The motorbike has proved an iconic prop in numerous movies. In fact, ever since Marlon Brando rode into the public consciousness on his 1950 Triumph Thunderbird 6T in ‘The Wild One’ (1953), cinema audiences have been thrilled by scenes featuring motorcycles, including in ‘The Great Escape’ (1963) and ‘Easy Rider’ (1969). So, what are the most memorable films starring two wheels?
Kick start and rev up through this list of best biker pictures.
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‘The Wild One’ (1953)
Considered to be the original outlaw biker film, ‘The Wild One’ turned Marlon Brando into a 1950’s cultural icon. He plays Johnny Strabler, who leads a motorcycle gang looking for trouble in a small town in California.
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‘The Great Escape’ (1963)
Captain Virgil Hilts (Steve McQueen) makes a desperate bid for freedom using a motorbike in the thrilling closing minutes of ‘The Great Escape.’ One of the most famous motorcycle stunts ever performed in a movie was accomplished by stuntman Bud Ekins, who stood in for McQueen to make the famous jump over a barbed wire fence during the chase sequence.
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‘The Wild Angels’ (1966)
‘The Wild Angels’ is an outlaw biker movie that is generally regarded as inspiring the biker film genre that continued into the early 1970s. It stars Peter Fonda, who would forever become associated with Harley-Davidson motorcycles and 1960s counterculture. Nancy Sinatra costars.
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‘Easy Rider’ (1969)
Dennis Hopper’s rebellious road movie was largely improvisational but became a youth anthem for its message of nonconformism and its reflection of social tensions in the United States in the late 1960s. Hopper appears in the saddle alongside Peter Fonda and Jack Nicholson in this seminal motorcycle picture.
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‘The Rebel Rousers’ (1970)
‘The Rebel Rousers’ was actually filmed in 1967 on the back of ‘The Wild Angels,’ but was only released after the success of 1969’s ‘Easy Rider.’ The picture is noted for an appearance by Jack Nicholson, who would go on to costar in ‘Easy Rider.’
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‘Hells Angels on Wheels’ (1967)
Jack Nicholson turned up again in ‘Hells Angels on Wheels,’ playing a character called Poet who’s welcomed into a chapter of the Hells Angels outlaw motorcycle club but who ultimately ends up challenging the authority of Buddy (Adam Roarke), the leader of the pack.
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‘The Motorcycle Diaries’ (2004)
This acclaimed biographical drama is based on the written memoir of Ernest Guevara, who in the early 1950s embarked on a road trip across South America with his friend, Alberto Grenado, using Grenado’s dilapidated Norton 500 motorcycle. The 23-year-old Guevara would later become internationally known as the iconic Marxist guerrilla leader and revolutionary leader Che Guevara.
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‘Skyfall’ (2012)
The opening edge-of-seat motorbike chase scene in ‘Skyfall’ sees Bond (Daniel Craig) pursuing a henchman across Istanbul, which takes 007 through a crowded spice market and the Grand Bazaar.
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‘Mission: Impossible 2’ (2000)
Powerful motorbikes feature throughout the sequel to the 1996 film ‘Mission: Impossible.’ Machines used in the picture include the 2000 Triumph Speed Triple 955i, pictured being ridden by Tom Cruise, and the Triumph Daytona 955i.
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‘The World’s Fastest Indian’ (2005)
Anthony Hopkins portrays speed bike racer Burt Munro in this well-received New Zealand biographical sports movie. The film’s title refers to the highly modified 1920 Indian Scout motorcycle Monroe used to set numerous land speed records for motorcycles.
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‘Terminator 2: Judgement Day’ (1991)
In ‘Terminator 2: Judgement Day,’ Arnold Schwarzenegger’s reprogrammed Terminator takes to a Harley-Davidson in order to flee another, more advanced killing machine driving a truck in a thrilling chase sequence set piece during the second installment in the Terminator franchise.
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‘The Gauntlet’ (1977)
Phoenix cop Ben Shockley (Clint Eastwood) is tasked with escorting from Las Vegas a murder witness, “Gus” Mally (Sondra Locke). Along the way he confiscates a chopper bike from a motorcycle gang and embarks on a two-wheel dash across the desert.
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‘The Matrix Reloaded’ (2003)
Trinity (Carrie-Anne Moss) and the Keymaker (Randall Duk Kim) use a motorcycle in one of the film’s most iconic scenes when they take to a highway in a bid to outrun the Agents and the mysterious Twins.
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‘Wild Hogs’ (2007)
The stars of this biker road comedy are arguably the Harley-Davidson machines featured—the XL1200C Sportster Custom, the FXSTS Springer Softail, the Black Fatboy, and the Screamin’ Eagle Fatboy. Tim Allen, John Travolta, Martin Lawrence, and William H. Macy provide supporting roles.
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‘The Place Beyond the Pines’ (2012)
In this movie starring Ryan Gosling and Bradley Cooper, a motorcycle stunt rider (Gosling) turns to robbing banks as a way to provide for his lover and their newborn child.
