Quarantine Cinema: Part 4

The Independents 

This week's films are all made (or restored) by small teams of very independent film enthusiasts who are crazy about motorcycles.  These are the cutting edge of moto-culture in the 21st Century, exploring their unique place in the contemporary world, and common love for two wheels.  These are not grand narratives with Hollywood trappings, but were made or restored as passion projects, and gifts to their motorcycling family.

All of the proceeds of these sales go directly to the filmmakers - except those who have made them available for the duration of the Pandemic!  Many thanks!

1. Greasy Hands Preachers (2014)

“The bikes I produce should be a part of me. This is why I must improve my inner self, to make my bikes better.” - Shinya Kimura

Shinya Kimura features prominently in 'GHP': here he pushes the Spike across the Bonneville Salt Flats. [Greasy Hands Preachers]

Clement Beauvais & Arthur de Kersauson's alt-custom documentary film explores the passion for craft among motorcycle enthusiasts who have found their way to a happy life. Shot in 16mm in California, Utah, Indonesia, Spain, Scotland and France, the team  spent time with mechanics and custom shop founders, trying to understand the difference between manual work and intellectual work.  The film includes interviews with Shinya Kimura, Deus X Machina, Roland Sands, El Solitario, and Blitz Motorcycles, who discuss the unique satisfactions of doing something tangible, including a unique sense of time, the relation between the form and the function, the joy of riding in a beautiful landscape and the community and friendship that motorcycle creates. Watch 'Greasy Hands Preachers' FREE during The Pandemic. 

2. I Fidanzeati Della Morte (Engaged To Death)

"I've had enough of slowing down during races - slowing down and letting others win!"

With the finest racing motorcycles in the world from the 1950s captured on the big screen, you have NO EXCUSE to miss this incredible film! [Rodaggio Films]
A tale of love, rivalry and passion set in the 50s, in the madcap world of motorcycle speed races, shot on the occasion of the main competitions of that time, such as Monza’s Moto GP and the last edition of the legendary Milano-Taranto race. With also very rare footage of the Moto Guzzi wind tunnel and factories. The film features, alongside popular actors Rik Battaglia and Sylva Koscina, many of the most important champions of those years: Geoffrey Duke, Libero Liberati, Bill Lomas, Enrico Lorenzetti, Reg Armstrong, Stanley Woods, Ken Cavanagh, Dickie Dale, Thomas Campbell, Pierre Monneret, Albino Milani, Walter Zeller, Bruno Francisci, all of them riding amazing Moto Guzzi, Gilera, Mondial and Norton bikes with the so charming and dangerous dustbin fairings that were going to be banned in 1958.

Beautiful color, beautiful bikes, beautiful shots. [Rodaggio Films]
“I fidanzati della morte” is a movie shot in the motorcycle racing world by Romolo Marcellini, famous for his Oscar nomineé 1960 documentary “The Great Olympics”. The film has been forgotten for nearly 60 years. After its first release in 1957 it literally vanished without leaving a trace, except from some books and articles reminding of it as the “first great motorcycling movie”. It took the Rodaggio Film two years to recover the reels and to retrace the film rights history. The restoration started on a positive copy coming from the main italian film archive. After some time the precious original negative, once thought lost in a fire, has been found in laboratory in Rome. Unluckily the film material was partially burned, but most of it was in good condition and has been used as the main reference for the restoration process. The film has been first phisically repaired, then digitally scanned, cleaned frame by frame and color corrected. The sound has been digitally restored and improved as well. All the restoration process has been completed in the world famous Immagine Ritrovata Laboratory, in Bologna.

Gilera Quattro versus Moto Guzzi factory single...amazing footage! [Rodaggio Film]
A movie like no other in its genre, recovered and restored after 60 years from its release thanks to a successful crowdfunding campaign with donors from 22 Countries, which bears unique witness to the international motorcycling’s golden age and to an exceptional season of Italian excellence, innovations and challenges in the thrilling world of two wheels. Watch 'I Fidanzeati Della Morte' for $7.99 on Vimeo.

3. Fast & Left

"As soon as they got a motor on a set of bicycle wheels, racing was on!"

'Fast and Left' captures the spirit of flat track racers in the USA. [Evan Senn]
Evan H. Senn is a camera-operator and film editor residing in Wichita, Kansas. His love for flat-track racing inspired this project, following American Flat Track and Hooligan racing and producing spectacular shots of the racers and the action.  Senn dedicates the film to " the riders who keep this wonderful sport alive."  'Fast&Left' is a unique film on a unique sport, and was entirely self-funded. Watch 'Fast & Left' for $3.00 on Vimeo.

4. Dirtbag 

“Can you build a chopper in under a month for under a thousand dollars?

The event that lives up to the hype, the Dirtbag Challenge is rough and ready. [Rattler Productions]
Paolo Asuncion and his team at Rattler Productions (Luis Baptista, Frank Pascual, and Erik Pascual) have been making moto-centric home movies and documentaries 10 years in San Francisco. Their fascination with the local motorcycle culture inspired them to capture local events as sort of a video diary.   Their web-based series 'The Handsome Asians Motorcycle Club' features builds, rides, and individuals in the motorcycle community and  stories about life on two wheels.

If you paid $5 for a used tire, I suppose there's no harm in ruining it in a spectacular display...the chaos of the Dirtbag Challenge. [Rattler Productions]
'Dirtbag' explores the question, 'Can you build a chopper in under a month for under a thousand dollars?' The Dirtbag Challenge is an annual San Francisco motorcycle contest,  and means different things to different people who participate or spectate.  In 'Dirtbag', we meet the builders participating in the Dirtbag Challenge, and witness the talent and passion that goes into the birth of their one of a kind creations. Get an inside look at their motivations, their machines, and the event. Find out what makes these Dirtbags… anything but. Watch 'Dirtbag' FREE during The Pandemic Thanks to the filmmaker!

5. Dirtbag II: The Return Of The Rattler

Come for the bikes, stay for the outrageous musical sequence! 

