FILM REVIEW
THE BIKERIDERS
Rated R
116 Minutes
Released June 21st, Still in Theatres, also online on Prime, Apple TV and other VOD platforms
I welcome that history seems to be a trend in films right now. Historical knowledge is vital in navigating the present, and there is not enough emphasis on it in our mass communications landscape. The Bikeriders tells the story of a motorcycle club in the nascent stages of that phenomenon. The inspiration was a 1967 photography book called The Bikeriders, by Danny Lyon, memorializing bikers of a Midwest club in the mid-1960’s -early 1970’s called The Outlaws. In the film, they are called The Vandals, with characters based on the real members. The Outlaws still exists and is one of the Big Four motorcycle clubs.
Lyons’ photo books are iconic. Lyon, now 82, was a budding photojournalist and a motorcycle enthusiast. He worked in the style of Photographic New Journalism, where the photographer becomes immersed in the subject, so it was fitting that one of his earliest projects was to embed himself in The Outlaws to record their adventures. He joined the club and was a member in 1966-67. Lyon became a legend of his craft. In 1962, he had been inspired by a speaker he was photographing, John Lewis, who called on his audience to take part in the Civil Rights movement. From then on, Lyon was present at almost every Civil Rights event, recording images in detail. John Lewis, of course, became a Civil Rights Icon and Congressman who served in the House for 16 terms until his death in 2020.
Writer/director Jeff Nichols had been intrigued for years about making a biker film set in the ‘60’s. When he brought up the idea to his friend, actor Michael Shannon in 2018, Shannon replied, “You’ve been talking about that damn film for so long. You’re never gonna make that film!” That was enough to set the wheels in motion. Nichols backed out of his commitment to direct A Quiet Place: Day One, to write and shoot The Bikeriders. He’s written an excellent script, not afraid to use sparse dialogue. The actors speak volumes through their movements and facial expressions, and the timing running through the narrative is fluid and balanced. A sense of angst picks up gradually throughout the film.
Nichols assembled a superb ensemble of actors who developed an intense chemistry that drives the story. Tom Hardy’s “Johnny” is the leader. Austin Butler plays one of the newer, more volatile members. Butler was in awe of Hardy’s work, and as he noted, “You never know when you meet your heroes if you’re going to get along.” Later, he noted, “Tom makes me laugh harder than almost anyone in the world.” The director and producers were floored when Hardy did his first scene in character. Nichols also noted that Butler’s presence started to “change the way people behave.” There is a scene of Butler lifting his head from a pool table early in the film that eerily reflects one of Lyons’ photos. Jodi Comer, who plays “Kathy,” nails her role. Although she is British, Comer is from Liverpool from a working-class family. Before her success as an actress, she was a checker at the Tesco supermarket and worked in a bar. With no traditional acting training, Comer is that rarity who can instinctively pull a character out of her own experience. Nichols added two great monologues for Shannon, who plays “Zipco.” In one scene, Shannon begins as a comedian and gradually slips over that thin line between comedy and tragedy flawlessly. Nichols realized that a line that came directly from Lyons’ book “was really building out the psychology of all these guys. They felt undesirable. They felt unwanted. And that’s why they all ended up together.”
The afternoon before I saw the film, I had visited the Dogtown Skateboarders exhibition in the Santa Monica Heritage Museum. One of the photos of this band of enthusiasts of speed, skill, and risk had suggested that their common bond was an aggression born of loneliness and an overflow of energy that linked them together as a band of brothers. These same forces drew the members of the motorcycle club together.
Kathryn Whitney Boole has spent most of her life in the entertainment industry, which has been the backdrop for remarkable adventures with extraordinary people. She is a Talent Manager with Studio Talent Group in Santa Monica. kboole@gmail.com
