The Wild One
1953 · USA · 79m
Obscurity: canon. watchable legally. banned somewhereBrando's motorcycle gang takes over a town. The film that invented teenage cool and terrified parents.
Biker
1966–1972 · 10 films catalogued
AIP's outlaw cycle. Started with a news story, ended when the counterculture stopped selling.
American International Pictures noticed the Hells Angels were in the papers and made The Wild Angels (1966) with Peter Fonda for $360,000. It took over $5 million, and American drive-ins ran on motorcycle films for six years.
The formula: a club, a town that does not want them, an act of violence, a funeral. Real outlaw clubs were often hired as extras and occasionally as security, with predictable results.
The cycle paid for Easy Rider (1969), same producer, same star, same economics. Easy Rider then killed it by proving the audience would pay for something better made.
Biker films on file
All 10 Biker films →
The Wild Angels
1966 · USA · 86m
Obscurity: known. watchable legallyCorman starts the cycle. Peter Fonda, real Hells Angels, and a funeral.
Hells Angels on Wheels
1967 · USA · 90m
Obscurity: known. watchable legallyThe biker cycle's Jack Nicholson entry, shot by Laszlo Kovacs and a cut above the AIP norm.
Stone
1974 · Australia · 103m
Obscurity: cult. watchable legallyAustralia's outlaw-biker scripture. Mad Max drank from this tank.
The Born Losers
1967 · USA · 114m
Obscurity: cult. watchable legallyThe first Billy Jack film, and much nastier than the sequels.
Angels Hard as They Come
1971 · USA · 85m
Obscurity: cult. watchable legallyJonathan Demme's first script, produced by Corman. Rashomon on bikes.
Psychomania
1973 · UK · 85m
Obscurity: obscure. watchable legallyZombie bikers, toad worship and George Sanders' last film. As English as horror gets.
Satan's Sadists
1969 · USA · 86m
Obscurity: obscureAl Adamson's grimiest, shot partly where the Manson family was living.
She-Devils on Wheels
1968 · USA · 82m
Obscurity: obscure. watchable legallyH.G. Lewis hands the gore to a real biker gang. The acting is a crime; the piano wire is the point.
Werewolves on Wheels
1971 · USA · 85m
Obscurity: obscure. watchable legallyExactly what it says, at half the pace you want.