The Vintagent Trailers: Dust To Glory
https://vimeo.com/687275335
The Vintagent Trailers: A preview of our favorite feature films out there.
DUST TO GLORY (2005)
Run Time: 1:37:00
Director: Dana Brown
Key Cast: Chad McQueen, Mario Andretti, Sal Fish
FILM MAKERS
Dana Brown is an American surfer and filmmaker, and is the oldest son of filmmaker Bruce Brown, Director of On Any Sunday (1971). His films include The Endless Summer Revisited (2000) which is made up of unused footage from The Endless Summer (1964) and The Endless Summer II (1994), as well as some original interviews with the stars of those films. His first all-original film was Step Into Liquid (2003) followed by a documentary on the Baja 1000 titled Dust to Glory (2005). In 2009, he debuted a new film called Highwater during the 100th anniversary of the Santa Monica Pier; the film follows life on the North Shore and the surfers who compete in the Vans Triple Crown of Surfing. In 2014, the movie On Any Sunday, The Next Chapter continues the saga of motocross documentaries which began with the 1972 Academy Award for Documentary Feature nominated film On Any Sunday (1971).
SUMMARY
An action-adventure documentary chronicling the most notorious and dangerous race in the world--the Tecate SCORE Baja 1000. Rivaling the Indy 500 and 25 Hours of Daytona, the race across Baja's peninsula is unpredictable, grueling and raw--just like the uncharted American West of yesteryear. To capture the vast desert panoramas and intense action of the race, the film team utilized, fifty-five cameras, four helicopters, a four-passenger buggy camera car and a crew of over eighty people. Thousands of participants, generations of families and racing icons such as Robby Gordon, Mario Andretti, Jimmy Vasser and Motorcycle Supercross legend Mike Mouse McCoy joined together to experience the thrill and glory of the infamous race--an event of sheer human determination. - IMDB
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Watch the full film on AMAZON
The Vintagent Original: ADV Overland Exhibit
https://vimeo.com/685588453
The Vintagent Original: Stories We Need to Tell.
ADV OVERLAND EXHIBIT (2022)
Run Time: 7:13
Producer: Motor/Cycle Arts Foundation
Director: David Martinez
Editor: Anaïs Bernard
Key Cast: Paul d'Orléans
FILM MAKERS
For David Martinez, photography is both a calculated science and a free verse art form. The controllable variables – the light, the shutter speed, the aperture – are all simply tools to allow the authenticity of a real moment to occur. David captures the beauty and sincerity of these scenes in the pictures he makes. Always at the forefront of technology (but still with a roll of medium format film in his camera bag), David has been shooting high definition video since DSLR technology made it more available. David is always ready for an adventure – with his surf bag packed and camera in hand.
SUMMARY
The ADV:Overland exhibit at the Petersen Automotive Museum in Los Angeles, July 2021 – April 2022. Subtitled ‘off-road to off-world’, ADV:Overland includes round-the-world and long-distance racing machinery from 1903 to the present, plus sci-fi and NASA overland explorers. The real-world adventure machines show dirt and scars from outrageous journeys, some even with their original bags, boxes, and tools in place, 90 years later. ADV:Overland showcases the living, breathing history of overland travel, and its counterparts in outer space.
In the beginning, every motor trip was an adventure, and every motorist a mechanic. Some heard a different call, seeking adventure in overland travel to far-distant places. In 1903, crossing the USA on wheels had never been done, but that changed when George Wymans rode a California motorcycle for 50 days from San Francisco to New York. In 1912, nobody had circled the globe on a motorcycle, but that changed when Carl Stearns Clancy straddled his Henderson Four and headed east. In the next 100 years, brave men and women struck out to see the world on wheels, making epic journeys recorded in books, films, and television. Folks more technically-oriented imagined travel off-world, on the Moon or Mars or beyond, in science fiction and actual space programs.
Exhibition curator and Motorcycle Arts Foundation co-founder Paul d’Orleans explains: “ADV:Overland celebrates the spirit of adventure. These remarkable machines tell a human story, of dreamers and reckless youth, stubborn visionaries and dogged competitors, all together in one place. It also includes the ultimate overland dream of surface exploration on other worlds, which is happening on Mars right now – and we have some of the NASA/JPL rovers. We told lenders not to wash their overland veterans: we wanted to show good honest dirt as proof of their rough duty.”
The contrast between the extremely simple overland machinery from the early 20th century to Charley Boorman’s electric LiveWire from Long Way Up is great, but the journey still had to be made on wheels. “The genesis of overland travel can be seen in the early bikes, like the 1912 Henderson Four that Carl Clancy rode around the world. These rudimentary machines captured the public’s imagination and fueled overland travel and competition we see today, like the Baja and Dakar rallies, and films like Long Way Up,” added MAF co-Founder Sasha Tcherekoff.
