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Theoutlaw biker film is afilm genre that portrays its characters as motorcycle riding rebels. The characters are usually members of anoutlaw motorcycle club.
Outlaw biker clubs formed in the late 1940s on theWest Coast after the end of World War II. Their culture was first popularized in theMarlon Brando filmThe Wild One (1953), which tells a story based very loosely on actual events, the 1947Hollister riot. The film's success was followed by a string of low-budgetexploitation films aimed at a teenage audience such asMotorcycle Gang (1957) andThe Hot Angel (1958). But the genre really took off in the mid-1960s, after theHells Angels motorcycle club became prominent in the media,[1] in particular, afterHunter S. Thompson's bookHell's Angels: The Strange and Terrible Saga of the Outlaw Motorcycle Gangs (1966) was published.
In 1965, directorRuss Meyer madeMotorpsycho (akaMotor Psycho), an obscure film about an evil motorcycle gang led by a disturbed Vietnam War veteran. In 1966,American International Pictures (AIP) releasedThe Wild Angels withPeter Fonda,Bruce Dern, andNancy Sinatra. This film, aimed at the teenage drive-in crowd, was a surprise hit and a newexploitation film subgenre was born. AIP dominated the market and quickly released a semi-sequelDevil's Angels starring actor-directorJohn Cassavetes andThe Glory Stompers withDennis Hopper in 1967.
In 1968, AIP producedThe Mini-Skirt Mob,Angels from Hell, andThe Savage Seven (the film debut of actress/directorPenny Marshall). The company made five more biker gang films:Hell's Belles (1969),Hell's Angels '69 (1969),Angel Unchained (1970),The Hard Ride (1971), andChrome and Hot Leather (1971).
AIP and Fanfare Films also co-producedThe Born Losers (1967). Fanfare madeHells Angels on Wheels (1967) withJack Nicholson,Run, Angel, Run! (1969),Wild Wheels (1969), andNam's Angels (1970).
Other small independent filmmakers went on to produce dozens of low-budget biker films until the trend dissipated in the early '70s. Crown International produced and/or distributedWild Rebels (1967),The Hellcats (1968),The Sidehackers (1969),Wild Riders (1971), andPink Angels (1972). Independent-International Pictures Corp. produced three films in this genre directed byAl Adamson –Satan's Sadists (1969),Hell's Bloody Devils (1970), andAngels' Wild Women (1972).
The Rebel Rousers (filmed 1967, released 1970) featured Jack Nicholson,Bruce Dern, andHarry Dean Stanton. Dern also starred as a sadistic gang leader inThe Cycle Savages (1970). In 1969, Peter Fonda, Hopper, and Nicholson teamed up on the classic "hippie biker" movie,Easy Rider, the antithesis of the violent biker-gang genre.
Sonny Barger, founder of the Oakland chapter of the Hells Angels, was a consultant on several films. He and other gang members appeared as extras inHells Angels on Wheels andHell's Angels '69. The Hells Angels appeared as extras playing a gang called the Las Vegas Hotdoggers in theRoger Corman filmNaked Angels (1969) starringMichael Greene.
The Born Losers (1967) introducedTom Laughlin's character Billy Jack. Unable to get hisBilly Jack script produced, Laughlin wrote and directedThe Born Losers to capitalize on the current biker movie trend (which finally allowed him to makeBilly Jack in 1971). The story was inspired by news reports of the Hells Angels terrorizing a California community. As a cost-saving measure, a stunt scene of a motorcycle crashing into a pond was taken from co-producer AIP's comedyThe Ghost in the Invisible Bikini (1966).
The Born Losers is also significant for its social criticism and portrayal of the biker gang as a force of pure, unredeemable evil. Here, for the first time, a lone hero stands up to, and ultimately defeats, the gang. Prior to this, the majority of the films in this genre imitatedThe Wild One with a sympathetic gang member (the reluctant leader or a new member) who ultimately rejects the outlaw biker lifestyle. Prime examples are the Fonda character inThe Wild Angels, Jack Nicholson inHells Angels on Wheels (1967), andJoe Namath inC.C. and Company (1970).
Jack Starrett has the role of a tough-talking police officer. He played essentially the same character inHells Angels on Wheels andAngels from Hell (1968). Starrett was also inHell's Bloody Devils (1970), and directedRun, Angel, Run (1969) . InNam's Angels (1970) the bikers are portrayed as patriotic heroes sent on a rescue mission to Vietnam.
A number of novelty films were made featuring all-female biker gangs such asThe Hellcats akaBiker Babes (1967),She-Devils on Wheels (1968),The Mini-Skirt Mob (from AIP) withSherry Jackson andHarry Dean Stanton (1968),Sisters in Leather (1969) with Pat Barrington,Angels' Wild Women (1972),Cycle Vixens (1978), andChrome Angels (2009).