The Rattler team move in front of the camera: embedded Gonzo journalism? [Rattler Productions]
The sequel to 'Dirtbag' follows four men with no motorcycle-building experience who decide to participate in the Dirtbag Challenge in San Francisco. Contestants in the challenge have one month to build a working and rideable chopper for less than $1000. Contestants must then ride their beast 100 miles without it breaking down. Seems like a simple enough task for seasoned bike builders… But what if one group of contestants had zero experience bike building? What would happen?

Too good to miss, the Rattler team takes to the stage as their alter-ego rock stars. [Rattler Productions]
The movie is a hilarious look into four inexperienced bike builders as they construct their ‘Rattler’, their custom chopper that started as a beat up Yamaha XS650. Watch as the protagonists cuss, laugh, and argue their way through a unique and fresh learning experience. This movie is not necessarily about the Dirtbag Challenge, but the teamwork and creativity that goes into building a bike. Dirtbag II features builds from other contestants in the challenge – a Honda CM400 with modified beer bottles for headlamps, a 750 Monster with a girder front end – and encourages viewers to get out there are start creating, regardless of prior experience. It's a punk rock ethos, with a punk rock soundtrack. Watch 'Dirtbag II' FREE during The Pandemic thanks to the filmmakers!  

Corinna Mantlo is the Editor for Film at The Vintagent. She is also the owner / lead designer at custom seat maker Via Meccanica. She is also the founder of both Cine Meccanica and the Motorcycle Film Festival. She has contributed to several books, including “The Chopper; The Real Story” (Gestalten 2014) by Paul d’Orleans. In her spare time, Corinna travels as a professional daredevil with the American Motor Drome Co. Wall Of Death.

by Corinna Mantlo

Quarantine Cinema: Part 3

From Europe With Love

Filmmakers from 'other than America' have always had a different take on two wheels.  They simply didn't experience the same vilification of motorcyclists as boogeymen as in the USA post-WW2.  Many words have been written on why bikers (and teenagers) became the bete noir of  American society during the Cold War: suffice it to say our cultural fascination with outlaw culture led to the 'threat' of biker gangs being blown all out of proportion to their numbers.  How could a few hundred 1% club bikers threaten the capitalist behemoth in its heyday?

European filmmakers were thus free to focus on sex, adventure, and crazy dreams on two wheels, which is what most people want from bikes, right? Here are a few classics to keep you entertained for this week's Quarantine Cinema:

1. Girl On A Motorcycle (1968)

The poster says it all: we're a zip-tug away from the grand prize. [Studio promo]
Newly-married Rebecca leaves her husband’s Alsatian bed on the Harley-Davidson given to her by a former lover.   Her early-morning ride (escape) to visit her lover is accompanied by reveries about her conflicting desires; her stable husband versus her passionate motorcyclist lover.  As she nears her destination, Rebecca’s excitement over this sexual reunion becomes an extended motorcycle masturbation, with the vibration of her V-twin bringing her to a frenzy of erotic speed. (See our article ‘The Sex Machine’ here)

Marianne Faithful and Alain Delon, reason enough to watch the film. [Studio promo]
Rebecca’s character is based (visually) on Anke-Eve Goldmann, a real-life German motorcycle rider and competitor, who invented a one-piece leather riding suit for women, which she had made at Harro Leathers.  Anke-Eve bucked societal norms by daring to ride a powerful motorcycle in post-war Germany, and faced considerable condemnation initially, but became famous as a journalist writing for magazines around the world by the 1950s.  She was friends with author André Pieyre de Mandiargues, who wrote his novella ‘The Motorcycle’ with a central character resembling Anke-Eve, who was then married to a German television producer, but had a passionate affair with a dashing Swiss motorcyclist.  Rebecca bears no real resemblance to Anke-Eve, who was confident and strong, although her leather catsuit ‘inspired’ a generation of European men…as did Marianne Faithful’s reverse strip-tease in this film!

The real 'Girl on a Motorcycle', and the clear inspiration for the book 'The Motorcycle' on which the film is based: Anke Eve Goldmann. Read all about her here! [Vintagent Archive]
‘Girl on a Motorcycle’ (called ‘Naked Under Leather’ in Europe…a more exact representation of the film’s intentions) is part of a long tradition of eroticized girl+motorcycle films, beginning in 1928 with ‘Impatience’ (watch it here!), and continuing with such films as ‘Barb Wire’, etc.  The motorcycle as a totem of erotic power, combined with a beautiful woman, is a one-two punch for both filmmaker and audience, and has become an irresistibly enduring subject for films.  Watch 'Girl on a Motorcycle' free on Cine Meccanica!

2. The Leather Boys (1964)

"Follow me, and wait and see!"

Boys, bikes, and boys! And cafe racers, and the Ace Cafe, and Rita Tushingham - it's the real deal, and mostly a very accurate picture of the Ace Cafe scene. [Studio promo]
Gillian Freeman, whose 1961 novel “The Leather Boys” was made into the seminal Rocker/Ace Cafe/Cafe Racer movie of the same name, died in 2019 at age 89. The novel was commissioned by the London publisher Anthony Blond, who reputedly suggested she write a novel depicting ‘Romeo and Romeo in the South London suburbs’.  Freeman wrote the book under the pen name Eliot George, an inversion of 19th Century writer Mary Ann Evan’s nom de plume George Eliot, used to conceal her identity as the female author of the astounding “Middlemarch”, and the equally famous “Silas Marner”. Freeman’s novels were not literature in the same league as George Eliot’s, and “The Leather Boys” is a one-night read, and a pulpy novella that was nevertheless groundbreaking for its frank depiction of a homosexual relationship as spontaneous and free of even the consideration of shame.  Read more about The Leather Boys here.

The Ace Cafe is the perfect setting for this tale of cafe racer pals in London. [Studio promo]

Watch 'The Leather Boys' free on YouTube!

3. La Strada (1954)

“Here he is – Zampano!”