If 100-year old dirt-covered bikes don’t inspire you, then come to ADV: Overland for the far-out space exhibits. Two sci-fi overlanders from the Lost In Space series, including the spectacular 1960s tracked glass house, keep company with a futuristic 3-D printed electric “Lunar motorcycle” from Hookie.co. For an inspiring comparison between real and imaginary off-world overlanding, NASA/JPL loaned two actual Mars rovers – models of Opportunity and Sojourner – that have logged more miles on other worlds than any other vehicle.
Also on display is Charley Boorman’s electric LiveWire customized by Harley-Davidson for the Long Way Up television series. The Motor Company is also a sponsor of ADV: Overland in support of the 2021 launch of the Harley-Davidson Pan America. The Pan America marks Milwaukee’s first-ever adventure-touring motorcycle meant to compete in the growing ADV motorcycle space
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The Vintagent Classics: Girl Shy
https://vimeo.com/683080515
The Vintagent Classics: The films that inspired us.
GIRL SHY (1924)
Run Time: 1:27:00
Producer: The Harold Lloyd Corporation
Director: Fred C. Newmeyer, Sam Taylor
Writer: Sam Taylor, Ted Wilde, Tim Whelan
Cast: Harold Lloyd, Jobyna Ralston, Richard Daniels
FILM MAKERS
This was Lloyd's first independent production after his split with Hal Roach. It is what Lloyd called a "character story" (as opposed to a "gag film"), and is notable for containing fewer of the stunts which characterize Lloyd's other films throughout most of its length, and instead focusing more on the relationship between Lloyd and Ralston. However, the lengthy finale of the film is one of the most exhilarating, non-stop action sequences of Lloyd's career.
It was also the second of six consecutive movies pairing Harold Lloyd and Jobyna Ralston, who left Hal Roach Studios as well to continue working with Lloyd. Unlike the normal style for filmed romances prior to Girl Shy, both Ralston and Lloyd were featured in comedic scenes. - wikipedia
SUMMARY
Harold Meadows (Lloyd) is a shy, stuttering bachelor working in a tailor shop, who is writing a guide book for other bashful young men, "The Secret of Making Love," chapters from which are portrayed as fantasy sequences. Fate has him meet rich girl, Mary (Ralston), and they fall in love. But she is about to wed an already married man, so our hero embarks upon a hair-raising daredevil ride to prevent the wedding. - IMDB
*The Police Motorcycle which Lloyd steals is clearly a second prop bike on a trailer when Harold rides it. It is a stunt double riding for Lloyd in the cut away scenes.
RELATED MEDIA
Watch the FULL FILM
Read also: The Silent Types
The Vintagent Selects: The Outcasts
https://vimeo.com/680274966
The Vintagent Selects: A collection of our favorite films by artists around the world.
40 MINUTES: THE OUTCASTS (BBC TV 1985)
Run Time: 40:00
Producer: BBC
Photography: John Howarth
Key Cast: The Outcasts MC
FILM MAKERS
"Following in the wonderful spirit of the legendary Cane Toads comes this documentary detailing the life and grime of a motorcycle gang from East Anglia calling themselves The Outcasts. Made by the BBC as a one-off TV programme in 1985, it is undoubtedly one of the finest, most insane things I have ever had the pleasure of watching... this is not something that is available on DVD." Read more at BadMovies.org
SUMMARY
I (Corinna, The Vintagent's Curator of Film) am pretty sure the review of this documentary on BadMovies.org is one of the greatest things I've ever read, and so I'm simply directing you, dear readers straight to the source for character and plot outline, obsessive screenshots, things to watch for, as well as:
Things I Learned From This Movie:
- When a woman wants to state her intentions, she will smear carburetor fluid on her thighs.
- Embalmers are indecisive creatures.
- Torn leather pouches from rubbish bins are surprisingly expensive to buy.
- When creating a gang outside of society, make sure the rules are incomparably harsher.
- Be wary of any pub containing weight lifting equipment.
PLEASE read the full review and additional commentary on this film directly at the source that gave it 4 out of 5 slimes. - BadMovies.org
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The Vintagent Classics: The Damned
https://vimeo.com/678713745
The Vintagent Classics: The films that inspired us.
THE DAMNED (1963) aka THESE ARE THE DAMNED
Run Time: 1:27:00
Producer: Hammer Film
Director: Joseph Losey
Key Cast: Macdonald Carey, Shirley Anne Field, Viveca Lindfors, Oliver Reed
FILM MAKERS
The Damned (released as These Are the Damned in the United States) is a British science fiction horror film, and a delightful bit of Cold War cynicism, following a small group of radioactive children being raised by the British government to repopulate a future post-nuclear Earth. based on H.L. Lawrence's 1960 novel The Children of Light.
