Cinema has always had something of a vehicular fetish. Its heroes generally have to drive a car that’s cool, fast and, ideally, convertible. But you know what’s cooler, faster and more convertible than a car? A bike. Bikes represent freedom, danger, rebellion, a devil-may-care attitude to authority and a good thumbing of the nose at health-and-safety. To grossly paraphrase George Orwell, four wheels good, two wheels better. The following list, with one teensy exception, proves that celluloid bikes trump celluloid cars every time. 카지노사이트
Easy Rider – 1959 Harley-Davidson chopper
It’s only right that he ultimate iconic bike movie features the ultimate iconic movie bike, Easy Rider. Peter Fonda’s custom-built chopper was modified from a 1952 Harley-Davidson Hydra-Glide that he bought at a police auction. Add in the celebrated “Captain America” stars-and-stripes fuel tank, and Steppenwolf belting out a bit of “Born To Be Wild”, and you had a recipe for cool. Four bikes were used in filming. One was partially destroyed in the final scene, the other three were stolen and most probably stripped for parts. Forgive them, Lord, they know not what they do…
The Wild One – 1950 6T Triumph Thunderbird
Before Easy Rider came along with its long hair and hallucinogens, The Wild One was considered the ultimate in biker counterculture cool. Marlon Brando’s Johnny terrified civilised society with his leathers and his attitude. Indeed, the film was banned by British censors for 14 years, though today it feels sufficiently tame that you’d happily show it on CBeebies. Himself a bike enthusiast, Brando rode his own bike for the film. Triumph were initially deeply alarmed by the brand’s association with such an outrageous movie… until the sales figures started to go up.
Terminator 2: Judgement Day – Harley-Davidson Fat Boy
When Arnie’s T-800 arrives completely naked in a biker bar and asks a big, hairy dude for his clothes, his boots and his bike, he chooses well. Having turned the bar, the biker and several of his buddies inside out, he strolls outside and clambers aboard an absolute monster of a machine, with a roar like Barry White crossed with an angry tiger. Indeed, at 300kg, the bike was so heavy they had to use hidden wires to keep it under control during the famous storm drain jump in the film’s chase scene. In June 2018 the bike was sold at auction for $482,000 with only 392 miles on the clock. 안전한카지노사이트
Dumb And Dumber – The Hog
OK, from the biggest bike on the list to the smallest – by some distance. For reasons long-since forgotten, Lloyd (Jim Carrey) exchanges Harry’s (Jeff Daniels) massive dog-shaped car for the only vehicle less cool on the entire planet: The Hog – a tiny, stretched moped based on a weird little invention called a Taco 22. On it, they cross vast swathes of the American Midwest, in a not-terribly-rock’n’roll montage of streaming eyes and frozen snot. Also sold at auction in 2018, the motorised scooter fetched $50,000, proving that people will buy anything if it’s been in a film.
The World’s Fastest Indian – 1920 Indian Scout
Viewers of this delightful 2005 film starring Anthony Hopkins were initially bemused. It’s a Welshman playing a Kiwi riding a bike in the US. Where’s the Indian influence? The answer, of course, was the bike – a 1920 Indian Scout. The (true) story concerned Burt Munro, an eccentric New Zealander who modified his Indian Scout bike (600cc, top speed 55mph) to be 950cc and go at a bowel-clenching 205mph. He went on to race his bike at the Bonneville Salt Flats in the US, where it broke the speed record for a bike under 1,000cc. Almost 60 years later, the record, remarkably, still stands.
Top Gun – Kawasaki GPZ 900R Ninja
Unlike the other films on this list, in Top Gun the bike is completely incidental to the plot. It’s just in there to emphasise how cool Maverick is. Mind you, it does the job. Whether he’s racing jet fighters as they take off, going for a moody drive after (spoiler alert) Goose is killed or giving a backie to his Top Gun instructor and girlfriend Charlie Blackwood, he pretty much nails it. Clearly the whole bike thing worked, because in the long-awaited Top Gun 2, out this July, Maverick is back on a Kawasaki – The Ninja H2 Carbon, one of the fastest road bikes in the world.
Ghost Rider – Harley-Davidson Panhead chopper
This 2007 film starring Nicolas Cage featured a skeleton on fire, riding a bike on fire, leaving the road on fire. The only thing that wasn’t on fire, sadly, was the script. But there is no denying the bike – a customised Harley Panhead chopper, modelled on the “Captain America” Harley at the top of this list – had something about it. The Easy Rider tribute didn’t end there, either; the film’s villain, Mephistopheles, is played by Peter Fonda. 카지노사이트 추천
The Great Escape – 1961 Triumph TR6 Trophy Bird
plays Captain Virgil Hilts, a US airman who is part of a mass escape from Stalag Luft III. As the net closes on him, he commandeers a German army motorbike and attempts to jump his way over the border and to safety. McQueen himself did most of the stunts on the bike, though the film’s insurers wouldn’t let him do the now-legendary, gut-churning 60ft leap and a stuntman stepped in. After the film, the bike was sold to a farmer, who used it for herding cows – an ignominious end for perhaps the single most iconic bike in cinema history.