The Pink Angels (1971) is a somewhat campy film about a gang of homosexual bikers who head down the coast to attend a drag ball.Bury Me an Angel (1972) is a revenge story featuring a female biker (and female director).Angels' Wild Women (1972) centers around a group of tough female bikers who dominate men and eventually go a revenge-driven rampage. The story (and originalScreaming Angels title) was changed after the producers found theaters were no longer interested in traditional biker films. Inspired by the popularity ofRoger Corman'sThe Big Doll House (1971), a violentwomen in prison film withPam Grier, new scenes were added featuring aggressive female bikers and a Pam Grier lookalike was added to the cast. The reworked and retitled film was a box office success.
InJapan, female biker films became popular starting withAlleycat Rock: Female Boss (a.k.a.Stray Cat Rock: Delinquent Girl Boss orFemale Juvenile Delinquent Leader: Alleycat Rock orWildcat Rock) (1970). This trend was part of thesukeban (delinquent girl) subgenre ofToei's "Pinky violence" style ofPink film. The series continued withStray Cat Rock: Wild Jumbo,Stray Cat Rock: Sex Hunter,Stray Cat Rock: Machine Animal andAlleycat Rock: Crazy Riders '71. Another similar series of exploitation films with female bikers includesDelinquent Girl Boss: Ballad of the Yokohama Hoods (1971),Girl Boss: Queen Bee Strikes Again (a.k.a.Girl Boss Blues: Queen Bee’s Counterattack) (1971), andGirl Boss Guerilla (1972).
In 1970,Roger Corman left AIP to formNew World Pictures which releasedAngels Die Hard (1970),Angels Hard as They Come (1971), andBury Me an Angel (1971).
As the trend began to lose momentum, filmmakers started to create horror hybrids such asWerewolves on Wheels (1971) andBlood Freak (1972). The British horror filmPsychomania (1973) involves a biker gang that makes a pact with the devil to obtain immortality.
Black motorcycle gangs appeared in a fewblaxploitation films such asThe Black Angels (1970) andThe Black Six (1974).
The biker gang ethos also featured strongly in the famed low budget Australian productionMad Max (1979, dir. George Miller, starring Mel Gibson), with the film spawning the real-life subculture ofsurvival bikes.
By the late 1980s, the once shocking and controversial genre became an object of campy humor in horror-comedies such asChopper Chicks in Zombietown (1989),I Bought a Vampire Motorcycle (1990), andBiker Zombies (2001).
Beyond the Law (1992) is based on a true story and centers on Dan Saxon (Charlie Sheen), an undercover cop who infiltrates a group of criminal outlaw bikers.Larry Ferguson wrote the screenplay after reading the article "Undercover Angel" byLawrence Linderman in the July, 1981 issue of Playboy on an undercover agent named Dan Black.
2000 filmHochelaga, a French-Canadian movie byMichel Jetté that depicts biker gang culture and activity inMontréal,Québec during theQuébec Biker War of the late 90s and early 2000s.
2003 filmBiker Boyz, starringLaurence Fishburne andDjimon Hounsou, depicts illegal bike racing gangs, although neither are criminals.
2004 filmTorque, which featuresAdam Scott,Martin Henderson andIce Cube, is about a biker who is faced by a rival gang leader for taking his bikes (which carry drugs), and is then framed for the murder of a member of a third gang.
Quentin Tarantino served as executive producer onHell Ride (2008) starring Dennis Hopper and Michael Madsen. This is an homage to the motorcycle gang films of the past. It was written and directed byLarry Bishop, who acted in a number of biker films such asThe Savage Seven (1968). Tarantino is a noted fan of theAustralian biker movie,Stone (1974).[2]
Sons of Anarchy (2008–2014) is an Americantelevision drama series about a California motorcycle club. The series premiered on September 3, 2008, oncable networkFX.
The documentaryBiker Mania (2009) includes a compilation of theater trailers and footage that tracks the history of the genre from the 1950s to the present.
Edward Winterhalder is the subject of a feature-length documentary movie about the outlaw biker lifestyle that is being filmed in Dubai and the US.[3]
Mayans M.C. (2018–2023) is an American television drama series that takes place in the same fictional universe asSons of Anarchy and focuses on the Sons' rivals-turned-allies, the Mayans Motorcycle Club.
The Bikeriders (2023) film is inspired by thephoto-book of the same name byDanny Lyon, depicting the Vandals Motorcycle Club in the 1960s-70s, a fictional version of theOutlaws Motorcycle Club.
After the release ofThe Wild One (1953), the image of the motorcycle gang, particularly the Marlon Brando character, inspired many imitators and satires in films and television shows.