Anthony Quinn as the original Overland camper-biker, in Fellini's classic 'La Strada' [Studio promo]
In poverty-stricken postwar Italy, Federico Fellini depicted what was probably the only example of an adapted, personalised ‘chopper trike’ in his 1954 masterpiece, ‘La Strada’. Anthony Quinn played Zampanò, a proud, irascible rebel and individualist, who earned a living as an itinerant clown/ strongman around Italy. His three-wheeler motorcycle van was built from an Italian Sertum 500cc single-cylinder bike, which Fellini unearthed from a mechanic’s garage. The old mechanic had resuscitated a wreck of a Sertum, and converted to 3 wheels for his everyday transport. Fellini was inspired by its great character and used it in the film, but because Anthony Quinn was such a large man it ‘became’ a Harley, and was passed off as such by Zampanò in the movie, thanks to a larger handlebar and headlight. Zampanò has such affection for his trike, he decides to live in it! The extreme character of the motorcycle represents something of the man’s essence; a nomadic spirit, a wild nature, and an unsociable personality. [from Paul d'Orléans' 'The Chopper: the Real Story' (2015)]

Anthony Quinn and Giulietta Masina and their Moto Guzzi Falcone motor home. [Studio promo]

Rent 'La Strada' for £3.49 on iTunes UK.

4. Eat The Peach (1986)

"Nothing was going to stop them: it was time to Eat the Peach"

A truly undersung film, and it's about a Wall of Death! [Studio promo]

'Eat the Peach' is a 1986 British-Irish comedy film, directed by Peter Ormrod. The title is derived from the T.S.Eliot poem ‘The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock’. The story takes place in an Irish village a few miles from the border with Northern Ireland. When the local Japanese-owned computer factory closes, the principal employer is a mob-rum smuggling operation. One day out-of-work Vinnie (Stephen Brennan), and his brother-in-law Arthur (Eamon Morissey), watch the 1964 Elvis Presley film Roustabout, in the village bar.  Seeing a cyclist in the film ride a Wall of Death, Vinnie is inspired to make his own: he draws up  plans and clears a patch of land near his house.

Can you stand up to the G-forces? One way to check it out... [Studio promo]
Vinnie’s wife Nora (Catherine Byrne) protests and goes back to her mother with their daughter Vicky. It’s a new kitchen she wants, not a Wall of Death. The men however, continue with the work and sinking tree posts into the ground and putting up a huge cylindrical construction. They become energetic and resourceful. Vinnie believes his Wall of Death will be a source of income – that people will buy tickets to stand on a gallery around the top of the rink and watch him and Arthur give their daring performances. Nora returns.

Give it a watch! [Studio promo]
The film is based on the true story of brothers-in-law Connie Kiernan and Michael Donoghue, living in County Longford (Ireland), who built a wall of death in their back garden for fun. The director, Peter Ormrod, happened to see their huge wooden barrel just off the road when he was looking for items for Irish television.

Watch 'Eat the Peach' free on YouTube!

Corinna Mantlo is the Editor for Film at The Vintagent. She is also the owner / lead designer at custom seat maker Via Meccanica. She is also the founder of both Cine Meccanica and the Motorcycle Film Festival. She has contributed to several books, including “The Chopper; The Real Story” (Gestalten 2014) by Paul d’Orleans. In her spare time, Corinna travels as a professional daredevil with the American Motor Drome Co. Wall Of Death.

by Corinna Mantlo

The Vintagent Selects: The Greasy Hands Preachers

https://vimeo.com/404587233

The Vintagent Selects: A collection of our favorite films by artists around the world.

THE GREASY HANDS PREACHERS (2015)

Run Time: 1:27:00
Producer: Arthur de Kersauson
A Film By: Clement Beauvais & Arthur de kersauson
Writer: Clément Beauvais, Arthur de Kersauson
Key Cast: Shinya Kimura, Deus X Machina, Roland Sands, El Solitario, Blitz Motorcycles

FILM MAKERS

WATCH THE FILM FOR FREE DURING THE LOCKDOWN
We wanted to make the film available for free and share it with you during the lockdown. We hope it will inspire and entertain you while waiting for better days.
Stay home., Stay safe and stay home.
Arthur and Clement

SUMMARY

"The bikes I produce should be a part of me. This is why I must improve my inner self, to make my bikes better." - Shinya Kimura

This documentary film explores the revival of manual work through the passion of motorcycle enthusiasts who have found their way to a happy life. Shot in 16mm in California, Utah, Indonesia, Spain, Scotland and France, we have spent time with mechanics and custom shop founders trying to understand the difference between manual work and intellectual work. The unique satisfaction that result from doing something tangible, the sense of time, the relation between the form and the function, the joy of riding in a beautiful landscape and the community and friendship that motorcycle creates.

RELATED MEDIA

Website

by Corinna Mantlo

The Vintagent Classics: Mini-Skirt Mob

https://youtu.be/443rpBCrluo

The Vintagent Classics: The films that inspired us. 

MINI-SKIRT MOB (1968)

Run Time: 1:22:00
Director: Maury Dexter
Writer: James Gordon White
Key Cast: Jeremy Slate, Diane McBain, Sherry Jackson, Harry Dean Stanton |

FILM MAKERS

Driven by jealousy, the jilted leader of a female motorcycle gang instigates a sadistic reign of terror against her ex-lover and his new bride.

SUMMARY

Shayne, the leader of a Honda-riding biker gang known as the Mini-Skirt Mob, has been jilted by her lover, cowboy star Jeff Logan who has married straight-laced Connie. Shayne enlists the rest of her gang to help her break up the newlyweds and get Jeff back - even if that means killing him in the process. Her revenge escalates until her sister Edie is killed by a Molotov cocktail and Shayne finds herself hanging by one hand over a deadly chasm. Should Connie let go before Jeff returns with the police?

RELATED MEDIA

Quarantine Cinema: Part 2

Cine Meccanica

by Corinna Mantlo

The Vintagent Classics: Rebel Rousers

https://youtu.be/Z9Dbvtc_-JE

The Vintagent Classics: The films that inspired us. 

