Vroom with a view
The new ‘Indiana Jones’ and ‘Mission Impossible’ bring motorcycle love back to the big screen
The movies like certain modes of transportation more than others: blimps and mini-vans, no; rocket ships and muscle cars, yes. Motorcycles are definitely a yes. In “Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny,” Indy rides in a sidecar while fighting with a Nazi motorcyclist, and Ethan Hunt roars through chases in Rome and the Austrian Alps in “Mission: Impossible — Dead Reckoning Part One,” which opens July 12. He does not, however, ride one in chases through the Abu Dhabi airport or Venice. Even Tom Cruise can do only so much.
Motorcycles are fast and sleek and sexy and loud. They’re like horses, only with RPMs. With westerns pretty much gone, the movies love motorcycles all the more.
Their onscreen history is surprisingly long and more complex than you might think. Fritz Lang uses one to thrilling effect in “Spies” (1928). In Frank Capra’s “Meet John Doe” (1941), the D.B. Norton Motor Corps is as frightening a vision of an incipient American fascism there has been until . . . recently. Frightening in a different way is Jean Cocteau’s using motorcyclists to represent angels of death in “Orpheus” (1950).
Let’s face it, though, it’s the speedand-action aspect that has predominated with motorcycles onscreen. Here are some notable examples.
The Wild One (1953) As a movie, it’s fairly dreadful. But as a cultural marker? That’s a very different story. Marlon Brando plays Johnny, the leader of a motorcycle gang. “What are you rebelling against, Johnny?” he’s asked. His answer is the most sweeping rhetorical question in movie history: “Whaddya got?”
The Great Escape (1963) The climax of the movie remains the onscreen motorcycle chase. The Nazis are in hot pursuit of escaped POW Steve McQueen, who’s trying to rev his way to Switzerland on a Triumph TR6 650. Vroom, vroom? Vroom, vroom.
AIP biker movies American International Pictures released a road rally’s worth of motorcycle movies in the ’60s and early ’70s. They were pretty much straight-to-drive-in product — but often with memorable casting: Jack Nicholson, Peter Fonda, Dennis Hopper, Bruce Dern, Harry Dean Stanton, John Cassavetes (!), Nancy Sinatra (!!), Penny Marshall (!!!). The titles are right up there, too: “The Wild Angels” (1966); “Devil’s Angels,” “Hell’s Angels on Wheels,” “The Born Losers” (all 1967), “The Savage Seven” (1968); “The Cycle Savages” (1970). “Chrome and Hot Leather” (1971), as a title, could suffice for the whole genre.
Easy Rider (1969) Speaking of Nicholson, Fonda, and Hopper, those AIP pictures here achieve their cultural apotheosis. Like “The Wild One,” “Easy Rider” is an awful movie — actually, it’s worse, since at least “The Wild One” isn’t pretentious — but it’s an inescapable cultural touchstone. And Nicholson gives a wonderful performance.
Purple Rain (1984) The questions isn’t whether Prince, forced to choose between them, would go with his guitar or his bike. The answer is his guitar, obviously. The question is how long it would have taken him to decide.
Top Gun (1986)/Top Gun: Maverick (2022) Tom Cruise’s Navy fighter pilot has a serious need for speed. So when he’s not high in the sky breaking the sound barrier he’s getting around on the ground with a Kawasaki GPZ900R.
Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade (1989) Motorcycles in the movies even have the power to enhance father-son relations. Here it’s Indy behind the handlebars, and his dad (Sean Connery) in a sidecar.
Short Cuts (1993) Motorcyclists aren’t just rebels and escaping POWs and bikers and outlaws and rock stars and fighter jocks. There are motorcycle police, too. Not that Tim Robbins’s cop in Robert Altman’s film is all that attractive a character.
The Dark Knight Rises (2012) In motorcycle movies, it’s usually a guy who’s burning rubber on a bike. Here it’s Anne Hathaway, as Catwoman. She handles the Batcycle with a skill and aplomb even Steve McQueen might find hard to match.
The Grand Budapest Hotel (2014) Might Willem Dafoe’s murderous motorcycle rider be inspired by “Orpheus”? Maybe, since Wes Anderson is a devotee of French cinema. A likelier inspiration, though, is “Spies,” which is closer in setting, both temporal and geographic.
Mad Max: Fury Road (2015) In “Mad Max” (1979) and “The Road Warrior” (1981), it’s baddie bikers Mel Gibson’s Max is up against. Motorcycles don’t figure in “Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome” (1985). In the latest installment, bikes are among the many motor vehicles speeding through the outback. This time Max (Tom Hardy) gets to do some riding of his own.
Toy Story 4 (2019) Duke Caboom, voiced by Keanu Reeves, is a daredevilbiker action figure. He’s clearly modeled on Evel Knievel — a sort of flesh-andblood daredevil-biker action figure. Duke’s a bit of a doofus, but he also saves the day. The movies don’t just love motorcycles. They love motorcyclists, too.
Oh, in case you’re wondering, yes, there’s an Evel Knievel biopic (1971). George Hamilton, of all people, plays the jumpsuit-wearing gentleman in question.
In case you’re also wondering, yes, there is a blimp movie. “Black Sunday” (1977) also involves the Super Bowl and a terrorist attack. A few motorcycles couldn’t have hurt. Actually, Bruce Dern is second billed, so there is — kind of, sort of — an AIP biker connection. Vroom, uh, vroom.