Note: The English Punk Gothic band, The Damned took their name from the film.
SUMMARY
An American tourist, a youth gang leader, and his troubled sister find themselves trapped in a top secret government facility experimenting on children.
RELATED MEDIA
Watch the FULL FILM courtesy of Cine Meccanica
H.L. Lawrence The Children of Light.
The Vintagent Classics: O Dreamland
The Vintagent Classics: The films that inspired us.
O DREAMLAND (1953)
Run Time: 12:14
A Film By: Lindsay Anderson
FILM MAKERS
O Dreamland is a 1953 documentary short film by British film director Lindsay Anderson.
The documentary was made in 1953 by Anderson and his cameraman/assistant, John Fletcher, using a single 16mm camera and an audiotape recorder. Once completed, the film was initially shelved, with Anderson commenting, "you don't do anything with a 10-minute, 16-millimetre film. It's just there, that's all." In 1956 however, he was inspired to include it as part of the first Free Cinema programme.
The black-and-white film is a 12-minute exploration of the Dreamland amusement park in Margate, Kent and has no voiced commentary but a soundtrack of sounds recorded on site and music.
Gavin Lambert, a key supporter of the Free Cinema movement, said of the film "Everything is ugly... It is almost too much. The nightmare is redeemed by the point of view, which, for all the unsparing candid camerawork and the harsh, inelegant photography, is emphatically humane. Pity, sadness, even poetry is infused into this drearily tawdry, aimlessly hungry world."
SUMMARY
It is 1953. Members of the working class rush off to Dreamland Amusement Park in the English coastal town of Margate, where they gape at a show featuring torture devices, a lion pacing back and forth in a undersized cage, a ventriloquist's dummy dominating the scene with his sinister chuckle, and a dwarf praises his wares: "The dreams I dream are yours to see. Over there in reality." Director Lindsay Anderson interviews nobody, but uses his 16mm camera to record the entertainment and the people who are drawn to it, often in close-up. He records the visitors' facial expressions, kids eating sweets, and bored bottoms on barstools. The result is an impressionistic portrait of vapid entertainment, enhanced by a soundtrack that consists of the booming sounds of the amusement park and the constant, hollow cackle. Anderson released O Dreamland in 1956 as one of the first products of the Free Cinema movement, founded by Anderson and other filmmakers to free themselves from the strict rules of the documentary genre.
RELATED MEDIA
This film is included in The Vintagent Film Archive because of the Wall Of Death scene (George Todd's Wall), because we collect everything W.O.D!
Watch the FULL FILM
The Vintagent Classics: Some People
https://vimeo.com/678250563
The Vintagent Classics: The films that inspired us.
SOME PEOPLE (1962)
Run Time: 1:32:00
Director: Clive Donner
Writer: John Eldridge
Key Cast: Kenneth More, Ray Brooks, Anneke Wills
FILM MAKERS
While hardly Quadrophenia, the neglected British film Some People (1962) remains a vivid depiction of working-class life, the lure of rebellion and the validation of belonging to some sort of youth culture – not that this was the original intention. Pre-dating both The Damned and The Leather Boys, Some People is the first of this early-sixties triumvirate of true British biker films, all set against the backdrop of the rocker community but hugely different to their US counterparts. (It is also the only one of the three filmed in colour.)
Notionally a long advertisement for the relatively new Duke of Edinburgh Awards Scheme, who commissioned the project, Some People manages to transcend its original purpose because of the talent involved. The screenplay was the last completed work by the documentary film maker John Eldridge, who had collaborated with Dylan Thomas at the Ministry of Information during the war. The film is also an early work by up-and-coming New Wave director Clive Donner, then on the verge of his career breakthrough with The Caretaker the following year, who had been cutting his teeth on low budget crime movies and melodramas. - Read more at The Bike Professor
SUMMARY
The story of three teenaged tearaways Johnnie, Bill and Bert who find themselves at odds with society. Following a brush with the law they have a chance meeting with a local choirmaster who offers them a way of making good.
In 1960’s Bristol three lads hang around, making nuisances of themselves after losing their motorbike licenses. Their only other interest is playing rock-and-roll so they welcome the offer from a supportive churchwarden of the use of his church hall. Things go well – with several new members including strong-voiced Terry, sort-of one of their girlfriends, they don’t sound bad at all – and one of the guys starts dating the churchwarden’s daughter. But his mate is increasingly suspicious that they are being sucked into behaving in a conventional way acceptable to the older generation.
The film was shot entirely on location in Bristol with Anneke Willis recalling the crew arrived in Bristol three weeks before shooting to get the feel of Bristol with the boys learning the local accent, riding motorbikes and visiting local dance halls with much of the script being ad-libbed.