REBEL ROUSERS (1970)

Run Time: 1:18:00
Director: Martin B. Cohen
Writer: Martin B. Cohen, Michael Kars, Abe Polsky
Key Cast: Cameron Mitchell, Bruce Dern, Diane Ladd, Jack Nicholson, Harry Dean Stanton

FILM MAKERS

Shot in 1967, but shelved and not released until 1970 after Jack’s career took off with easy Rider.

SUMMARY

In a small, U.S. costal town, with many Spanish speakers, a motorcycle gang arrives on vacation. Also in town to try to reconnect with his pregnant girlfriend, Karen, is businessman Paul Collier. Paul and a leader of the bikers, J.J., knew each other years before, so when the gang comes upon the couple and, led by the menacing Bunny, beats up Paul and begins to sexually assault Karen. J.J. tries to intervene: he suggests they hold cycle-riding contests, with the winner claiming Karen (he promises, sotto voce, to set her free if he wins). After the contests commence, Paul crawls away to look for help. He meets with a shrug from a cowardly Sheriff's Deputy; where can he turn?

RELATED MEDIA

Quarantine Cinema: Part 2

Cine Meccanica

by Corinna Mantlo

Quarantine Cinema: Part 2

The Deluge of ‘60s Biker Flicks: Roger Corman Perfects the Biker Flick

“There’s nowhere to go” – Heavenly Blues, ‘The Wild Angels’ (1966)

From Paul d'Orléans' seminal 2015 book 'The Chopper: the Real Story':  While Russ Myer, that worshipper of the mighty mammary, gave us ‘Motor Psycho’ (1965) featuring maniacal mods on mopeds as a follow up to ‘Faster Pussy Cat! Kill! Kill!’, there wasn’t a formula for a feature-length chopper film until Roger Corman solidified the Biker Flick in 1966 with ‘The Wild Angels’.  Corman observed the emergence of the ‘outlaw biker’ as the new front-page threat to civil society, and the ‘problem’ being featured in LIFE magazine, countless newspapers, and Hunter S. Thompson’s book ‘Hell’s Angels’ (1967).

Roger Corman coaching Peter Fonda on the set of 'The Wild Angels' [AIP promotional shot]
Thus, bikers became the perfect subject for Corman, the B-movie titan; “AIP (American International Pictures) wanted a contemporary film. I had seen a picture in Time magazine of a funeral of a member of the Hell’s Angels and been really struck by the graphics of it. The Hell’s Angels were in the news media all the time then. So I wanted to do a picture about the Hell’s Angels. AIP said fine. It was really that fast. As for the cast we used the Hell’s Angels themselves to play the members of the gang. I used professional actors only for the leads. One thing I insisted upon – all the professional actors had to ride the bikes themselves. I wanted to be as authentic as possible.”

Yes, Peter Fonda looks good on a motorcycle, even in full sun in the Mojave desert. [Sorry, forgot who sent this one!]
Peter Fonda’s first motorcycle film opens with him rolling down a street with a modified 1957 Harley Panhead, and nearly running over a little boy escaping his mother on a tricycle…no subtle psychological cues here. During the opening credits with the soundtrack blaring, we don’t need a verbal explanation that he’s a typical biker, a lone rider moving through a landscape, packing only his ideals. With its crude dragon tank graphic (painted by Von Dutch), sky high sissy bar, ape hangers, and fishtail exhaust, Fonda’s ‘Dragon Bike’ was a typical ‘1%er’ bike of that date, using a stock steering geometry for fast street performance. The bike had plenty of style, with sharpened axle nuts poking out two inches from its springer forks, creating the illusion of a modified front end. Fonda oozed attitude on the machine, rakish himself on ‘the Dragon’s’ un-raked forks. Fonda said, “In some ways, the Dragon is even more of a biker’s bike; it’s the granddaddy of all choppers and it cemented my role as the original, in chopper history. The bike was built from the ground up to ride. It handles pretty well, feels comfortable, has good power, and you hardly ever run over lil’ kids on tricycles.” If Marlon Brando was the king of cool, unknowingly launching traditional biker fashion as we know it, Peter Fonda became the king of custom, the poster boy for a new type of badass biker, in chopper style.

Hot on the heels of Fonda's success comes his future co-star in 'Easy Rider', none other than Jack Nicholson, on a modified Harley-Davidson flathead - dig those pipes and pants, man! [AIP promo photo]
‘The Wild Angels’ notably allows Fonda to become the mouthpiece of the entire chopper generation during the film’s most memorable scene, where he takes the podium at a church and delivers a sermon, after being asked ‘What do you want?’ To paraphrase, he answers, ‘We wanna be free! Free to ride our machines! And not be hassled by the man! And we wanna party!’ As a summary of the chopper generation’s ideology, this is hardly the Communist Manifesto, or Mein Kampf, or any number of underground political rant sheets passed around the universities and coffee shops during the late 1960s. It’s a knee-jerk statement, free of analysis or any particular ideology, and probably the most honest possible ‘mission statement’ of post-Beatnik chopper enthusiasts. Yes, riding a chopper meant something in the 1960s, and different things to different riders, but Fonda’s oratory distills that meaning to its essence; this isn’t about politics per se, although some riders were political, and it isn’t merely fashion, as riding a chopper required commitment, and dedication to an ideal of being ‘different’ as well as ‘free’. What riding a chopper was about was as simple, and as threatening to the status quo, as the declaration ‘we want to be free’.

This Week's Quarantine Cinema Picks:

1. The Wild Angels (1966)
“The most terrifying film of your time!”

Peter Fonda and Nancy Sinatra add star power to what looks like a pretty fun party at this juncture... [AIP promo photo]
The Angels are a San Pedro-based motorcycle gang, roving through the Coachella Valley and creating friction with police and locals, with whom they eventually face a reckoning.  This film made Peter Fonda a star, and was Nancy Sinatra's first film role (on the heels of her hit song 'These Boots Were Made for Walking').  Bruce Dern plays Fonda's best pal, Loser, and his real-world wife Diane Ladd also appears (their daughter is Laura Dern).  An impromptu funeral for Loser at a commandeered chapel is the setting for the film's most famous scene and monologue.  Read more on CineMeccanica.

