... that aren’t Easy Rider. With apologies to Peter Fonda’s legendary road movie, its portrayal of biker culture has been done to death. As part of our ongoing Sons of Anarchy-inspired 12 Days of Anarchy series we’re pleased to share a list of our other favourite motorcycle flicks. Whether iconic, thrilling or just plain weird, they all took a unique look at a misunderstood subculture.

As a bonus many are available for free viewing on Youtube, so crack a bottle and get watchin’.

7. The Wild One (1954)

Any list of great biker movies that doesn’t start with The Wild One is kidding itself. For a while it was the biker movie, the first to bring the outlaw image to mainstream audiences and strike fear in the hearts of American parents.

The plot, involving a gang rivalry and its effects on a small town, isn’t much but Brando’s performance as Black Rebel Motorcycle Club leader Johnny Strabler influenced a generation. The Wild One was so impactful that modern eyes may have a hard time seeing past the endless parodies and imitations that arose in its wake. But of course its impact on biker culture couldn’t be overstated.

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6. Scorpio Rising (1964)

Only 10 years after Brando, motorcycle movies got their first parody. California provocateur Kenneth Anger’s 30-minute short Scorpio Rising played up the homoerotic and fascistic elements of biker culture, as much as was permitted by censors in 1964. Still, despite its relative tameness police confiscated Scorpio Rising after its premiere, arrested the theater manager and forced Anger into the Supreme Court. He won.

Scorpio Rising is also recognized as one of the first movies to feature a sourced rock ‘n’ roll soundtrack, with Anger’s (probably unauthorized) use of Elvis, Ricky Nelson and Ray Charles setting the tone for countless imitators.

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5. Hells Angels On Wheels (1967)

A few years before Easy Rider Jack Nicholson starred in one of the first baby-boomer biker flicks. Using the name and image of the real Hells Angels gang – who were at the time still largely seen as counterculture icons - Nicholson plays Poet, a gas station attendant who stands up to, and earns the respect of, his local biker gang chapter.

Most of the plot involves Poet and his new friends getting into bloody fights, but tellingly the Hells Angels are depicted as misunderstood and ostracized, not prone to picking fights themselves. Of course this image would be shattered in subsequent years, but those were more innocent times.



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4. Werewolves On Wheels (1971)

Werewolves On Wheels certainly isn’t one of the best biker movies ever made, but it’s definitely one of the weirdest. Peyton Place actor Stephen Oliver leads his gang into the orbit of a satanic cult, who cast a spell on his girl and turn her into a werewolf. Satan is a big Lon Chaney Jr. fan, apparently.

Mixing pseudo-documentary footage of real gangs, fictionalized slang and cheapo ‘70s horror, Werewolves On Wheels is the kind of inexplicable shitty movie you should definitely find a copy of. Oh wait, here’s one:



3. God Speed You! Black Emperor (1976)

The Japanese have a thing for American culture; baseball, Cheap Trick, and of course biker gangs. Mitsuo Yanagiamachi’s oddly-titled 1976 documentary (which lent its name to a certain Canadian music group) follows the rise of motorcycle culture among Japanese youth.

If that culture was originally meant for freaks, outsiders and lawbreakers it had become cliche by 1976. Set in a land without that kitsch appeal the movie feels like a time capsule; youth are hassled by their parents and the police for the kind of delinquent behaviour American kids of the ‘60s had long ago taken for granted.

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2. One Week (2008)

Riding a motorcycle isn’t just about looking tough in a leather jacket. It’s also an exposed, solitary journey, played to strong emotional effect in Michael McGowan’s 2008 road movie One Week. Former Dawson’s Creek star Joshua Jackson plays Ben, an Toronto English teacher diagnosed with cancer and given less than two years to live. Forgoing immediate treatment he sets out on the road, meeting assorted, life-affirming characters along the way.

It’s a bit over-sentimental, and the endless patronizing to Canadian viewers wears thin, but few movies have so perfectly articulated the solitary life of a man and his bike.  

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1.  Mad Max (1979)

Mad Max introduced a lot of things to the world: Australian cinema, Mel Gibson, the sheer awesomeness of living in a post-apocalyptic wasteland. More importantly, it made motorcycle gangs look badass for the first time in years.

In Max’s burned-out world biker gangs are fearsome marauders, raping, pillaging and generally making it harder to enjoy a college road trip. To beat them, Max jumps on a Kawasaki KZ1000, shotgun in hand, and leads his audience on some of the finest chase scenes ever filmed. Despite its low budget Mad Max holds up great today, with director George Miller’s practical effects giving it a truly scuzzy authenticity.  

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