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‘The Dark Knight’ (2008)
Batman (Christian Bale) rides the formidable Batpod in ‘The Dark Knight.’ One of the most menacing motorbikes ever created for cinema, the machine features fat, beefy Hoosier racing tires and grappling hooks, cannons, and machine guns.
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‘Ghost Rider’ (2007)
This superhero film based on the Marvel Comics character of the same name stars Nicolas Cage as the titular character who rides a Buell motorcycle and customized hardtail chopper—the “Hell Cycle” whose tires burst into flames.
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‘Mad Max’ (1979)
The Australian film that kick-started the hugely successful Mad Max series of movies, this inaugural picture features a manic motorbike gang, among other seriously weird and whacky road warriors. Mel Gibson’s highway patrol cop desperately tries to keep the peace.
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‘The Leather Boys’ (1964)
The title of this gritty piece of British cinema nods to the leather-clad, motorbike-riding ‘rockers’ who were briefly infamous for their seaside battles against scooter-loving mod rivals. Rita Tushingham and Colin Campbell star in what is regarded as a fine example of kitchen sink realism, a British cultural movement that developed in the late 1950s and early 1960s in theater, art, novels, film, and television plays.
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‘Quadrophenia’ (1979)
The scooter-loving mods are like those portrayed in ‘Quadrophenia.’ Based loosely on British rock band The Who’s 1973 rock opera of the same name, the film stars Phil Daniels whose idol, a popular mod nicknamed “Ace Face” portrayed by English singer Sting, is actually a bellboy at a local hotel.
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‘Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade’ (1989)
Indy (Harrison Ford) takes his dad, Henry Jones, Sr (Sean Connery), for a spin in a motorbike sidecar during several scenes in the third installment in the Indiana Jones franchise.
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‘Harley Davidson and the Marlboro Man’ (1991)
Mickey Rourke is Harley Davidson, Don Johnson the Marlboro Man in this action Western biker picture, which sees the two buddies plan a raid on a bank’s armored car.
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‘Black Rain’ (1989)
A Japanese biker gang features in Ridley Scott’s action thriller set in Tokyo and starring Michael Douglas, Andy García, and Ken Takakura. The film’s breathtaking two-wheel finale sees Douglas’ character chasing bad guy Sato Koji (Yūsaku Matsuda, in his final film appearance before succumbing to cancer) across farmland.
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‘Electra Glide in Blue’ (1973)
An overlooked offbeat movie from the early 1970s, ‘Electra Glide in Blue’ stars Robert Blake as a diminutive motorcycle cop in Arizona who rides a standard issue Harley-Davidson Electra Glide machine. Bored with issuing tickets to errant motorists, he yearns a promotion to the homicide division.
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‘Road to Paloma’ (2014)
Jason Momoa makes his directorial debut with this thriller, in which he also stars as Wolf, a Native American fleeing from the law on a motorbike across the desolate West.
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‘Magnum Force’ (1973)
Inspector “Dirty” Harry Callahan (Clint Eastwood) is on the trail of three vigilante motorcycle policemen in ‘Magnum Force.’ The film’s finale takes place on an old aircraft carrier in a shipbreaker’s yard, where Callahan gives chase using a machine abandoned by one of the corrupt cops.
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‘Roustabout’ (1964)
Elvis Presley collected motorbikes, and appeared on several throughout his movie career in the 1960s. He’s pictured here in ‘Roustabout.’ He also uses a motorcycle extensively in 1967’s ‘Clambake.’
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‘Evel Knievel’ (1971)
Made during the height of the motorcycle daredevil’s career, ‘Evel Knievel’ sees George Hamilton portray the American stunt performer in this entertaining biopic. Actual footage of Knievel jumping his motorcycle was used throughout the film.
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‘Escape from L.A.’ (1996)
A sequel to ‘Escape from New York’ (1981), this time Snake Plissken (Kurt Russell) employs the use of a souped-up motorbike to chase down the bad guys.
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‘Erin Brockovich’ (2000)
Erin Brockovich (Julia Roberts) has a biker boyfriend (Aaron Eckhart) who’s prepared to give up his life on the road in order to support his partner as she fights against an energy corporation allegedly responsible for contaminating groundwater in this biographical drama.
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‘Coogan’s Bluff’ (1968)
The motorbike chase scene towards the end of this crime thriller sees Coogan (Clint Eastwood) riding a Triumph motorbike in hot pursuit of a wanted criminal on his motorcycle.
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‘The Girl on a Motorcycle’ (1968)
The girl in question is Rebecca, portrayed by English singer and actress Marianne Faithfull, who costars with Alain Delon in this British-French erotic drama directed by Jack Cardiff. Faithfull’s leather catsuit, worn in preference to a jacket, helped define the look of the film.
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‘À tout casser’ (1968)
Described by some critics as Johnny Hallyday’s “Elvis Presley movie,” ‘À tout casser,’ known in English as ‘Breaking It Up,’ follows bike gang leader Frankie (Hallyday) who opens a nightclub above the hideout of a ruthless mobster, who is planning a jewel heist.
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