Greatest motorcycling sequence in a movie?
 

Well?

Despite a certain fondness for that bit in 'The World's Fastest Indian' where Burt comes steaming through the competition after a faulty start, I'm going to have to go with Steve McQueen heading for the Swiss frontier in 'The Great Escape'. It's probably the moment as a child I fell in love with motorbikes.

Any others worth a mention? (Just movies, not documentaries).

Matt :)

PS- This doesn't qualify, as it's in a cartoon, not a movie, but I LOVE the sequence in the Simpsons when Homer wins a Harley and rides it into church on Sunday and just sits there revving it over Rev. Lovejoy's sermon! :)

Not sure about the greatest, but one of the worst has to that in "Mission Impossible II". I owned a Triumph Speed Triple at the time and went to see the film purely because this bike was featured in it.

Film: Absolute drivel.
Bike sequence: terrible, plus the soundtrack was for a small capacity single, most definitely not a triple!

Motorcycle sequence
 

How about "Animal House" where the guy rides his triumph up the stairs. Or...dust to glory, great shots of racing baja, or Harley davidson and marlbourl man, funky movie but a honda rat chopper gets shot up. The original "On any sunday" has still got to be my favorite.

Freebie and the Bean.
Montesa cota stuck in traffic.

Best biking sequence?
 

Well, I know its a bit before most peoples time, but a scene that captures the essence of motorcycling: the freedom, the thrill and the danger, is the first 5 minutes of Lawrence of Arabia with Peter O'Toole.

I've never been near a bike that old (Brough Superior, no?), but the sound, the way the camera follows the road or pans as the bike goes past really makes me want to get on and ride.

Love it!!

Close second is the bit in MAd MAx when The Goose is riding home on some Z1000 before the dastardly biker gang ambushes him...

PS on a tangent: does anyone else become insanely irritated by the fact that in so many hollywood movies, they use the sound of some ropey GXS550 4 cyliner, or worse still a Harley sound, as the sound track to some Ducati, or Motoguzzi pulling away. No one ever heard of continuity??

Terminator 2
 

Arnie on a Harley and the dirtbike chase down the Los Angeles canal is worth a mention. They got the soundtrack wrong in that sequence too.

Bill is right about Dust To Glory. The segment where one rider takes to the beach in an attempt to catch up with the rider in front on the road is unforgettable. It's fantastically captured on film from the air but I suppose it's a documentary really.
Stephan

Arnie on a dirt bike
 

I stand to be corrected as always but wasn't Arnie on a VMAX for that scene.

I know it's so over the top it's ridiculous but the Ducati chase sequence in the Matrix was visually very impressive, it did have a very odd Harley type sound though.

Anyone remember the scene of the rockers heading to Brighton in Quadrophenia? Love that movie.

Easy rider, when they are going down the road standing on the saddle and mucking around.

Greatest line has to be from Mad Max, "see yer on the road skag"

Steve

Warthog I agree with the whole Mad Max image. I remember when I was younger watching that before I had a bike thinking how cool the goose was on his bike and how I wanted to be that bad. I have a couple 1970's Hondas that I restored and those cafe/rat bikes that the gang had kept coming to mind the whole time I was working on them.
While I have to admit Mila Jovovich is a hotty, the image was just pretty ridiculous. Well actually I think the whole movie was and that's propably why these scenes were to me. In the new Resident Evil movie the main gal is fighting zombies in a post apocalyptic world where there are only a handful of survivors and she gets around on a BMW K1200 I think, killing all these bad guys and trying to save the day. You have to give it to her though, she did look pretty bad on the bike.

Nathan

Oh yeah, great sequence :) . Got to see 'Lawrence of Arabia' at the cinema a few years ago (one of the advantages of living in Edinburgh, they do this sort of thing during the festival) and it was just an amazing experience. Always thought it was a great film but on the big screen...AMAZING!

Matt :)

Holywood gets it wrong! :(
 

Following on from the chat about putting the wrong sountracks to the wrong bikes.

The motorcycle and sidecar chase in 'Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade'. Not a bad chase sequence, but really, did they really think dressing up modern dirt bikes in german army green and hanging some webbing on them was going to fool anyone? Grrr...

Having said that, until I saw 'The Great Escape' I never realised the German Army were issued with triumphs! ;)

Matt :)

Quadrophenia
 

Yes, I rewatched it last month after nearly 20 years. The scooters scenes are cool too. :thumbup1:
Stephan

Quadrophenia! Bikes and scoots. I discovered this movie in my teens and it is an honest representation of everything that a teen goes through. Trying to fit in with drugs and cliques.
The scene riding along the cliffs to the conclusion is fantastic. All the while the Who soundtrack wailing at #11 volume. The whole movie just clicked for me. The album cover for Quadrophenia is a concept as well, surreal fog and the band in the mirrors.
We never really had a scooter scene here in N. America it would be interesting to hear tales of that time.

I need your boots, your clothes, and your motorcycle!
 

Arnie was on a Harley Fatboy that he stole in the opening sequence and the kid was on a dirtbike.