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Read more at Cine Meccanica
Buy the DVD at the Video Beat
The Vintagent Selects: L'hibernatus
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FSV04p6i51A
The Vintagent Selects: A collection of our favorite films by artists around the world.
L'HIBERNATUS (2022)
Run Time: 1:42
Producer: A Piece Of Chic
Director: Fabien Didelot
Key Cast: Stan Dibben
FILM MAKERS
Sebastien Chirpaz, founder of 'A Piece of Chic', created the Alpine Classique in 2015. A perfectly chic yearly gathering of classic cars and motorcycles in Chamrousse, France. Watch a past year's event film HERE.
SUMMARY
For years, Sebastien had dreamed of hosting the first pre-war motorcycle race on ice, and now L'Hibernatus is here! This first test edition took place on January 14 2022, in the Isère resort of Chamrousse, where enthusiasts will gather for an epic ride on the frozen roads of the Alps, riding their pre-war motorcycles. The opportunity to relive the roads of the pioneers who did not hesitate to defy the elements and push back the capacities of their machines.
RELATED MEDIA
A Piece Of Chic
The Vintagent Classics: Cry-Baby
https://vimeo.com/670773537
The Vintagent Classics: The films that inspired us.
CRY BABY (1990)
Run Time: 1:25:00
A Film By: John Waters
Key Cast: Johnny Depp, Ricki Lake, Amy Locane
FILM MAKERS
“John Waters’ musical ode to the teen rebel genre is infectious and gleefully camp, providing star Johnny Depp with the perfect vehicle in which to lampoon his pin-up image.” –Roger Ebert. Well said. Depp has always deftly embraced ironic roles to deflect the trappings of his undeniable handsome-as-hell looks. 21 Jump Street definitely had the potential to pigeon-hole his career, had he been a lesser actor.
Cry Baby would go on to become a cult classic, due largely to the pouty lipped, chiseled face of a young Johnny Depp in his physical prime, and on a Harley to boot. (They used a Sportster and K model, both red, that they swapped a few times in the film apparently with the thought that it would go mostly unnoticed.) For me the enduring 1950s aesthetic is always a draw, and Waters’ witty one-liners are priceless. And let’s not forget the interest that was stirred up back then by the young and sultry Traci Lords. It was her first non-nude screen role following her controversial (not to mention highly illegal) underage porn career that was still hot on everyone’s tongues and minds." - The Selvedge Yard
SUMMARY
The Cry Baby story centers on a group of delinquents who refer to themselves as "drapes" and their interaction with the rest of the town and its other subculture, the "squares", in 1950s Baltimore, Maryland. "Cry-Baby" Walker, a drape, and Allison, a square, create upheaval and turmoil in their little town of Baltimore by breaking the subculture taboos and falling in love. The film shows what the young couple has to overcome to be together and how their actions affect the rest of the town.
RELATED MEDIA
Cry Baby on The Selvedge Yard
Watch the FULL FILM FOR FREE
The Vintagent Selects: Vesuvius 2 Etna
https://vimeo.com/669227948
The Vintagent Selects: A collection of our favorite films by artists around the world.
VESUVIUS 2 ETNA (2022)
Run Time: 3:26
A Film By: Fabio Affuso
Key Cast: Lesley Bray, Malaka, Adelio Lorenzin, Jose Sendra, with text/reading by Alan Watts
FILM MAKERS
My photography focuses on the daring and extrovert nature of men and women who live life to the fullest. My subjects are creatives, visionaries, sometimes impostors and very often self made professionals. They often have a taste for style, using fashion as a defining element of their personality and character. They reflect an attitude of self-confidence and freedom in a world where everything is possible. - Fabio Affuso
SUMMARY
Fabio Affuso and friends take CAKE electric motorcycles from Mt Vesuvius to Mt Etna in Italy, 'powered by solar'. It's a fun take on their journey, with a voice over by Alan Watts.
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The Vintagent Classics: Angels Die Hard
https://youtu.be/qKjRkZAEmEk
The Vintagent Classics: The films that inspired us.
ANGELS DIE HARD (1970)
Run Time: 1:26:32
Producer: Angel Productions
Director: Richard Compton
Writer: Richard Compton
Key Cast: Tom Baker, William Smith, Carl Steppling
FILM MAKERS
Angels Die Hard was the first film distributed by Roger Corman's New World Pictures. Half its budget being provided by Roger Corman himself. Corman of course coined the phrase "Biker Flick" back in 1966 when directing Wild Angels, the film that opened the flood gates for the deluge of trashy Bike-Sploitation "B" films to follow between 1966-1972.