'The Wild Angels' trailer:

Watch the full film for $3.99 on Vudu.

2. Devil's Angels (1967)
"Get out of their way…if you can!"

Promotional poster for 'The Devil's Angels' [AIP]
Corman's follow-up to his hit film 'The Wild Angels' dives once again into the clash between a biker gang (the Skulls) and police/townspeople.  There's a reference to a notorious case of the Hell's Angels in Monterey, who were accused of gang-raping an underage girl on the beach, which proved to be false, yet provoked a shitstorm of negative press attention.  'Devil's Angels' mirrors that event (and its exploitation by law enforcement), and blows it further out of proportion when the Skulls join up with the 200-strong Stompers MC to wreak havoc on the town as revenge for their leader Cody (John Cassavetes!) in jail, albeit briefly.  Read more on Cinemeccanica.

The 'Devil's Angels' trailer:

Watch the full movie free on Cine Meccanica youtube: 

Or, you can pay $5.99 on Amazon. 

3. Rebel Rousers (1970)
“Their creed: "If it feels good, do it!"

The bikes in 'The Rebel Rousers' were pretty special, and excellent examples of LA custom style in the mid-1960s. [AIP promo photo]
Disclaimer: This one sneaks into this list as it was shot in 1967, but shelved and not released until 1970 after Jack’s career took off with easy Rider. However it plays an important role in the chronological evolution of the biker flick genre and the actors who came up in it.

Rebel Rousers is not the greatest film ever made [well, none of these films are! - ed]. It’s raunchy and silly and features a cast of gringos playing Mexicans sporting accents verging on offensive, but the thing that saves this film and makes it worth a look is the cast. Cameron Mitchell, Bruce Dern, Diane Ladd, Jack Nicholson, plus Harry Dean Stanton playing a gang member whose wacky getup screams used car salesman on acid.  Read more on Cinemeccanica.

The 'Rebel Rousers' trailer:

Watch the full film for $3.99 on YouTube. 

4. Mini-Skirt Mob (1968)
“They ride hard...no matter what they’re mounted on!”

Mini-skirted Honda CL riders...but killers at heart, proving it doesn't matter what you ride, it's that you ride that makes you a menace to society. Right? [API Promo Photo]
This time it's an all-girl motorcycle gang, in a two-wheeled iteration of Roger Corman's amazing 'Faster Pussycat: Kill! Kill!'  The leader of the gang is wild with jealousy that her ex (Ross Hagan) is on his honeymoon with someone else. The film veers from biker to horror flick as the gang terrorizes the honeymooning couple.  People die!  Read more on Cinemeccanica.

The 'Mini-Skirt Mob' trailer:

Watch the full film for $3.99 on Amazon.

 

Corinna Mantlo is the Editor for Film at The Vintagent. She is also the owner / lead designer at custom seat maker Via Meccanica. She is also the founder of both Cine Meccanica and the Motorcycle Film Festival. She has contributed to several books, including “The Chopper; The Real Story” (Gestalten 2014) by Paul d’Orleans. In her spare time, Corinna travels as a professional daredevil with the American Motor Drome Co. Wall Of Death.

by Corinna Mantlo

The Vintagent Classics: On Any Sunday

https://vimeo.com/411147199

The Vintagent Classics: The films that inspired us. 

ON ANY SUNDAY (1971)

Run Time: 1:30:00
Producer: Bruce Brown Films
Director: Bruce Brown
Key Cast: Mert Lawwill, Malcolm Smith, Steve McQueen

FILM MAKERS

Some men hunt the great white shark. Some men join roller derbies, while others go to the moon. Some men like to knit. Some are freefall parachutists. Some spend their lives searching for the perfect woman or the perfect movie or the perfect wave. With the possible exception of knitting, all of these endeavors involve an element of risk, either physical or psychological, to such an extent that the attainment of the end becomes less important than the excitation provided by the pursuit itself.Five years ago Bruce Brown recorded one, round-the-world search for the perfect wave in "The Endless Summer," which was a very beautiful movie to look at (especially from the relative safety of a cloudy smoking section) and—I've now come to think—much less simple-minded than it originally sounded. - The New York Times (1971)

SUMMARY

On the basis of his new film, "On Any Sunday," a feature-length documentary about motorcycles and the men who ride them in apparent pleasurable competition, Brown stands in way of becoming the unofficial poet of the sports world. He not only records and shares with us the often extraordinary physical sensations experienced by the cyclists, but he also manages to suggest, in the absolutely flat language of the nonverbal participants, that the joy of the sport may also be the mask that hides a curse.Like clean-cut, monosyllabic Flying Dutchmen, Mert Lawwill and Malcolm Smith, the professional cyclists whose exploits Brown follows through the film, lead lives of enchanted circularity: the winning of one event is not as much a goal as the preface to still another competition, and another after that. The monetary rewards are never great and, often enough, the prizes are simply trophies. At the end of one race in which death might not have been too far removed, Brown, as his own narrator, is likely to say with his unerring knack for the anticlimactic comment: "There stands Malcolm with a big grin."Malcolm himself is likely to say: "That was really neat:"It is not as silly as it sounds because the shape of the lives recorded by Brown are almost necessarily anticlimactic; that is, until someone gets hurt or (off-screen) killed.The movie itself is anything but anticlimactic. By putting his cameras on the cycles, Brown achieves audience-participation effects with speed that amount to marvelous delirium. The camera work is fancy, but it's a fanciness for a specific purpose, and "On Any Sunday" is the first film I can remember in months in which I thoroughly enjoyed the slow-motion, the zooms, the helicopter shots, the superimpositions and all those other techniques that are the tired rhetoric of the narrative cinema.There is, I suspect, no other way by which to communicate the sense of the intoxication that is the real goal of the cyclists, and that can only be realized through the intensification of all the perceptions.Brown records just about every kind of cycling competition there is, going from southern California to Spain and back again, catching drivers who insist on racing with broken legs, broken noses, and, in one instance, with a back broken six weeks before in an especially hazardous competition. "What kind of men are these?" Brown asks, and the answer comes not from what anyone says, but from the crazy, sensational motion of the film, which is, I feel, in its own way, a remarkable adventure, as simple and as unique to film as the picturization of movement."On Any Sunday" which opened yesterday at the Murray Hill, was, I understand, financed by Steve McQueen, who also shows up in the film from time to time as the very creditable cyclist he is.

