22 January 2025
Motorbikes have made a up a key component of films, particularly action movies, for years. The thrilling chases and stunts available to stunt coordinators mean they have proven popular for all sorts of shoots, from major franchises like the James Bond, Indiana Jones, and Jason Bourne series’, to smaller, lower budget offerings, and from modern block-busters to classic films. Here are some of the most iconic scene-stealing motorbikes from across the years.
There is no chance to determine an absolute ultimate two-wheeled film icon - it’s like asking which actor is someone’s favourite Bond; it’s too personal an opinion. But one of the undisputed contenders is the bike chase sequence from The Great Escape.
Film makers used a Triumph TR6 Trophy for Steve McQueen’s ill-fated escape, which not only looked great, but also coped with the demands of speed, agility, and jumping that the film needed. No mean bike-handler himself, McQueen did some of the riding in the final edits, though for that famous series of jumps, his friend and bike-customiser Bud Ekins rode carried out the stunts. However, McQueen was ‘on-screen’ twice in certain shots, in the background as a German guard riding a bike, while Ekins was McQueen. Although it’s no BMW R75 - which would be period-correct - the idea of not seeing the Triumph in The great Escape is now inconceivable.
There are few bikes with a larger on-screen presence than the Harley Fat-Boy seen in Terminator 2. Arnold Schwarzenegger leaping down into the Los Angeles river is a truly iconic action bike scene, even if it was Arnie’s regular stunt-double - Peter Kent - who actually carried out the stunt. This particular stunt was carried out with wires, removed in post-production, as the bike was simply too heavy, but the Fat Boy was otherwise a standard machine, and helped give Harley-Davidson a crucial shot in the arm in terms of sales.
With an engine almost as massive as the noise it produced, the Fat Boy had launched the year before its starring role, and was effectively styled to match, with leather seat and panniers complementing the T-800’s outfit. We wonder if there was any thought to pinstripe Arnie to match the Fat Boy?
This writer’s mind thinks that the mention of a Ducatin in Matrix Reloaded is a more recent movie reference, but the film is more than 20 years old! The site of a Trinity carrying the Keymaker through LA traffic on the back of a deep green Ducati is one that sticks in the mind, and much of the stunt set-up was real. The jump at the start was carried out with wires, so as to not break the bike in half from the get-go, and some of the shots were completed in CGI, but the film makers built a mile and a half of replica freeway on an old US Air Force runway, at staggering cost, to get that ‘real feel’ to proceedings.
In total, more than 300 cars were destroyed, and Ducati’s already popular 996 was made more popular still, and even spawned an official Matrix Reloaded edition in that lustrous racing green.
We’re not talking about the Harley-Davidsons used in the Marvel Captain America films, rather a more classic take on the combination. The Wild One chopper embodied in two-wheel form the rebellious spirit that the film captured, and almost became a character in its own right during the cross-country trip - impressive considering the actual cast included the likes of Peter Fonda, Dennis Hopper, and Jack Nicholson.
From being a peripheral element of the biking industry, The Wild One put choppers in the mainstream, letting imagination run riot with customised forks, seats, wheels, bodywork… the possibilities were almost endless. There are no definitive tales of what was used as the foundations for Captain America, and nothing is certain about what happened to the models used in the film either, which only adds to the air of mystery surrounding the icon.
As one of the best actors of his time, a young Marlon Brando performance in The Wild One launched a whole generation of biker rebels. Although few actually followed the violent, lawless nature of his character, many copied his style and set of wheels, with the Triumph, leather jacket, and white t-shirt becoming the look of the late Fifties.
Sales of motorbikes and leathers soared following its release; not bad for a production that was banned in the UK for more than a decade from its production. Then again, that ban only added to the film’s ethos, as did the Thunderbird 6T, which became a cafe racer par excellence.
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