There's a little quiz here for those that like them. It mentions a few of the films covered in this thread.
Stephan

Got to be The Great Escape.

At least we all know Steve could really ride a bike even if he didn't do the actual jump.

Pet hates in films

Bikes on trailers shot from the front.

Fast fours that sound like slow twins.

Bikes that change from Choppers to MXers for the jump sequences.


"racing is life. Anything before or after is just waiting" Steve McQeen

Good quote! My personal favourite from Steve is "I'd rather wake up in the middle of nowhere than in any city on earth."

Matt

It has to be Mc Queen he ouzed cool.

But Lara croft in tomb raider is always worth watching.

Is there a bike movie equivalent of Ronin thats a great movie.:scooter:

Mission impossible the bikes switch from knobblies to road tyres and back durring the sequence.

what was the name again...
 

does anybody remember that movie from the late 90's, i think it had keefer sutherland in it and another guy?. they had just got out of prison and were robbing a bank...its all kind of vague, i dont rememeber.. but what i do remember is the two matching ducati 916's and the red el camino and the high speed chase, it was awesome.

and i have to say the mission impossible 2 scene with the triumph was kind of lame because, well tom cruise is nuts and u could totally see knobbies on the triumph when it was on the grass then just like MAGIC it had street tires on again.....lame.

biker boys was really horrible and its two hours of my life i will never get back, i mean, come on..chicks sword fighting with street bikes..every one knows girls dont sword fight....and as hard as u try...u cant make a kx250 look like a yamaha R1 just by putting fairings on it..

if
 

A memorable film called "if " starring Malcolm McDowell , a public schoolboy plays truant and he steals a BSA from a dealer's and heads out into the country with his mate on the back ,there follows an epic scene in a transport cafe .
Nice Beeza , nice roads and a beautiful exhaust note - marvellous !

An image that stays in the memory and it got me hooked on bikes .
http://i173.photobucket.com/albums/w...mickonbike.jpg

Top film.
 

They're a couple of scenes in Motorcycle Diaries that are great. The take off from BA with all the junk they got loaded on the bike and when they loose the Norton in the table drain.......

And it did sound like a Norton!!

Cheers

Vin Diesel!
 

I was just starting to feel depressed at all the classic movies that everyone mentions... thinking my taste is sooo immature in comparison. :rofl:

PLUS I loved - XXX, with Vin Diesel - doing a freestyle jump, whilst at the same time firing a firearm - FROM BOTH HANDS... :clap:

Ok - maybe its cos it was Vin Diesel. He could ride a Transalp, and I'd still think he's the hottest thing around!

Ha ha: made me laugh, too!

Film you're thinking of is Fled: one of the Baldwins and Lawrence Sideburne. I remember the scene, but I also remember the scene before it where said Baldwin spouts a crappy script about Ducati Dragon Corsa tyres (They're Pirellis, you goatherder!!), Ducati nine-sixteen (its 9-1-6 cretin!!) desmodue, desmo-dromadary so on and so forth.

Anyway, at the time, I had just got one of my first bikes (probably my 125 by then....) and I thought I knew it all, and hence was incenced by the lack of factual accuracy, meaning that I did not pay attention to the bike scene, as I was still throwing my duymmy out of the pram. Still good looking bikes, though...

Dont know if its been mentioned but Wild Hogs is kinda funny, but yeah agree with the biker boyz crap what a waste of a cinema ticket.

I have a vague feeling as anyone would at 2 in the morning that there is a new UK bike movie due out anytime soon Freebird not really heard anything about it.

Wasnt there another one called Torque wow when the old brain gets ticking there really are some crap bike movies out there.

Another classic The Wild One good old marlon brando.:scooter:

Steve McQueen in "The Great Escape" ( including his stuntman ) is the winner for me , having said that there's some pretty trick riding skills in For Your Eyes Only - 3 baddies on XT's !!! Check it out on You Tube

YouTube - My Favourite James Bond Bad guy Chase

And I thought I abused my XT.... I particularly like the bit at the end where one of the baddies picks up an XT 500 and chucks it at Bond !!!
Still bikes were lighter in the old days.

Mike

Has anyone seen Clint Eastwood riding a Bonnie back in 1968 in the movie Coogan's Bluff?

My memories are sketchy but I remember a long two-wheel controlled skid that impressed the hell out of me in Black Rain. The bikes were big fours that sounded like big fours and there were some crazy moments. The Japanese bad guy rode with a no-fear style that (to my faded memory) was very alright.

Annoyingly, like most bike movies, the cars manage to keep up with the bikes in the city traffic chase scenes. As if.

I believe Clint was on a TR6 and the baddie was on a 500 Daytona ,
--- whoops ! I've just had an anorak moment !

It was a good scene though
YouTube - Eastwood's Greatest Hits - Coogan's Bluff

I Robot

Will Smith jumps on a stunning black MV Augusta F4 about 10 min from the end. CGI all over the place. But still a lovely looking bike....

Homer?
 

Didn't Homer ride a motorcycle...... Or was it Marge?

"The World's Fastest Indian"
Not just a sequence, the whole movie.

Taxi. Never has a vespa looked so cool :thumbup1: