The Vintagent Selects: Ray Tauscher: America’s Forgotten World Champion Motorcycle Racer.
https://vimeo.com/459080305
The Vintagent Selects: A collection of our favorite films by artists around the world.
RAY TAUSCHER: AMERICA'S FORGOTTEN WORLD CHAMPION MOTORCYCLE RACER (2020)
Run Time: 16:27
A film by: Ned & Mike Thanhouser
Key Cast: Richard Moore (Voice Of Ray Tauscher)
FILM MAKERS
Ned is an award winning documentary filmmaker. He is also an avid member of the local motorcycle community and has produced several short films about the Alley Sweeper and the Black Dog Dual Sport events, as well as the 2016 feature documentary film The Monkey & Her Driver, which follows America’s only all women sidecar road racing team for 2015. The Vintagent featured the trailer for this film back in 2020.
Produced by award winning Portland filmmaker Ned Thanhouser and his multimedia journalist son Michael, Ray Tauscher (2020) recounts the career of Portland’s “Yankee” rider and his rise to international fame as one of the world’s top motorcycle riders.
SUMMARY
Raymond F. Tauscher (Tauser in international press), born in Portland in 1905, began riding motorcycles in 1920 inspired by racing at the Gresham Speed Bowl. His competitive racing career began in 1923 where he won the regional championship. His titleholder status took him around the globe five times where in 1931 he won international championship titles in the UK, Europe and Australia. Ray returned to America in 1934 where he was a leading proponent of motorcycle racing on the east and west coasts of the United States eventually retiring in Portland.
In 2020 Ned Thanhouser and son Michael Thanhouser researched Ray’s racing career, located surviving family members and collected Ray’s scrapbooks, photo albums, and racing memorabilia. This 17-minute documentary film tells the story of Ray’s racing career, his world-wide travels, and his loves.
This film premiered at the South Jersey Moto Film Festival on December 4, 2020.
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The Vintagent Selects: Enso
https://vimeo.com/805412923
The Vintagent Selects: A collection of our favorite films by artists around the world.
ENSŌ (2023)
Run Time: 4:22
Producer: Dylan Wineland & Aaron McClintock, John Riley
Director: Dylan Wineland & Aaron McClintock
Editor: Jensen Vinca
Key Cast: Aaron McClintock
FILM MAKERS
Dylan Wineland is an accomplished DP/Director based out of Salt Lake City, UT. He has traveled the world shooting documentaries and limited series for HBO, Redbull, and the Olympics, and has shot national ads and social pieces for Salesforce, K&N Air filters, BFGoodrich tires and many more. He is known for his ability to tell a range of emotionally driven stories through his striking imagery and thoughtful direction, as well as his uniquely timeless and artistic style. Dylan’s genuine curiosity and love of human experiences guides every project he is a part of, as well as his mastery of his craft. From heartwarming stories about quadriplegics to visceral motorcycle films, his biggest goal is to move his viewers either through the stories or the visual experience. He believes that if one person can walk away from one of his films wanting to be a better person or to try something new, he has succeeded in what he has set out to do.
SUMMARY
At some point there seems to be a defining moment in life where you learn to let go. Sometimes, not by choice. And often times it comes to us as the illusion of defeat, while in reality, it was the very thing we needed to guide us to where we had to go.
About a year ago, Aaron and I came across the Buddhist word, Ensō. This single word, described everything that we had been talking about for the last year or so. By definition, it represents and suggests cutting the desire for perfection and allowing the universe to be just as it is.
Understanding that perfection doesn’t exist allows you to move through life gracefully free of any pressure. It opens the door to allow situations to unfold naturally, and to invite intuition and creativity to move through. For Aaron, riding is a great place to practice this concept. It’s a place that he can go where the universe can reveal these sort of secrets.
In this film, we ride along with Aaron as he takes a journey into the idea letting go and simply just being.
RELATED MEDIA
Dylan Wineland
Watch No Dreams Left Behind (2022), Transcendence (2021)
The Vintagent Selects: Transcendence
https://vimeo.com/581014653
The Vintagent Selects: A collection of our favorite films by artists around the world.
TRANSCENDENCE (2021)
Run Time: 4:00
Producer: Dylan Wineland, Aaron McClintock, Connor Barnes
Director: Dylan Wineland
Cinematography: Dylan Wineland, Connor Barnes
Key Cast: Aaron McClintock
FILM MAKERS
Dylan Wineland is an accomplished DP/Director based out of Salt Lake City, UT. He has traveled the world shooting documentaries and limited series for HBO, Redbull, and the Olympics, and has shot national ads and social pieces for Salesforce, K&N Air filters, BFGoodrich tires and many more. He is known for his ability to tell a range of emotionally driven stories through his striking imagery and thoughtful direction, as well as his uniquely timeless and artistic style. Dylan’s genuine curiosity and love of human experiences guides every project he is a part of, as well as his mastery of his craft. From heartwarming stories about quadriplegics to visceral motorcycle films, his biggest goal is to move his viewers either through the stories or the visual experience. He believes that if one person can walk away from one of his films wanting to be a better person or to try something new, he has succeeded in what he has set out to do.
SUMMARY
Some of the best artists in the world frequently talk about transcendental states of consciousness. These states often lead them to create some of their finest work. Henry David Thoreau talked about accessing the divine by merely being in nature. But are these states of consciousness limited to just painters, writers, and musicians?
By definition, Transcendence means to go beyond or above the range of normal or merely physical human experience. After years and years of talking, philosophizing, and diving so far deep into the question of why we ride motorcycles, we have found ourselves closer to the answer.
This is a film about stepping into yourself through doing something you love. A direct access into the divine. It is about finding that thing in life that will take you to that intangible place, and once found, discovering your truest abilities. It is about creating that bridge from artist to athlete, athlete to artist. It requires a relationship between your state of being, and the thing that you love to do. When you are operating at your highest self, it will translate into your craft, and in return, your craft will take you even further towards the divine. But it starts with you. The motorcycle is just a tool to help you get there. That’s why we ride.
RELATED MEDIA
Dylan Wineland
Watch No Dreams Left Behind (2022)
The Vintagent Selects: No Dreams Left Behind
https://vimeo.com/672583013
The Vintagent Selects: A collection of our favorite films by artists around the world.
NO DREAMS LEFT BEHIND (2022)
Run Time: 3:35
Director: Dylan Wineland, Gareth Leah
Director of Photography: Dylan Wineland
Editor: Dylan Wineland
Key Cast: Gareth Leah
FILM MAKERS
Dylan Wineland is an accomplished DP/Director based out of Salt Lake City, UT. He has traveled the world shooting documentaries and limited series for HBO, Redbull, and the Olympics, and has shot national ads and social pieces for Salesforce, K&N Air filters, BFGoodrich tires and many more. He is known for his ability to tell a range of emotionally driven stories through his striking imagery and thoughtful direction, as well as his uniquely timeless and artistic style. Dylan’s genuine curiosity and love of human experiences guides every project he is a part of, as well as his mastery of his craft. From heartwarming stories about quadriplegics to visceral motorcycle films, his biggest goal is to move his viewers either through the stories or the visual experience. He believes that if one person can walk away from one of his films wanting to be a better person or to try something new, he has succeeded in what he has set out to do.
SUMMARY
As a boy, Gareth’s dream was to ride motorbikes. His parents didn't much like the idea. To them they were just death machines. One day he built up the courage to ask his father if he could have one. His dad responded “If you are man enough to own a motorbike, you are man enough to move out of the home.” Since then, he locked the dream into the back of his mind.
That was until his 34th birthday. That day, Gareth closed his eyes and thought of all that he had accomplished and what goals he still had left. Life suddenly seemed finite to him. He felt compelled to accomplish a long time dream of his. And it was not to just own a motorcycle, but to bring one back to life.
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The Vintagent Classics: Wild Wheels
https://youtu.be/Js2TnJx3pfk
The Vintagent Classics: The films that inspired us.
WILD WHEELS (1969)
Run Time: 1:21:00
Producer: Colby Productions
Director: Ken Osborne (as Kent Osborne)
Writer: Ken Osborne, Ralph Luce
Key Cast: Don Epperson, Robert Dix, Casey Kasem
FILM MAKERS
"Wild Bike Riders vs Dune Buggy Boys!"
Kent Osborne aka Ken Osborne is a film director and occasional actor. His earliest directorial work was Raw Love which was released in 1965. It featured Suzanne Anderson and Mike Perry. The films that followed were exploitation types. His films include Wild Wheels (1969) which he wrote and directed, Cain's Cutthroats (1971), The Ballad of Billie Blue (1972), Women Unchained (1974) and Hollywood Confidential (2008).
Will Wheels (1969) starred Don Epperson, Robert Dix, Casey Kasem, Terry Stafford, and Dovie Beams who would later find notoriety for her affair with President Ferdinand Marcos. During filming, Osborne was shooting a segment with a foreground and background scene. He told the men in the background that he wanted some fighting but he forgot to tell them it was only supposed to be faked. Some of it got carried away and Osborne was yelling at them to stop it and repeatedly to cut
SUMMARY
"They Wreck Each Other's Wheels and Steal Each Other's Girls!!"
A group of surfers use dune buggies to protect their beach from a gang of invading bikers.
A group of dune-buggy-riding beach bums fend off an arriving gang of motorcycle lunkheads called the Roadrunners. The beach dudes soon feel the full force of the bikers: hero Reb Smith (Don Epperson) loses his girlfriend to ‘Knife’ (Casey Kasem), the leader of the Roadrunners, the bikers loot a local liquor store, and finally they beat and molest an innocent young girl. That’s when the buggy club decides to take revenge – and a night of no-holds-barred violence lies ahead. - Nostalgia Central
RELATED MEDIA
Buy the DVD at Video Beat
"Hear 5 New Tunes!" - on the original Soundtrack LP
The Vintagent Selects: Grit Part 3 - Innocence Lost
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_FAMZ8UniZ4
The Vintagent Selects: A collection of our favorite films by artists around the world.
GRIT PART 3 - INNOCENCE LOST (2023)
Run Time: 19:01
Producer: Archive Moto
A Film By: Chris Price
Music: Christoffer Moe Ditlevsen, Johannes Bornlof, Lo Mimieux,
FILM MAKERS
A three part documentary series looking at the history board track racing, one of America’s most infamous and sensational sports.
Support the project. Consider becoming a Patron at http://Patreon.com/TheArchiveMoto.
SUMMARY
Archive Moto presents GRIT, Part 3 of a three part documentary series looking at the history of one of America’s most infamous and sensation sports, motorcycle Board Track Racing .
Rise of the Murderdrome!
Within a decade of their American introduction, motorcycles had matured at a frenzied pace, quickly evolving from brittle, finicky gadgets to bruiting, highly specialized machines. A new American industry exploded, public enthusiasm was brimming over, and the world applauded at the rise of an invigorating new sport. By 1912 the American motordrome stadiums offered attendees a new level of exhilaration, anticipation, and thrilling danger.
This was the Golden Age of motorcycle racing. Motorcycles filled the city streets and county roads as fans packed into Prince’s fabulous motordromes by the thousands.
Young and old alike filled the grandstands to witness the electrifying jolt of the night races as men sped around at 90 miles per hour under the glow of arc lights.
1912 marked motorcycling’s crowded hour in America, But just as fast as it had taken hold, the sport began to prove the grim reality of its foundations. The technology had outpaced the precautions, and board track racing quickly became a blood sport too gruesome for an urbane, civil society. These were the days of America’s infamous Murderdromes!
Enjoy Part 3 , Innocence Lost of GRIT, the third and final chapter.
RELATED MEDIA
The Vintagent Classics: Angels From Hell
https://youtu.be/C1FuxJm9htc
The Vintagent Classics: The films that inspired us.
ANGELS FROM HELL (1968)
Run Time: 1:26:00
Producer: Fanfare Films, American International Pictures (AIP)
Director: Bruce Kessler
Writer: Jerome Wish (credited Jerry Wish)
Key Cast: Tom Stern, Ted Markland, Jack Starrett
FILM MAKERS
Angels From Hell was the first film produced by Joe Solomon's Fanfare Films, a firm Solomon created with the profits from three previous biker films (including Hells Angels On Wheels). Solomon went on to produce B Films, including several more Biker Flicks . Run, Angel, Run! (1969), Wild Wheels (1969), The Losers (1970). He was an Executive Producer on Evel Knievel (1971), and an uncredited Executive Producer on Werewolves On Wheels (1971).
The film was shot in Bakersfield, California. The screenplay was written by Jerome Wish, and the film used music by The Peanut Butter Conspiracy and The Lollipop Shoppe. Sonny Barger, president of the Oakland, California chapter of the Hells Angels, is credited as story consultant. The opening titles and the set murals in the biker hangout were done by famous automotive artist and pinstriper Von Dutch.
SUMMARY
'He's a cycle psycho!'
A destructive ex-motorcycle gang leader comes home from Vietnam to resume his life. His desire to form a powerful gang has the police running scared. But, will he succeed...
A former motorcycle club leader, Mike (Tom Stern), returns home from Vietnam to resume his life, and reunite with his former motorcycle club. Finding they have left their former Riverside, California home base, Mike meets them in Bakersfield, California, now riding under the leadership of a new president, Big George. Working with his former gang, Mike takes over the club from George, and moves into their biker farmhouse, owned by Ginger (Arlene Martell). Running up against opposition from Sheriff Bingham (Jack Starrett), who had an arrangement with George to "keep the peace," Mike sets out to use all his gathered experience as a hero from the war, and tries to unite all the existing motorcycle clubs in California, and put together a brand new, "super outlaw" club. Skirmishes with the sheriff's department deputies break out, and the conflicts culminate when Speed (Stephen Oliver), one of Mike's gang members, is stopped on fake possession charges, and murdered when he tries to escape. The trouble intensifies when an all-out cop against biker war breaks out.
RELATED MEDIA
Watch the FULL FILM for free on Youtube
The Vintagent Selects: Grit Part 2
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TKy-3vPYlks
The Vintagent Selects: A collection of our favorite films by artists around the world.
GRIT PART 2 - A BATTERY OF GATLINGS (2023)
Run Time: 16:48
Producer: Archive Moto
A Film By: Chris Price
Music: Victor Lundberg, Trevor Kowalski, Valter Nowak, Gavin Luke, Anna Landstrom
FILM MAKERS
A three part documentary series looking at the history board track racing, one of America’s most infamous and sensational sports.
Support the project. Consider becoming a Patron at http://Patreon.com/TheArchiveMoto.
SUMMARY
Archive Moto presents GRIT Part 2 of a three part documentary series looking at the history of one of America’s most infamous and sensation sports, motorcycle Board Track Racing. Just as quickly as bicycle fever swept the nation in the 1880s, so too did motorcycle mania in the early 1900s. Motorcycles followed the blueprint of the industrial revolution, utility and refinement drove production and profit. Manufacturers of motorcycles , parts, and accessories sprang up by the dozens. Trade magazines kept enthusiasts up to date with the latest innovations and newest trends in the wheelman’s world. Shops made space on their showrooms for new motorcycle stock, and growing manufacturers further expanded their distribution markets. Social groups formed promoting riding, lobbying for accommodation and better roads, and organizing socials, long-distance tours, and exhibition races on local hills and horse tracks. The saying goes, that the first motorcycle race occurred the day the second motorcycle was built, which isn’t all that far from the truth. Daring enthusiasts and champion cyclists alike could be found gathering at local horse tracks to pit their machines against one another. It was one such track, Los Angeles’s Agriculture Park on May 7, 1901 that former cyclist Ralph Hamlin bested 3 other entrants on his Orient motorcycle at roughly 32 mph in what is widely credited as America’s first motorcycle race. Eleven years later, Motordrome fever in America was just beginning to enthrall the American public, and in time, larger, steeper tracks would allow more riders to race in a single heat and break record after record as the top speed climbed. By 1912, Motorcycle racing was entering its golden age, but the gruesome, deadly reality of speed on the perilous wooden motordromes would soon catch up. Enjoy Part 2, A Battery of Gatlings of GRIT, the third and final chapter will be released soon.
PATREON - Support this history, consider becoming a Patron at the new Archive Moto Patreon page.
RELATED MEDIA
The Vintagent Selects: Grit Part 1
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TiWvf6TXYJo
The Vintagent Selects: A collection of our favorite films by artists around the world.