"Roger Corman's New World Pictures (1970-1983): The environment Roger Corman established at New World Pictures allowed young filmmakers like Jonathan Demme, Paul Bartel, Joe Dante, Jonathan Kaplan, Jack Hill, James Cameron, Ron Howard and me to gain invaluable experience making movies. Film scholars and general readers alike will find much to enjoy in this oral history. - Steve Carver (Director, Big Bad Mama, Capone, Lone Wolf McQuade). In 1970, Roger Corman launched his own film production-distribution company, New World Pictures. Over the next thirteen years, he would supervise the creation and release of more than one-hundred films, including such classics as Death Race 2000 (1975), I Never Promised You a Rose Garden (1977), Piranha (1978), and Rock 'N' Roll High School (1979). Filled with entertaining anecdotes and insiders' insights about the filmmaking process, Roger Corman's New World Pictures (1970-1983): An Oral History, Volume 1 features interviews with twenty individuals who worked on New World movies, among them Belinda Balaski, Jon Davison, Dick Miller, John Sayles, Lewis Teague and Jack Hill, as well a conversation with Corman himself.It's time for a collection like this about New World Pictures and the man that made it all happen, Roger Corman. Roger is the seed of more careers than you can imagine in Hollywood." - Belinda Balaski (Actor, Piranha, The Howling) - excerpt from the book: The Fantastic True Story of Roger Corman's New World Pictures (1970-1983)
SUMMARY
The film which was written in three months, revolves around a gang of bikers who try to save people from a mining accident. Compton shot the film on location in Kernville, California, on the shore of Lake Isabella, an old gold-mining town that was used for filming early Hollywood Westerns.
Review courtesy of The Video Beat: The local rednecks frequent a juke joint called the Arcade Club. They're a nasty bunch of hicks who don't like bikers. The film opens with townsfolk leaping from their pick-ups wielding two-by-fours, pipes and other bludgeoning devices to kick the you-know-what out of the Angels who merely stopped in for a drink. The Angels are doing a good job of whooping some hillbilly butt when the sheriff arrives and breaks up all the fun. The Angels drunkenly agree to leave town.
The next day the town is having an annual celebration of some sort that includes American flags, pig wrestling and other stuff. Next we see the Angels sitting in what looks like a junkyard, drinking beer and reading poetry, when they discover that the town rednecks have just murdered an Angel on the other side of the town line.
The Angles, with their fallen brother in a pine box, return to town and proceed to wreck a pool joint and rape a busty waitress while they smear spaghetti all over her—and themselves. But believe it or not, the bikers are the good guys in this film.
Lots of original rock music on the soundtrack including Dewey Martin of Buffalo Springfield who gives us "Indian Child," and psychedelic rock band, Fever Tree who play "Death Is A Stranger."
There are several fine fuzz guitar workouts among the bands on the soundtrack. A large portion of the score was laid down by East-West Pipeline, a fairly obscure group from Colorado who play on nine tracks including the heavy sludge riffing of "You Could Be" and "Taking a Bath," and the sweet psychedelia of "Questions." Tom Baker, William Smith, Carl Steppling, Frank Leo, Alan DeWitt, Gary Littlejohn, Beach Dickerson, Rita Murray, Dan Haggerty, Bambi Allen, Dirty Denny, Dixie Peabody. Angels Die Hard.
RELATED MEDIA
Watch The FULL FILM via Cine Meccanica
Buy The DVD at The Video Beat
Read The Fantastic True Story of Roger Corman's New World Pictures (1970-1983)
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The Vintagent Classics: Race For Your Life, Charlie Brown
https://vimeo.com/661235045
The Vintagent Classics: The films that inspired us.
RACE FOR YOUR LIFE, CHARLIE BROWN (1977)
Run Time: 1:15:48
Producer: Paramount Pictures
Director: Bill Melendez, Phil Roman
Writer: Charles M. Schultz
Key Cast: Charlie Brown (Duncan Watson), Snoopy (Bill Melendez), Woodstock
FILM MAKERS
Here at The Vintagent Film Archive, we draw a hard line as to what encompasses a motorcycle movie, or "Biker Flick" (a phrase coined by Roger Corman while directing the first of it's kind, Wild Angels in 1966). Mainly, is the motorcycle integral to the film? But sometimes, there must be exceptions (left to the discretion of the Curator). In this case, a cartoon homage to the iconic Easy Rider (1969) chopper in the 1977 animated classic Race For Your Life, Charlie Brown.
As a kid born 11 years after Easy Rider came out, this was one of the first motorcycles I saw on film, long before I saw it's inspiration, and it never left me. I definitely count Snoopy's chopper as a reason I ride motorcycles today. I've built my career as an authority on motorcycle movies by collecting and curating the good, the bad, and the bizarre of motorized cinema, and during this quiet, Covid holiday season, I think Peanuts is just what the Dr. called for, for those of us who chose to go our own way, and adventure off into the sunset. So, stay safe folks, and enjoy the genius of Charles M. Schultz and the Peanuts gang!
SUMMARY
The Peanuts gang heads off to Camp Remote somewhere in the mountains. Accidentally left behind by the bus while at a desolate rest stop, Charlie Brown is forced to hitch a harrowing ride on Snoopy's motorcycle in order to make the rest of the journey to the camp, accompanied by rock guitar type riffs while protesting Snoopy's wild driving...
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The Vintagent Trailers: Why We Ride
https://vimeo.com/657490604
The Vintagent Trailers: A preview of our favorite feature films out there.
Why We Ride (2013)
Run Time: 1:29:00
Producer: Walking West Entertainment, Gnarlynow Entertainment
Director: Bryan H. Carroll
Writer: Bryan H. Carroll, Chris Hampel, James C. Walker
Key Cast: Jim Adams, Ernie Alexander, Kenny Alexander
FILM MAKERS
How a Documentary about Passion, started a Worldwide Movement and Inspired Audiences to Ride!
What started as a documentary about the legendary racer “Iron Man” Ed Kretz become a 15-month long production studying the “two-wheeled perspective” of the passion of life — told through anecdotes of those who live and breath it everyday. This was one of the most transformative filmmaking journeys our crew had ever embarked on.
SUMMARY
The passion of the riders and the soul of their machines.
In the brutally-violent and dangerous early days of motorcycle racing, one man rode harder and faster than anyone else. Ed Kretz was so tough and seemingly invincible, his jealous rivals dubbed him "Iron Man." None of them could beat him and nothing could stop him. Kretz lived to wrestle his metal war-horse around any track, from the mountains of Depression-stricken California, to the beaches of Daytona. He would later be an inspiration and friend to the likes of James Dean and Steve McQueen; and he won more national championships than anyone else in history.
We began this documentary journey the a singular mission, to tell the history of this legendary “Iron Man”. However, it quickly became evident that Kretz’s story of passion and persistence was shared among all motorcyclists, young and old, male and female, competitive racer and leisure rider alike. This film wasn’t going to be about the “who”, “what”, or “where”, it was going to be about the “WE” — and hence it was fitting the title of this evolving cinematic journey be WHY WE RIDE.
Why We Ride is a story about who we are. Individuals with a desire to dream, discover and explore. From a kid’s dream come true, to a retiree’s return to freedom. From a family riding together on the sand dunes, to hundreds of choppers carving through the canyons – the bond is the same. It’s about the passion of the riders and the soul of their machines.
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The Vintagent Selects: 1928 Brough Superior SS80 Deluxe: An Oily-Rag Survivor
https://youtu.be/P2-LMT4OYu8
The Vintagent Selects: A collection of our favorite films by artists around the world.
1928 Brough Superior SS80 Deluxe: An Oily-Rag Survivor (2021)
Run Time: 7:56
Producer: Baikudokan Productions, Van Loom Films
A Film By: Greg O'Keefe
Writer: Greg O'Keefe, Humphrey
Key Cast: Humphrey, 1928 Brough Superior SS80 Deluxe
FILM MAKERS
The video was produced, directed and edited by Greg O’Keefe of Baikudo™ (Japanese for The Way of the Motorcycle™) Productions and shot by Joel Van Loon of Van Loon Films. Greg is a university professor and a single dad to his 8 year old daughter since losing his beloved wife to cancer in early 2020. He hopes to further his passion for producing motorcycle-orientated videos when not riding. As well as making videos, Joel is a full-time dad and jewelry designer.
SUMMARY
A Brough Superior SS80 Deluxe - one of just 19 manufactured in 1928 - is the oily-rag star of this video. Three years in the making, the project ran into many difficulties that needed to be overcome before production could proceed to conclusion. One such "curve ball" was when the current custodian, Humphrey, experienced a major accident on the bike not long after we had started shooting in the spring of 2018! Getting the bike back on the road whilst maintaining the sacred originality proved to be a daunting task... Despite this featuring in the story, the goal of the video is to take a peek at a chapter in the life of a venerable old banger. Every Brough, that has survived thus far, has its own story and this is just one of them.
RELATED MEDIA
The Vintagent Classics: The Thrill Is On
https://vimeo.com/652085935
The Vintagent Classics: The films that inspired us.
THE THRILL IS ON (1971)
Run Time: 0:41:52 (plus extras)
A Film By: David Aldana & Don Daniel
Key Cast: David Aldana, Bart Markel, and a cast of thousands.
FILM MAKERS
A long overlooked indy, student film captures the love of a sport, and becomes an unearthed gem for flat track fanatics.
SUMMARY
Filmed the year after Bruce Brown Made On Any Sunday. It was set around David Aldana and the Summer Grand National races, but the cameras just happened to get Bart Markel's 28th and last national win at Columbus, Ohio. This seldom seen movie shot over 50 years ago includes great footage of Dick Mann, Gene Romero, Jim Rice, Don Castro, Eddie Mulder, Mark Brelsford, Cal Rayborn, Chuck Palmgren, Keith Mashburn, and many more great riders of the day. The Movie includes original Narration by Roxy Rockwood, and a special introduction by Dave Despain. The Film has been digitally remastered from the original 16mm format. American Flat Track at it's best!
RELATED MEDIA
Watch the FULL FILM (plus extras)
The Vintagent Classics: The Mouse And The Motorcycle
https://vimeo.com/649663153
The Vintagent Classics: The films that inspired us.
THE MOUSE AND THE MOTORCYCLE (TV 1986)
Run Time: 41:04
Producer: Churchill Films
Director: Ron Underwood
Writer: Beverly Cleary (novel), Jim Carlson & Terrence McDonnell (screenplay)
Key Cast: Phillip Waller, Mimi Kennedy, Thom Sharp
FILM MAKERS
The Mouse and the Motorcycle is a children's novel written by Beverly Cleary and published in 1965. It is the first in a trilogy featuring Ralph S. Mouse, a house mouse who can speak to humans (though typically only children), goes on adventures riding his miniature motorcycle, and who longs for excitement and independence while living with his family in a run-down hotel.
The story and characters were inspired both by Cleary's son, who while recovering from a fever played with miniature cars and motorcycles, and by a neighbor who had shown Cleary a small mouse that had been trapped in a bucket.[2]
The book was released as a selection of the Weekly Reader Children's Book Club (Intermediate Division) and won the William Allen White Children's Book Award in 1968. Cleary went on to write two more books featuring the Ralph S. Mouse character in the following decade, and a film adaptation of The Mouse and The Motorcycle was produced in 1986.
SUMMARY
Ralph is a mouse who lives in the run-down Mountain View Inn, a battered resort hotel in the Sierra Nevada mountain range of California. Ralph longs for a life of danger and speed, wishing to get away from his relatives, who worry about the mice colony being discovered. One day a boy named Keith Gridley and his family visit the hotel on their way through California. Keith leaves a toy motorcycle on his bedside table. While Keith is away, Ralph attempts to ride it, but cannot figure out how to start it. Startled by a telephone ring, both Ralph and the motorcycle fall into a metal wastebasket.
Keith discovers his missing motorcycle in the wastebasket. Although Ralph's mother worries that he is in contact with humans, Keith shows Ralph how to start the motorcycle—make an engine-like noise—and lets Ralph ride it at night. While Keith and his family explore California, Ralph recklessly rides the motorcycle through the depths of the hotel. One night he is spotted by Keith's mother, who initially thinks she is imagining things, but later is sure that she saw a mouse riding a motorcycle. Ralph and the motorcycle are almost sucked up by a maid's vacuum cleaner, but Ralph escapes, riding into a pile of linen and dirty bed sheets. He escapes by chewing holes in the sheets, forced to leave the precious vehicle behind.
After Ralph loses the motorcycle, Keith loses trust in him, though he still brings the mice colony food. One night Keith becomes very sick, because his parents don't have any more aspirin and are unable to obtain one until morning. To regain Keith's trust, Ralph searches the hotel for an aspirin tablet, at risk to himself, for the medicine could prove fatal to a small mouse if ingested (in fact, Ralph's father was taken down with a bad cold and died in spite of all they could do). Ralph is able to find an aspirin tablet and borrows Keith's toy ambulance to retrieve it. When Ralph is successful, Keith's health is restored, one of the hotel's housekeepers had even found his motorcycle among the linens from which Ralph escaped. In gratitude, Keith gives Ralph the motorcycle to keep, Ralph uses the space under the TV set in the lobby as a garage.
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Buy The book on EBAY
The Vintagent Trailers: Wheels Up In New York City
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KV-i5d59150
The Vintagent Trailers: A preview of our favorite feature films out there.
WHEELS UP IN NEW YORK CITY (2021)
Run Time: 31:24
Producer: johnnypuetz Productions
A Film By: Johnny Pierre Kathoefer & Melanie Sallier
Key Cast: @its_k3nny, @wheelie_wannabe, @benadon_benmore
FILM MAKERS
On any given day, drivers and pedestrians in New York City may encounter a wild group of motorcyclists popping wheelies as they tear through the streets of the Big Apple. The police are losing patience, and some citizens lodge complaints, but the movement can’t be stopped—who are the people behind the helmets, and what keeps them coming back to the streets for their notorious daily rides? This question is the central theme of WHEELS UP IN NEW YORK CITY, the latest documentary by Brooklyn-based production company johnnypuetz Productions. As a New York production company full of avid motorcyclists, founder Jean Pierre Kathoefer and his team had always been intrigued by these lawless one-wheeled renegades. For WHEELS UP, they go straight to the source—by interviewing various members of the New York stunt-riding community, johnnypuetz is able to dig into the raw, human stories behind why these bikers ride and what it means to them.“I don’t have therapy in my life that I can spend money on and talk to someone,” says one rider who goes by the name of X. “Motorcycling and stunt riding were the only way I could focus that madness, the only calm that told me to shut up and focus.” Officially, the movement is known as Bike Life. Independently or in groups, riders pop wheelies and perform other stunts on dirt bikes, motorized bikes, and even ATVs.
SUMMARY
Some do it for the thrill, some for the friendships, and some riders are even starting to do it for money—by documenting their stunts on social media, skilled stunt riders can score lucrative sponsorships and brand partnerships. Most of these bikers practice their stunts in vacant lots where they can hone their craft in peace, but the streets are where they put their moves to the test. However,this can lead to accidents, injuries, and even trouble with the law—some stunt riders get ticketed for blowing red lights, and many are pulled over for reckless or negligent driving. Those interviewed in WHEELS UP insist that most stunt riders follow traffic laws, wear the appropriate safety gear, and do their best to minimize any disruption or inconvenience for other people on the road.In fact, by and large the documentary paints an incredibly sympathetic portrait of these riders, depicting them as a tight-knit community of misfits and adventurers rather than a gang of reckless adrenaline junkies.This sense of camaraderie is never more present than at Bikelife Sports,a stunt-riding event where bikers can practice their craft in the safety of a private racetrack. “We don’t have to worry about being chased by cops, we don’t have to worry about other people hitting us,” said one rider. “It’s just safety.” Without the constant looming threat of law enforcement or traffic collisions, riders can focus on what matters most: their stunts and their community. johnnypuetz’s ties to the motorcycle community give them unique access to this otherwise insular group, allowing for honest, often heartwarming interviews with some of New York’s most notorious motorists.For many of these bikers, stunt riding introduced them to life long friends, partners, and a greater community of like-minded people who have their back through thick and thin. Combine that with a one-of-a-kind adrenaline rush, and it’s no wonder these bikers risk it all day after day to take to the streets on one wheel.
WHEELS UP IN NEW YORK will begin streaming exclusively on Youtube on December 1st, 2021. For more information on johnnypuetz Productions, and updates on the film's release, check out the website and follow on IG (links below).
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Website https://johnnypuetz.com
IG @johnnypuetz
The Vintagent Classics: Hex
https://youtu.be/ng1Waj46RKo
The Vintagent Classics: The films that inspired us.
HEX AKA THE SHRIEKING (1973)
Run Time: 1:32:00
Producer: Max L Raab Productions, Twentieth Century Fox
Director: Leo Garen
Writer: Doran William Cannon (Story), Leo Garen, Stephen Katz
Key Cast: Keith Carradine, Cristina Raines, Scott Glenn
FILM MAKERS
A group of friends who were World War I flyers ride their motorcycles across America in search of what they believe their generation lost during the war.
Hex is one of a very short list of films set in the early 20th century, a time when motorized vehicles (and their rebel riders) first appeared on the sleepy streets of the Wild West. Western Hot Rod Biker Flicks?! This sub genre of Motorized Cinema has yet to be named... Stay tuned for more!
SUMMARY
Set in 1919, a gang of bikers (including Gary Busey, and Keith Carradine in his first roll) on new fangled machines roll into the rural prairie town of Bingo, Nebraska. Instantly surrounded by curious locals, a snot nosed kid dares them to a drag race his brother’s oh so 70’s, flame job hot rod. Not willing to be called chicken, the gang gives the Jalopy a run for its money, but things get messy and they flee town.
The gang hides out on a remote farm run by two stoic, dope smoking sisters who welcome them in reluctantly. It doesn’t take long before their concerns are validated by one of the bikers getting a bit too feely, and the outraged sisters call upon the dark spirit of their shaman father to teach them a lesson…
The film, shot entirely on the desolate Cheyenne River Reservation, is plotless, hokey, and painfully dull at times. It does, however, pose an interesting question as to what it was like to live in this strange moment in time. A crossroads in history, when the future in the form of a combustion engine came barreling into sleepy Edwardian towns in a terrifyingly loud black cloud of angry smoke.
Released repeatedly over the years under multiple titles, Hex managed to remain in complete obscurity, making it unexpected biker horror flick gold. - Corinna Mantlo, for Jalopnik
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Terror In High Gear: Ten Of The Spookiest Biker Movies!
Watch the FULL FILM
