book of Eli”, “Mad Max” and its sequel “Mad Max 2: Warrior of Roads”, “Warrior of the Lost World”, “Don't Call Me Baby”, “Rats: Night of Terror”, “1990” are considered to be pronounced in this direction. : Warriors of the Bronx ”,“ Wheels on Fire ”.
Motorcyclists and Romance
You can’t call it a banal attempt to attract the attention of a female audience to films about motorcyclists: the films “Three meters above the sky” and “Three meters above the sky: I want you” - an adaptation of the novels by the Italian novelist and director Federico Mochchia. The main character Ache (Mario Casas) is simply divine, besides he famously drives around the legendary Triumph Bonneville, he will not leave anyone indifferent. Some call the films beautiful romantic melodramas, others - the next tearful stories filled with bored stamps. But it is undeniable that every such film about a motorcyclist and a girl attracts incredible attention, and the number of their fans is growing rapidly.
Also in this subgenre there are other, less vivid love stories and melodramas: “Light wheels”, “Tattoo. Love story". According to the set of movie techniques and stamps, these paintings occupy a special place among mototematic films.
Motorsport movies
A film about motorcyclists-racers is such a film project in which there are sports models with original aerodynamics, high-speed engines, and the main characters are dressed in protective overalls. For example: “Supercross”, “The Winner Gets Everything”, “Bikers”, “Evil Level” and “Torque”.
Films of this category are distinguished by the fact that the main characters travel around on sportbikes. The reference picture “The Fastest Indian” is deservedly considered to be the reference, the plot of which tells the life story of the famous New Zealander Bert Monroe, because he has been engaged in the re-equipment of his beloved “iron horse” of the Indian brand for decades.
In television series
TV series (a series of mini-films traditionally united by the history of the main characters) also often used images of motorcyclists and bikers in their storytelling. Motorcycles were featured in episodes of such films as Doctor House, Commissioner Rex, Mentalist, Renegade, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Highlander, and many others. There are three series, the plot of which is entirely devoted to bikers: “The Last Chaper”, “Sons of Anarchy” and “Biker Wars”.
Feminism, emancipation and motorcycles
A number of films about motorcyclists to increase interest in the subject of a female audience as the protagonist showcases a representative of the beautiful half of humanity. These films are “Thundering Girls”, “She is the Devil on Wheels”, “Hellish Cats”, “Pink Angels”, “Young Motorcyclists”, “Motorcyclist”, “Light Wheels”, “Stranger”, “Bikers in the City of Zombies”.
Other paintings, in which motorcyclists are present, often exploit sexual themes at a primitive level. These are such film projects as “Sisters in Leather”, “Gang in Miniskirts”, “Sukeban gerira”, “Hellish Beauties”.
Among the paintings with a pronounced feminist orientation, “I and Will”, which is a real road movie, leads.
Tales in the movies
Motorcycles almost always become true equal partners of the main characters - famous movie stars. The hero of Tom Cruise in the action "Mission Impossible 2" flies on Triumph Speed ​​Triple, and after no less spectacularly appears in the frame already on Triumph Daytona. In the movie Tomorrow Never Dies, James Bond (Pierce Brosnan) and his girlfriend (Michelle Yeo), tightly handcuffed, playfully skip the gap between the houses on a BMW motorcycle. In "Harley Davidson and the Cowboy Marlborough" is the change of "iron horse" the main character. Appearing at the beginning of the picture on Kawasaki, later the character of Don Johnson shoots him with a pistol and transfers to the legendary Harley Davidson. In the crime drama “Beyond the Law”, the character Charlie Sheen drives a modified HD Softail Custom. Sometimes motorcycles are made specifically for filming a movie.
In Soviet cinema
Along with cars and other equipment, motorcycles appeared on the USSR’s cinema screens with enviable regularity. In the pre-war movie period, they were real stars. The musical comedy by I. Pyryev “Tractor Drivers”, which was released in 1939, is the best confirmation of this. The main character Maryana (Marina Ladynina), a stakhanovka and a production leader, moves exclusively to PMZ-A-750. The first serial L-300, which appears in the film “Hearts of Four,” can be called an excellent motor actor. Most older viewers can easily name a Soviet film about motorcyclists and not one:
- "Naughty turns", 1959.
- "Summer of Motorcyclists", 1976.
- Tamer of the Tigers, 1954.
- "My name is Arlekino", 1988.
- "A man in his place," 1972.
- The Detective, 1979.
Unfortunately, there is still some confusion in the Russian film industry, but domestic cinema is alive and awakening. He absorbed the spirit of paintings of past years. Calling a Russian film about a motorcyclist at this time is much more difficult. The most famous is the criminal melodrama "I wanted to see the angels" directed by S. Bodrov (Art.). But, probably, in ten years, the domestic cinema viewer will be able to list no less than the cinematographs that covered motothematics.
Detective in the USSR
The film “Night Motorcyclist” is a Soviet detective film shot by director Julius Slupsky in 1972 based on the work of the same name by Viktor Smirnov. The plot unfolds in the small town of Rogatino, where the murder of engineer Aseev takes place. A murder weapon was found - a hunting knife belonging to a local resident Shabashnikov, naturally, suspicion immediately fell on him. The young investigator, Lieutenant Pavel Starina, after conducting an inquiry, puts forward the version that the boots and knife were deliberately stolen from Shabashnikov in order to cover up the traces of the crime. The investigator understands that the killer must be sought among five people who visited the accused’s house on the eve of the crime. It also turns out that the local trainer of the Motocross section Zharkov lost his motorcycle. Starina during an inquiry recalls his youthful passion for this sport.