GRIT PART 1 - MOTORCYCLE BOARD TRACK RACING BEGINS (2023)
Run Time: 15:58
Producer: Archive Moto
A Film By: Chris Price
Music: Keith Kenniff, Peter Sandberg, Silver Maple, Jakob Ahlbom, Golden Age Radio
FILM MAKERS
A three part documentary series looking at the history board track racing, one of America’s most infamous and sensational sports.
Part 1 of GRIT will be available first for supporters of the Archive Moto Patreon, and later available exclusively on Youtube. To support the project, consider becoming a Patron at http://Patreon.com/TheArchiveMoto.
SUMMARY
Archive Moto presents GRIT Part 1, the first of a three part documentary series looking at the history of one of America’s most infamous and sensational sports, motorcycle Board Track Racing. Born of the second industrial revolution in America, the motorcycle emerged out of the booming bicycling craze of the late 1800s. With an diverse enthusiast community, expansive industry of manufacturers and parts suppliers, and a wildly popular sport of bicycle velodrome racing, motorcycles took advantage of the rich cycling culture beginning with the advent of motorized pacing machines. The tandem motorized pacers paved the way for experiments in single-rider, civilian motorcycles, and given its close relationship with the racing world, it was inevitable that motorcycle racing would take the country by storm. But it was when the old wooden bicycle tracks, called velodromes, were scaled up to accommodate the increasingly speedy motorcycles that a sensational new sport was created. The culmination of bicycles, motorized pacers, and velodrome racing, America's board track Motordrome took the country by storm in 1909, creating a legacy that still captivates riders today. Part 1 investigates these fast-paced beginnings from the birth of the motorcycle.
Enjoy this Part 1 of GRIT. Parts 2 and 3 are coming soon. This video is a companion to articles examining the history of American motorcycle culture, published exclusively at http://ArchiveMoto.com.
PATREON - Support this history, consider becoming a Patron at the new Archive Moto Patreon page. Read more about board track racing, and countless others now, only at ArchiveMoto.com.
RELATED MEDIA
The Vintagent Trailers: Grit
https://youtu.be/SprliLpVp6g
The Vintagent Trailers: A preview of our favorite feature films out there.
GRIT - A HISTORY OF BOARD TRACK RACING (2023)
Run Time: TBD
Producer: Archive Moto
A Film By: Chris Price
Music: Anyone - Keith Kenniff
Key Cast: TBD
FILM MAKERS
a three part documentary series looking at the history board track racing, one of America’s most infamous and sensational sports.
Part 1 of GRIT will be available first for supporters of the Archive Moto Patreon, and later available exclusively on Youtube. To support the project, consider becoming a Patron at http://Patreon.com/TheArchiveMoto.
SUMMARY
Often conflated with carnival thrill shows and the massive wooden speedways of the 1920s, America's original timber race tracks, called motordromes, were dangerous and exhilarating saucers where the toughest of the tough went elbow to elbow for a taste of the glory and the gold. For just 5 short years between 1909 and 1914, only 26 of these perilous stadiums were ever built, many having only hosted motorcycle races for a season or two. Still, inside their steeply banked walls, the heroes of a thrilling and often deadly sport captivated the country, cementing a legacy and mythology which continues to sends chills through those that learn about it.
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Visit the Website
The Vintagent Classics: Stray Cat Rock: Delinquent Girl Boss
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K7KiFiRSyno
The Vintagent Classics: The films that inspired us.
STRAY CAT ROCK: DELINQUENT GIRL BOSS (1970)
Run Time: 1:20:00
Producer: Hori Production, Nikkatsu
Director: Yasuharu Hasebe
Writer: Hideichi Nagahara
Key Cast: Akiko Wada, Meiko Kaji, Kôji Wada
FILM MAKERS
Stray Cat Rock: Female Boss (女番長野良猫ロック, Onna banchō nora-neko rokku) aka Stray Cat Rock: Delinquent Girl Boss, is a 1970 Japanese outlaw "Bōsōzoku" biker film. It is the first entry in the five-film Stray Cat Rock (aka Alleycat Rock) series and was followed by Stray Cat Rock: Wild Jumbo, Stray Cat Rock: Sex Hunter, Stray Cat Rock: Machine Animal and Alleycat Rock: Crazy Riders '71.
The Stray cat Rock series was conceived by Nikkatsu to compete with Toei's Delinquent Boss series, which, in turn, had been inspired by Roger Corman's early outlaw biker film, The Wild Angels (1966). Nikkatsu also meant the film to showcase the popular singer Akiko Wada, and to appeal to her young audience. Co-star Meiko Kaji, however, attracted the most audience attention, and she became the star of the remaining episodes in the Stray Cat Rock series. Nikkatsu regarded Stray Cat Rock: Female Boss as a prototype for a new direction for the studio and its success ensured the studio's move towards youth-oriented action films.
Director Hasebe and cult screenwriter-director Atsushi Yamatoya wrote the script to Stray Cat Rock: Delinquent Girl Boss. Because of the film's low budget, the studio gave Hasebe and Yamatoya more creative freedom than was generally the case for Nikkatsu's staff at this time. Of the distinctive look of the film, Hasebe recalled, "I tried to infuse those movies with the culture of the time. I spent a lot of time visiting places where people hung out. At the time, protest songs were popular, so I included them in the soundtrack. I remember, one day I noticed a big fuss near the west entrance of Shinjuku station. Activists were gathering and protesting against the US-Japanese Security Treaty. These people were like the hippies in the States. I found them interesting. Cinematic. I wanted my film to be this modern."
SUMMARY
Tough girl biker Ako (pop singer Akiko Wada) comes across Mei (Meiko Kaji) and her girl gang, the Stray Cats, as they are about to have a knife fight in Shinjuku, Tokyo with another gang of girls. When the second gang calls in their boyfriends for help, Ako joins in and turns the tide for Mei and her gang and becomes a leader figure for the girls. Meanwhile, Mei's boyfriend Michio (Koji Wada) wants to join some right-wing nationalists, the Seiyu Group. To prove himself, he induces an old friend Kelly (Ken Sanders) to throw a boxing match so the Seiyu Group can cash in betting against him. But when the boxer, encouraged by Ako and Mei, wins the fight, the Seiyu Group takes their anger out on Michio until Mei and the Alleycats rescue him. But Mei and the girls are now on the run from the powerful group. Mei is eventually killed and Ako leaves Shinjuku, roaring away on her bike.
RELATED MEDIA
Read more about Japan's Bōsōzoku films HERE
Watch the FuLL FILM (with English subtitles) for Free on Youtube
The Vintagent Selects: Django Djang "Wor"
https://vimeo.com/66585349
The Vintagent Selects: A collection of our favorite films by artists around the world.
DJANGO DJANGO WOR (2013)
Run Time: 5:00
Producer: Jane Third, Alex Hoffman, Posy Dixon
Director: Jim Demuth
Editor: Iain Pettifer
Key Cast: Mohammad, Saaved, Parveen
FILM MAKERS
Jim Demuth, a freelance Director, has experience in post-production as an editor. He says, “I am interested in finding unique stories that explore the boundaries of art, science, and technology – and where they intercept.” Jim works closely with producer Posy Dixon, touching upon various topics.
SUMMARY
"Now I think Death is inevitable."
Mercury Music Prize nominees Django Django became obsessed by the infamous Indian Well of Death riders in Allahabad. So, naturally, they asked Noisey if we’d be up for travelling over to India and standing right in the middle of large lumps of precariously speeding metal for a day, to film a video for their track “Wor”. We happily obliged, getting our shoes stolen in the process, but it was worth it to meet a bunch of guys with the most rock solid testicles we’ve ever come across. - Jim Demuth
RELATED MEDIA
Buy the Album: smarturl.it/DjangoDjango
The Vintagent Classics: Delinquent Boss
https://youtu.be/PQhP6DLX1Hc
The Vintagent Classics: The films that inspired us.
DELINQUENT BOSS aka BAD BOSS aka WOLVES OF THE CITY - 不良番長 (1968)
Run Time: 1:29:00
Producer: Toei Studio
Director: Yukio Noda
Writer: Isao Matsumoto, Hideaki Yamamoto
Key Cast: Tatsuo Umemiya, Hayato Tani, Shigeru Katsumi
FILM MAKERS
The Wild Angels (1966) was the first film to coin the phrase Biker Flick, and would spur an American genre that racked up dozens of films between 1967 and 1972. But America did not have a monopoly on motorbike hooliganry. Following in our burning tire smoke, Toei Studio in Japan released 'Delinquent Boss' in 1968, spurring it's own genre of biker flicks known as Bōsōzoku, which translates literally to "running out of control tribes". Delinquent Boss and the Bōsōzoku films to follow definitely live up to the name. These films are cult classics in Japan, but virtually unknown in the States. Very little exists online. DVDs are rarer than hen's teeth... and forget about finding a subtitled copy!
