10 must-watch motorcycle movies

Australia’s best known motorcycle film, Stone is the story of a detective of the same name who goes undercover among the Grave Diggers Motorcycle Club to find out who is killing off its members. It was filmed in Sydney and its surrounds in 1973 and released the following year and earned a cult following from the use of the era’s much-loved Kawasaki Z900. Despite its R rating and low-budget production, Stone grossed $1,572,000 at the Australian box office. The movie was directed and produced by Sandy Harbutt, who passed away in November 2020. Harbutt also played Undertaker, the leader of the Grave Diggers, and a major character in the film.

The 1935 musical comedy starring George Formby which follows the fictional story of George Shuttleworth’s desire and plight to win the Isle of Man TT. The 80-minute feature was filmed during the 1935 TT event before its release in October the same year. If not the first, it is certainly remembered as one of the most successful early TT films and the one which shot Formby to fame following its success. In fact, a life-sized statue was erected in Douglas on the Isle of Man to commemorate the likeable actor’s achievements.

The 1971 film was a motorcycle documentary that hit the mainstream. Directed by Bruce Brown, it documented the stories behind the men whose lives revolved around bikes and featured big names like Steve McQueen, Mert Lawill and Malcolm Smith. It was so popular it earned an Academy Award nomination for Best Documentary Feature. Brown’s son Dana released a sequel some 43 years later called On Any Sunday: the next chapter which used the same documentary-style method, albeit with modern riders such as freestyle motocross star Robbie Maddison, MotoGP’s Dani Pedrosa and profoundly deaf Women's MX champ Ashley Fiolek.

Released in 2013, the 12 O’clock Boys documents the story of a notorious motorcycle gang based in Baltimore in the United States. But instead of the cliche leather-clad custom-cruiser riding gang member, the 12 o’clock boys stick to unregistered dirtbikes and ride them everywhere – usually on the back wheel. The film tells the story of a 13-year-old Baltimore boy who will do almost anything to join the ranks of the illegal dirtbikers.

No list of motorcycle movies would be complete without this one. Starring Steve McQueen, Charles Bronson and Richard Attenborough, The Great Escape was a 1963 war movie which told the story of several hundred allied officers’ escape from a German prisoner of war camp during World War II. The movie’s most memorable and famous scene was when McQueen, riding a Triumph TR6 (made to look like a BMW), escaped his pursuers by successfully jumping and landing a barbed-wire fence. While McQueen was an avid (and highly skilled) motorcycle fanatic, the stunt itself was performed by Bud Ekins.

Starring two-time 500cc world champ Barry Sheene as himself, Space Riders was a whacky oh-so ’80s film which accounts the tale of Sheene chasing his elusive third world championship. Using a mix of both original and wildly unrealistic footage, the 1984 British sports drama ran for 99 minutes and was released in three languages: English, Japanese and Italian. Many would argue the soundtrack was better than the film with gems like Queen’s Don't Stop Me Now and Duran Duran’s Hungry Like the Wolf doubling on many occasions as the film’s narration.

Possibly the only motorcycle movie that has left mums all over the world in tears, The World’s Fastest Indian chronicles the journey of New Zealander Burt Munro’s quest for a land-speed record at the legendary Bonneville Salt Flats riding his modified Indian Scout Streamliner. Released a decade ago in 2005, Munro was played by British actor Anthony Hopkins who would later name the role as his favourite. The heart-warming film grossed US$18,297,690 ($A25m) at the box office.

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The 2015 film Hitting the Apex is Mark Neale’s sixth motorcycle documentary after Faster, Faster & Faster, The Doctor, the Tornado and the Kentucky Kid, Charge and Fastest. It was produced and narrated by bike-mad actor Brad Pitt and stars the protagonists of MotoGP including Valentino Rossi, Marc Marquez, Casey Stoner, Dani Pedrosa, Jorge Lorenzo and the late Marco Simoncelli. The documentary explores the limits and dangers the riders find and taunt in order to be successful, and the film also features the fathers of Lorenzo, Simoncelli and Rossi. The most modern MotoGP documentary to date, the Los Angeles Times described the film as “a masterwork of motorsports moviemaking”.

The original and iconic motorcycle movie, The Wild One was probably the first leather-clad biker gang film when it was released in 1953. Hollywood hero Marlon Brando played the main role as gang leader Johnny Strabler and the film, which shows the group terrorising small towns for fun, has often been blamed for the long-standing stereotype that all bikers are baddies. Brando rode a 1953 Triumph Thunderbird in the film, and much to the delight of the British brand at the time, did wonders for sales and marketing. It helped, too, the fact that the film was actually banned in the UK for over 15 years due to its then-challenging themes. It was based on real-life events in California some six years earlier when motorcycle gangs wreaked havoc in the small town of Hollister. Despite not being a smash hit at the time, the 70-minute film is landmark in terms of Brando’s and motorcycles’ most iconic roles.

This article was originally published on December 24, 2021.