The Vintagent Trailers: A preview of our favorite feature films out there.
MOTORCYCLE MOMENT (2025)
Run Time: 6:00
Producer: Harrod Blank, Les Blank Films
Director: Les Blank
Editor: Ben Abrams
Key Cast: Bill Robertson
FILM MAKERS
Les Blank (1935-2013) was an internationally renowned, independent filmmaker, whose poetic work offers intimate, idiosyncratic glimpses into the lives, culture, and music of the passionate people at the periphery of American society. Blank is perhaps best known for his feature-length Burden of Dreams (1982), documenting the chaotic production of fellow director, and friend, Werner Herzog’s 1982 film “Fitzcarraldo” in the jungles of South America. Roger Ebert called Burden of Dreams, “…one of the most remarkable documentaries ever made about the making of a movie.” Another of Blank’s best-loved works is Garlic Is As Good As Ten Mothers (1980), a seminal food film featuring culinary pioneer Alice Waters, and the Gilroy Garlic Festival. This film, notorious for its mouthwateringness, was initially shown in “Aromaround” with garlic simultaneously roasted in-theater…
Prior to Les Blank’s death, in April of 2013, the non profit “Les Blank Films Inc.” was created and son Harrod Blank, a filmmaker in his own right, became the organization’s president. Since his father’s passing, Harrod Blank has been working with a talented team of post-production experts to remaster several of Les’s most popular films. Harrod also has plans for a biography about his father, (tentatively titled, “Les Blank: A Quiet Revelation.” – Read more at LesBlankFilms.com
SUMMARY
In 1964, Legendary Bay Area filmmaker Les Blank filmed 45 minutes of motorcycles for a documentary film that was never completed. Before his death in 2013, he asked his son Harrod Blank to cut the footage to the music of The 13th Floor Elevators. Edited by Ben Abrams, this film captures the vastness of the American West at a time when the motorcycle was the ultimate in highway adventure.
Motorcycle Moment premiered in 2025 at the Big Sky Documentary Film Festival. The film is currently on the film festival circuit and is not yet available to watch online. Stay tuned!
*Moto Movie Trivia: Harrod posted recently to his Instagram “Many people do not know but Les Blank was a camera man on the film Easy Rider (1969) and shot the mushroom scene in the cemetery.”
RELATED MEDIA
‘A decade after his death, Bay Area director’s lost film gets a second life’ – Read the article at SF Gate
Read an in depth interview with Les Blank by BYOD via YouTube video.






Damn …. a genuine documentary created by a genuine talent … with some genuine depth and experience behind him .. ( ahhh the mushrump scene .) with damn good music to boot … then his passing doesn’t allow its finish .
Damn !!!
Sometime life ( & death ) really is a b**** !
Here’s hoping the reboot is at least half as good as the original trailer .
And here’s hoping once its finished its festival tour … it finds its way either on PPV or online .
Damn Corrina … nice catch … damn nice catch indeed !!!!
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BTW Corrina .. FYI that Youtube link you posted at the end is no longer working so ……… well … you know .
Sigh …. the enshitification of all things digital … one minute the door is wide open … the next … there is no door .. never was ….. never will be … was all an illusion … hell there’s not even such a thing as a door … sheesh …
&$!#%
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Uh ohhhh … thought sumpin was more than a bit off about Blanks involvement with ” Easy Rider ”
#1… oh dear Corrina .. thou screwed up big time
Thems weren’t no Magic Mushrumps my dear .. that scene was all about Dr Hoffman’s sometimes wonderful .. sometimes devastating innovation … e.g.
Acid / LSD …
#2 … Oops again my dear ….. Blank was initially involved with shooting the scene along with a cadre of other independent film makers .. but was later replaced by a professional crew .. so aint no Blank present in the final product
Oh dear Corrina … bad links … misinformation … inaccuracy prevailing …
Oh well … ya did kind of fool me fer a minute or two.. though from the get go it nagged the hell outta me .. so guess I can’t b**** too much … but ahh … I will ( LoL )
But hey … this film still looks like a winner … and because of this article .. might jes grab me a DVD or two of his other work .. and loves that green T shirt with his bearded mug on the front
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it was literally a quote from his own son! I made the decision to let it stand and not rag on him with commentary on how he may have misspoken. Perhaps being a bit hyper critical? but don’t worry, i can take it.
*Moto Movie Trivia: Harrod posted recently to his Instagram “Many people do not know but Les Blank was a camera man on the film Easy Rider and shot the mushroom scene in the cemetery.”
Cliff Vaughs mentioned Les Blank’s involvement in the film during his tenure, which basically only lasted through the New Orleans shoot. Hopper was a paranoid madman and a tyrant as director, and blew through their entire $100k budget on that scene, according to Cliff, and Peter Fonda’s autobiography ‘Don’t Tell Dad’.