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RAINIER BEER: THE MOTORCYCLE SPOT (1979)

Run Time: 0:30
A Film By: Rainier Beer, Heckler-Bowker
Key Cast: Randy Chase

FILM MAKERS

For many years, advertising was held in contempt.

Rainier Beer was born in Seattle in 1878. Throughout the 1900s, Rainier became a regional powerhouse in the West Coast beer world. In 1954, the iconic Rainier “R” sign was raised above the brewery and became a landmark of the Seattle skyline. The 1970’s brought a brilliant ad campaign of creative, whimsical short films by advertising firm Heckler-Bowker. One of the most memorable being “The Motorcycle Spot”. The brewery closed in 1999, and Pabst Brewing Company acquired the brand, moving production out of state for a time, however Local brewing returned in 2016 with a retro recipe and the classic “R” sign was restored to the Seattle skyline, once again cementing its legacy.

In 2024, the documentary ‘Rainier: A Beer Odyssey’ debuted at the 2024 Seattle International Film Festival. An epic story of the classic beer ads that help define the Pacific Northwest in the 1970s. Using hundreds of hours of original outtakes spanning over 50 years of Rainier Beer’s history. It is the definitive story of the television commercials that changed advertising as we know it forever. Watch the restored version of this ad, which doubled as a teaser for the documentary.

Watch the official documentary film trailer and visit www.rainierbeermovie.com for more information, merchandise (including a t-shirt of the motorcycle ad), and upcoming screenings in 2025/26.

SUMMARY

The most perfect ad I’ve ever seen.

Ed Leimbacher was the lead writer-producer of Rainier Beer ads between 1973 and 1985. Below is an excerpt from his blog, focusing on “The Motorcycle Spot”.

“I want to focus on a few TV ads that gave me some extra pleasure, or headaches, or both. The Motorcycle Spot, for example, really was the all-Northwest all-time favorite. Very simple: camera looking down a straight back-country road, nothing in sight, then gradually a spot becoming a motorcycle coming straight at the camera, passing close, flash-pan to follow it tailing off toward a looming Mount Rainier—and all the while the shifting gears have been keening/singing, distantly at first, then louder and louder, “Raaaaiiiii-niiieeeerrrr… (zoom by and receding sound) Beeeeerrrrrr…”

Looked amazingly simple, but of course there was much going on behind the scene. Building the soundtrack, for example, we found that we could not stretch the words out over the full 30 seconds, had to settle for 20-plus to be understandable—which meant the visuals had to not show any bike at first. Then trying to capture the actual motorcycle shot we found that we could not pan fast enough as the bike passed, so we had to make a hidden cut during the pan. And neither the weather nor the motorcycle itself cooperated at first—we had to go out filming on three different days to get the bike actually operating properly, at a time when Mount Rainier was also visible!

And, finally, I had the perfect visual tagline to be supered over the end-of-spot receding bike: “Geared for Thirst.” But neither Heckler nor the Rainier people were willing to give up the bland accepted slogan “Mountain Fresh to Go,” so my tag never appeared. Anyone reading this now has the real scoop of what should have been shown!” – Ed Leimbacher

*Who came up with the idea for the motorcycle spot? Clay Eals knows! He wrote about it for The Oregonian newspaper back in 1979. Turns out it was a couple of students paid 500!. When Clay saw the documentary, he contacted filmmaker Isaac Olsen, who now plans to feature them in a sequel focusing on the motorcycle spot. Stay tuned! Read more here.

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