The Cast ON ANY SUNDAY, a documentary directed, written, produced and narrated by Bruce Brown; photographed by Bob Bagley, Don Shoemaker, Bruce Brown, Allan Seymour, Gordon Brettelle, Bob Collins, Dan Wright, Richard Carrillo, Nelson Tyler, Mark Zavad, James Odom and Mark Brelsford; released by Cinema 5. At the Murray Hill Theater, 34th Street, east of Lexington Avenue. Running time: 90 minutes. (The Motion Picture Association of America's Production Code and Rating Administration classifies this film: "G — All ages admitted, general audiences.") With: Mert Lawwill, Malcolm Smith, Steve McQueen and others. - The New York Times (1971)

RELATED MEDIA

Bruce Brown Films

by Corinna Mantlo

Quarantine Cinema: Part 1

Since our relaunch in 2016, The Vintagent has been committed to hosting motorcycle-related films every week.  We produce our own films (Vintagent Originals), host new films (Vintagent Selects) as well as showcasing the best or even most obscure films about bikes (Vintagent Classics).  Our Editor for Film, Corinna Mantlo, founded the original Motorcycle Film Festival in NYC in 2013, and hosted a weekly motorcycle film night in Brooklyn (Cine Meccanica) for a decade.  The Vintagent was a proud sponsor of the Film Festival, and our founder Paul d'Orléans was the Chief Judge of the Festival, being a committed cinephile since his pre-teens.
What better way to pass the time while the world is on lockdown than catching up on all those movies you've missed, or never even heard of?  This is the first of what we hope will be a short run of recommended films to keep your mind on wheels during the necessary curtailment of public activity. We call it Quarantine Cinema.
The Best Biker Movies Set
Eight films from Corinna Mantlo's Choppertown film set. [Amazon]
This biker documentary anthology was curated by Corinna Mantlo for Choppertown.  For a mere $1.99 on Amazon Prime, you'll get 8 fascinating documentaries on everything from the Isle of Man TT, a Bonneville Salt Flats expedition, a women's sidecar racing team, artist Richie Pan, and more. Best of all, a percentage of sales goes direct to the independent filmmakers featured.  Follow this link and check it out.
Catching up with the Classics
Lee Marvin as Chino in 'The Wild One': Marvin was an actual motorcyclist, and based his character in real members of the 13 Rebels and Boozefighter motorcycle clubs of the 1940s. [The Vintagent Archive]
We know a shocking number of you haven't seen the most important motorcycle film of the 20th Century.  'The Wild One' changed the way the whole world looked at motorcyclists, and for the worse! On the other hand, a whole lot of motorcyclists embraced the bad boy image: 'The Wild One' established what Paul d'Orléans calls the Dark Rider trope, with motorcyclists representing everything repressed about 1950s America: freedom from suburban normalcy, distrust for Law and Authority, and an embrace of the impulsive and dangerous.  'The Wild One' was based on two layers of fake news: a posed photo of a drunk on a bike in Hollister in 1947, which became the basis of the story 'Cyclists Raid' in Harpers Magazine, which became the basis for the film.  Watch the full version of 'The Wild One' for $3.99 on YouTube.
Artists Who Paved the Way
The amazing 1928 film 'Impatience' is explicitly an art film, and almost never seen until we brought it back to life on The Vintagent.  ‘Impatience’ (1928) was the first film to eroticize the motorcycle.  Other films of the Silent Era relied on motorcycles for their kinetic energy, but none made an explicit connection between a moving, vibrating motorcycle and a woman’s nude body, a landscape, a woman rider, and even swaying abstract shapes!  ‘Impatience’ is the pioneering film of Charles Dekeukeliere, a Belgian artist, whose work fits into the great artistic movements of the era – Futurism, Dada, and Suprematism.Charles Dekeukeleire sought to create  a pure cinematic experience, without a narrative.  ‘Impatience’ has four characters – the motorcycle, the woman, the mountain, and abstract shapes, with the woman played by Yonnie Selma.  With no story, ‘Impatience’ is visual poetry.  The impact of this rarely-seen film can only be guessed at – did director Jack Cardiff know of it before he directed ‘Girl on a Motorcycle’ in 1968?  The parallels are striking, and some scenes are nearly identical – ‘Impatience’ clearly set the pattern for sexualizing the motorcycle, and relating the machine to a woman’s body, with the possibility of an erotic bond between them.  This one is free, as it's already on The Vintagent.
Keep safe, stay healthy, and enjoy the films!
Corinna Mantlo is the Editor for Film at The Vintagent. She is also the owner / lead designer at custom seat maker Via Meccanica. She is also the founder of both Cine Meccanica and the Motorcycle Film Festival.  She has contributed to several books, including “The Chopper; The Real Story” (Gestalten 2014) by Paul d’Orleans. In her spare time, Corinna travels as a professional daredevil with the American Motor Drome Co. Wall Of Death.

by Corinna Mantlo

The Vintagent Selects: The Space Between

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zMv0ETbbYdk

The Vintagent Selects: A collection of our favorite films by artists around the world.

The Space Between (2019)

Run Time: 56:03:00
Producer: Religion of Sports & Dirty Robber Productions
Director: Mark Rinehart
Key Cast: James Hiller, Dominic Herbertson

FILM MAKERS

From executive producers Tom Brady, Michael Strahan and Gotham Chopra, the streaming launch of Religion of Sports shows you an inside look at one of the most dangerous motorcycle races in the world, the Isle of Man TT.

SUMMARY

Every year, thousands put their lives on the line to compete in the Isle of Man Tourist Trophy, in the hopes of earning the top spot. They reflect on what draws them to this race and why, despite the many deaths that have occurred at the hands of the race, why they continue to enter the race. This is Religion of Sports: It is the moment of truth. It is revelation. Believe.