SUMMARY
Delinquent Boss (1968) is the first in what would become Toei's most successful, longest-running bosozoku film series. The Delinquent Boss series (also known as the Wolves of the City series) lasted from 1968 till 1974 through seventeen films. The series starred Tatsuo Umemiya as the leader of a motorcycle youth gang called the Capones. Full of shock-value & "pinku" soft-core sex, nudity, violence, gunplay, & a lot of mainly pointless foolishness. Co-opting racist nazi imagery, and inventing a non-existent youth culture void of morality. The motorcycle gang takes on police, gangsters, & the general public, with frequent excuses throughout the series for women to take at least some of their clothing off & even to wield swords partially naked.
Kosaka Hiroshi is the leader of a motorcycle gang in Shinjuku and a small time swindler. He lives for money but has never been able to hit the jackpot. His luck seems to change when he hits it off with the daughter of a Yakuza. When he gets involved in a scheme to blackmail a Yakuza gang and a land developer, he soon realizes he might have chewed more than he could bite.
RELATED MEDIA
Read more: Bōsōzoku: The Rebellious Film Legacy of Japan’s Unruly Biker Gangs
The Vintagent Trailers: Speed Is Expensive
https://vimeo.com/866808017?share=copy
The Vintagent Trailers: A preview of our favorite feature films out there.
SPEED IS EXPENSIVE: PHILIP VINCENT AND THE MILLION DOLLAR MOTORCYCLE (2023)
Run Time: 1:20:00
Director: David Lancaster
Writer: David Lancaster
Narrated by: Ewan McGregor
Key Cast: Jay Leno, Ewan McGregor, Paul Simonon
FILM MAKERS
Here at The Vintagent, we're been following filmmaker David Lancaster's efforts to bring the story of Philip Vincent to the screen for several years, including web exclusive on location reports from Los Angeles (2018), Australia (2019), a Teaser Trailer (2019), the Film Trailer release (2022), and an in depth look at Lancaster's obsession with the project in an interview with Greg Williams (2022). And now, a new trailer as well as the news that the long awaited feature film is here! Screenings have begun in the UK and US with more to come, as well as film festival screenings and awards. The film is also now available on DVD and as a Digital Screener direct from the film's website. So pop up some popcorn and enjoy the film!
SUMMARY
Philip Vincent built the fastest and most glamorous motorcycles in the world - yet he ended his days in poverty. Some 40 years after he died, one of his machines sold for over $1 million. This is his untold story.
Speed is Expensive brings to the screen one of the most dramatic stories in automotive history – the rise and the fall of the Vincent motorcycle. These fast, revolutionary machines were produced by eccentric engineer Philip Vincent and his small team in war-ravaged England. Their bikes took on the world – and often won – gaining more speed records than any other manufacturer during their brief production. In 1955, the firm claimed the ultimate prize: the outright world speed record of 185mph… Yet, just months later, the company pulled out of the motorcycle market. The bikes’ creator, Philip Vincent, never designed another vehicle which would go into production. He died in 1979 – the family fortune exhausted pursuing his obsession with speed. Today, high-profile riders such as Brad Pitt, Ryan Reynolds and Jay Leno revere the bikes. Racing models fetch $1 million at auctions and in private sales.
But Speed is Expensive is more than the story of automotive endeavour. It is also a detective story. The film talks to the men and women who built the bikes; racers, friends and family to learn how Vincent, Phil Irving and his workforce built such revolutionary motorcycles and the secrets behind the bikes’ amazing performance. The film reveals how the fate of the company turned on a high-speed accident on a wind-swept airfield near the factory in the winter of 1947.
