Danny Lyon: The Bikeriders

Product Information

Kathy (Comer), a strong-willed member of the Vandals who’s married to a wild, reckless bikerider named Benny (Butler), recounts the Vandals’ evolution over the course of a decade, beginning as a local club of outsiders united by good times, rumbling bikes, and respect for their strong, steady leader Johnny (Hardy). The cast, most of whom did their own riding on an array of period-correct bikes, also includes Michael Shannon (“Bullet Train”), Mike Faist (“West Side Story”), Boyd Holbrook (“Logan”) and Norman Reedus (“The Walking Dead”).

The Bikeriders | Book tickets at Cineworld Cinemas

Pre Pantani, but post the war years of cycling, which are captured in Riding in the Zone Rouge, this is another important read to fully understand how the top riders are considered superstars, and how much pressure there was to perform. And it would be easy, and a tad lazy, to label The Bikeridersas a picture-book movie (Adam Stone’s cinematography is undeniably sublime) about pretty boys on their fast, gleaming choppers.But that fight is left hanging mid-brawl as the focus shifts to Kathy’s first meeting, through a friend, with the grubby, pawing Vandals, whose only attraction for her is how hot Benny looks.

Bikeriders (2023) - IMDb The Bikeriders (2023) - IMDb

Looking back into the past is alway problematic as our vision of "how things were" rarely jive with reality. With a preface for the new edition and the introduction to the 1968 edition by Danny Lyon as well as narratives describing the bikers' life on trips throughout he Midwest and the Southern States of America. He eventually immersed himself in this subculture of men, women and bikes, creating photos that are now an archaeological document of a lost time. The film appears to not actually be about Lyon’s experience with the Chicago Outlaws, but a fictional story about a motorcycle gang.

Seen through the lives of its members, the club evolves over the course of a decade from a gathering place for local outsiders into a more sinister gang, threatening the original group’s unique way of life. Much of Kathy’s narration/conversation is taken from Lyon’s interviews for his oral history, and Comer delivers it with an Upper Midwest accent in high gear. But it’s a middle-of-the-day face-to-face between Johnny and Kathy that presents the toughest challenge.

The Bikeriders by Danny Lyon | Goodreads

This is the perfect cycling book for anyone wanting to level up their understanding and knowledge of the sometimes confusing carnival of racing.

It gives the foundation for understanding why the likes of David Millar and Thomas Dekker fell in to the dark side of performance enhancing drugs, better than they could do themselves in their own autobiographies. That’s a hard road to travel when the finished movie stars Austin Butler ( Elvis), Jodie Comer ( Killing Eve), and Tom Hardy ( Mad Max: Fury Road), who aren’t exactly lacking in screen charisma. Johnny asks, after one of his customary long pauses, on the rare occasions when someone throws down the gauntlet to challenge him. Inspiration reads can put a spring in your step or a tail wind on your back for the rest of the day.