RELATED MEDIA

Website

by Corinna Mantlo

The Vintagent Classics: La Strada

https://vimeo.com/397837270

The Vintagent Classics: The films that inspired us. 

La Strada (The Road) (1954)

Run Time: 1:48:00
Director: Federico Fellini
Writer: Federico Fellini, Tullio Pinelli, Ennio Flaiano
Key Cast: Anthony Quinn, Giulietta Masina, Richard Basehart

FILM MAKERS

Fellini called La Strada "a complete catalogue of my entire mythological world, a dangerous representation of my identity that was undertaken with no precedent whatsoever." As a result, the film demanded more time and effort than any of his other works, before or since. The development process was long and tortuous; there were various problems during production, including insecure financial backing, problematic casting, and numerous delays. Finally, just before the production completed shooting, Fellini suffered a nervous breakdown that required medical treatment so he could complete principal photography. Initial critical reaction was harsh, and the film's screening at the Venice Film Festival was the occasion of a bitter controversy that escalated into a public brawl between Fellini's supporters and detractors.

La Strada is now considered one of the most influential films ever made.

SUMMARY

There has never been a face quite like that of Giulietta Masina. Her husband, the legendary Federico Fellini, directs her as Gelsomina in La strada, the film that launched them both to international stardom. Gelsomina is sold by her mother into the employ of Zampanò (Anthony Quinn), a brutal strongman in a traveling circus. When Zampanò encounters an old rival in highwire artist the Fool (Richard Basehart), his fury is provoked to its breaking point. With La strada, Fellini left behind the familiar signposts of Italian neorealism for a poetic fable of love and cruelty, evoking brilliant performances and winning the hearts of audiences and critics worldwide. - Criterion

A note for Vintagent readers: Zampano & Gelsomina travel the Italian countryside in a Vardo built out of a 1945 Sertum 500 Motocarro.

RELATED MEDIA

Watch the film for free in Italian on Youtube

Buy the DVD collector edition: Criterion Collection

by Corinna Mantlo

The Vintagent Selects: Marty Dickerson 1926-2020

https://vimeo.com/394639969

The Vintagent Selects: A collection of our favorite films by artists around the world.

Marty Dickerson: 1926-2020 (2020)

Run Time: 3:56
Producers: Gerry Jenkinson and James Salter
Director: David Lancaster

Camera: Steve Read
Soundtrack: SquirkyMusic
Key Cast: Marty Dickerson and Philip Vincent-Day 

FILM MAKERS

SpeedisExpensive is the story Philip Vincent - a man who sacrificed nearly everything to build the world’s most famous motorcycle. Filmed in Europe, the UK, Australia and America it features interviews with Vincent racers, plus friends, family and colleagues of both Philip Vincent and Phil Irving. The crew were lucky to film three interviews with Marty: at Bonneville, at El Mirage – shown here – and just last month at Jay Leno’s garage. SpeedisExpensive is due for release this year.

SUMMARY

"Son, Speed is expensive."

Marty Dickerson left us on February 19. From his trips to the Southern States in the late 1940s burning off all-comers on a newly-minted Vincent HRD, to his record setting at Bonneville, he was an ambassador for Vincents all his life - and a great friend to Vincent owners across the globe. 

An inductee to the AMA Motorcycle Hall of Fame, his best official speed on a Vincent was 177mph; unofficially it was over 190mph. In 2008 - at the age of 80 - he returned to the Salt on a borrowed Vincent and set a Vintage gas class record of 150.3013mph. In this short tribute Marty is re-united with his famous Blue Bike and talks about his dealings with Philip Vincent to grandson Philip Vincent-Day. RIP fast gentleman.

RELATED MEDIA

Facebook
Instagram 
www.speedisexpensive.com

by Corinna Mantlo

The Vintagent Classics: Orphée

https://vimeo.com/396433662

The Vintagent Classics: The films that inspired us.

Orphée (Orpheus) (1950) 

Run Time: 1:35:00
Director: Jean Cocteau
Writer: Jean Cocteau
Key Cast: Jean Marais, François Périer, María Casares

FILM MAKERS

In 1949 Jean Cocteau adapted the Greek myth of Orpheus to the cinema, in a contemporary setting of post-war Europe. His use of motorcycles in this dark, evocative tale set the pattern of associating Death with Motorcycles in film forever after, and established the Dark Rider phenomenon in the popular imagination.  In short, Cocteau was the first to associate motorcycles with menace in the arts: previously, they had merely been interesting kinetic props, but Cocteau, already famous as a Surrealist poet and playwright/set designer before WW2 in France, was first to see something very different and dark on two wheels.

SUMMARY

In Cocteau’s film version of the myth, Orpheus is a poet whose fame is great, but who lacks respect from the new, young, existentialist/beatnik poets who hang out at the Café des Poétes.  While visiting the café, Orpheus is disrespected by the very drunk but very hot new poet Cegeste, who is shortly killed by a dark pair of motorcyclists roaring past.  A rich woman in a Rolls Royce (the Princess), who escorted Cegeste to the cafe, orders Orpheus to help carry the body of the young poet in her car.  She reveals to Orpheus that she is Death, and the lethal motorcyclists are her henchmen.  Orpheus and Death fall in love, and Death sends Cegeste’s poetry through the radio in her Rolls to Orpheus, who becomes obsessed with this poetry and with Death herself, and ignores his beautiful wife Eurydice.

- Paul d'Orleans

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Read more on The Vintagent: Death By Cocteau

by Corinna Mantlo

The Vintagent Classics: Devil's Angels

https://youtu.be/qfU2ZErrJfs

The Vintagent Classics: The films that inspired us. 

DEVIL'S ANGELS (1967)

Run Time: 1:24:00
Director: Daniel Haller
Writer: Charles B. Griffith
Key Cast: John Cassavetes, Beverly Adams, Mimsy Farmer |

FILM MAKERS

“Riot is their reason for living. Lust is the law they live by”

Daniel Haller was born in Glendale, California, and received his art training at the renowned Chouinard Institute. By chance, he happened to meet New World Pictures head Roger Corman in the mid-1950s when Corman was still an unknown, independent producer-director-jack-of-all-trades. Corman persuaded Haller to become an art director, a relationship that continued through some 30 Corman films.

SUMMARY

“They’re adult delinquents…They steal things…They smell bad Charlie!

An exiled band of Hell's Angels strike a bargain with the Sheriff of a local town, let them stay and the town is safe. But a local girl strays into their lair and sparks off a full scale Angel war.

RELATED MEDIA

Quarantine Cinema: Part 2

Cine Meccanica

by Corinna Mantlo

The Vintagent Selects: Riding The Wall Of Death

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P5ZtnIi7W0g

The Vintagent Selects: A collection of our favorite films by artists around the world.

RIDING THE WALL OF DEATH (2016)

Run Time: 2:36
A Film By: Great Big Story
Cast: Kerri Cameron, Fox Family Wall Of Death

FILM MAKERS

Great Big Story is a video network dedicated to the untold, overlooked & flat-out amazing. Humans are capable of incredible things & we're here to tell their stories. When a rocket lands in your backyard, you get in.

SUMMARY

Kerri Cameron is a motorcycle stuntwoman from the United Kingdom who rides on Luke Fox's original "Wall of Death." What is the Wall of Death? It’s a nearly vertical, circle-shaped track that most riders would consider insane. Before she was a Wall of Death rider, Cameron rode horses for a living. Today, she performs dangerous stunts with grace and keeps an adrenalin-pumping tradition alive.

RELATED MEDIA

Fox Family Wall Of Death

Great Big Story

by Corinna Mantlo

The Vintagent Selects: Meet The Most Infamous Dirt Bike Rider In NYC

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hzgfsZvbBmU

The Vintagent Selects: A collection of our favorite films by artists around the world.

Meet The Most Infamous Dirt Bike Rider In NYC (2020)

Run Time: 16:07
A Film By: Vice
Cast: Leeky Da Bikestar

FILM MAKERS

The Definitive Guide To Enlightening Information. From every corner of the planet, our immersive, caustic, ground-breaking and often bizarre stories have changed the way people think about culture, crime, art, parties, fashion, protest, the internet and other subjects that don't even have names yet. Browse the growing library and discover corners of the world you never knew existed. Welcome to VICE.

SUMMARY

"I see it being a sport. I see it being legal in the future. Them giving us a park where we can ride and not run from the cops all day."

VICE travels to Queens to meet Leeky Da Bikestar, one of the most infamous figures in New York City’s bike life movement to find out how a kid from the south side of Queens is leading a country wide movement to create a sport from nothing and legitimize the use of illegal dirtbikes and atvs on city streets. - Vice

RELATED MEDIA

@leekydabikestar

Vice

by Corinna Mantlo

The Vintagent Trailers: Ride Free Or Die

https://vimeo.com/499708903

The Vintagent Trailers: A preview of our favorite feature films out there.

RIDE FREE OR DIE (2019)

Run Time: 1:15:00
Director: Randall Wilson
Key Cast: Hessian Spike, David (Double D) Devereaux, Little Dave

FILM MAKERS

Randall Wilson has directed several documentaries delving into the world of the outlaw biker, including Sin City Deciples (2019), Choir Boys MC (2010), Wheels Of Soul (2006), Hessians MC (2005), American Biker (2005), and Glory Road: The Legacy of the African-American Motorcyclist (2005).

SUMMARY

Ride Free Or Die is an insider's look into the political world of motorcycle clubs. The clubs are fighting for their constitutional rights against what they perceive as law enforcement profiling and harassment. The documentary features Mongols MC, Outsiders MC, Devils Diciples MC, Sin City Deciples, and clubs from all over America.

RELATED MEDIA

Watch the full film on Amazon

by Corinna Mantlo

The Vintagent Selects: Wot No bike

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EBblA5jWkqI

The Vintagent Selects: A collection of our favorite films by artists around the world.

Paul Simonon: Wot No Bike (2015)

Run Time: 8:04
Producer: Nowness
A Film By: Baillie Walsh
Cast: Paul Simonen

FILM MAKERS

British filmmaker Baillie Walsh announced himself to the world as maestro of the music video. His prolific credits include the video for Massive Attack’s “Unfinished Sympathy”—famously filmed in one take in downtown LA—and the poolside promo for Kylie Minogue’s “Slow,” which won the CAD Award for Best Pop Video. Since then, he has directed his dramatic feature-film debut, 2008’s Flashbacks of a Fool, starring Daniel Craig and Felicity Jones, and has filmed the likes of Anne Hathaway for Lancome and a 3D portrait of Kate Moss. Walsh has helmed two music documentaries: a concert tour diary for Oasis, Lord Don’t Slow Me Down, and a crowd-sourced fan documentary on The Boss, titled Springsteen & I.

SUMMARY

Captured by Baillie Walsh, The Clash’s bassist, Paul Simonon meditates on painting and a two-wheeled obsession as his ICA show “Wot No Bike” gets underway. - Nowness

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Nowness

Wot! No Bike? - A Vintagent Article by David Lancaster

by Corinna Mantlo

The Vintagent Trailers: Sin City Deciples

https://vimeo.com/499714688

The Vintagent Trailers: A preview of our favorite feature films out there.

SIN CITY DECIPLES (2019)

Run Time: 43:00
Director: Randall Wilson
Key Cast: Road King Annie, Queen Bee, Blondie

FILM MAKERS

Randall Wilson has directed several documentaries delving into the world of the outlaw biker, including Ride Free Or Die (2019), Choir Boys MC (2010), Wheels Of Soul (2006), Hessians MC (2005), American Biker (2005), and produced Glory Road: The Legacy of the African-American Motorcyclist (2005).

SUMMARY

A raw and candid look into the history of the club and the lives of the men who’ve created their own society, their own culture, and their own history.

RELATED MEDIA

Watch The full film on Amazon

by Corinna Mantlo