This journey of augmented by a rich colour and black and white archive of high-quality film footage shot by Vincent himself, shared by his family, showing his private and professional life from the 1930s onwards. Today, Philip Vincent is seen as nothing short of a genius… the man whose frame designs the Japanese would borrow years later; whose Black Shadow model remained the fastest motorcycle the public could buy right up until the early 1970s. Now, the full story of the pioneer who changed motorcycling forever can be told.
RELATED MEDIA
The Vintagent Selects: The Setting Sun - The Past and Present of Bosozoku
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W-GATxfUq00
The Vintagent Selects: A collection of our favorite films by artists around the world.
THE SETTING SUN: THE PAST AND PRESENT OF BOSOZOKU (2015)
Run Time: 32:00
Producer: Ty Demura, Vice Japan
Director of Photography: Sebastien Stein
Editor: Akira Kamitaki
Key Cast: Kazuhiro Hatsuki, Eguchi, Akira Nakano
FILM MAKERS
"I believe that the reason the biker gangs have disappeared is because the country of Japan has been perfected. In countries where the government is sloppy or in times of change, outlaws always lead the weak, but I think it means that Japan has now become a country that does not allow any opening for outlaws to play an active role."
SUMMARY
The biker group "Specter" was founded in the 1970s by Kokushikan students. The Specter group originated in Machida and had branches in Asakusa, Shinjuku Nakai, Minami Senju, Kanamachi, Nerima, Sagami, Mitaka, Higashi Nagasaki, Nakano, Urawa, Nagatsuta, Hachioji, Ichikawa, Matsudo, Narashino, Yamanashi, Ehime, Sendai, Ibaraki, Tochigi, and other areas, and further increased its members in other areas through the division of goodwill, becoming the largest single motorcycle gang group in Japan. The group boasted the largest scale of a single motorcycle gang in Japan. Kazuhiro Hatsuki was the 21st head of the Narashino Specter in 1989. The rallies were so large that the streets were filled with headlights, the passion for the suicide uniforms that were proof of the team's control and embodiment of the delinquents' souls, and the fierce motorcycle gang fights that even resulted in deaths.... Looking back on those days, we will visit the current Narashino Specter, which is now alone, the still-running Kamagaya Minami-Mujo A-arm, Ryuichi Otake and Yasutetsu Igarashi of the Killer Union Nina-Mona, and Keizo Kanami, the legendary leader of the Specter, and talk about their hot, intense and exciting times, as well as their future They also talk about their "dreams" for the future.
RELATED MEDIA
The Vintagent Classics: Black Rain
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G9V2gN_a3P8
The Vintagent Classics: The films that inspired us.
BLACK RAIN (1989)
Run Time: 2:05:00
Producer: Paramount Pictures
Director: Ridley Scott
Writer: Craig Bolotin, Warren Lewis
Key Cast: Michael Douglas, Andy Garcia, Ken Takakura
FILM MAKERS
Bōsōzoku arrives in Hollywood! "Just a few years after releasing his own cyberpunk masterpiece via Blade Runner (1982), Ridley Scott delivered Black Rain (1989), a macho and somewhat racist blockbuster starring Michael Douglas as a bike fanatic detective who journeys to Japan after becoming embroiled in a yakuza conspiracy in New York.
The film opens with Douglas’ character engaging in a testosterone-fuelled drag race beneath the Brooklyn Bridge, but it's Japan’s biker gangs who make heads roll later on. They’re a recurring source of intimidation in violence on behalf of their yakuza buddies in Osaka, showing up wearing bandanas and bearing flags down neon-soaked back streets, embodying what had clearly now become stereotype." - Another Magazine
Black Rain is a neo-noir action thriller directed by Ridley Scott and starring Michael Douglas, Andy García, Ken Takakura, Kate Capshaw, Yūsaku Matsuda and Tomisaburo Wakayama. The film focuses on two NYPD detectives who arrest a member of the Yakuza and must escort him back to Japan. Once there, he escapes, and the two officers find themselves dragged deeper and deeper into the Japanese underworld.
The film was released by Paramount Pictures on September 22, 1989. It received much publicity beforehand as it was Douglas's first film since his Oscar winning role in Wall Street- a span of nearly two years. Upon release, it received generally mixed to positive reviews from critics, which praised the performances, action sequences, Hans Zimmer's musical score, direction and editing but criticized the screenwriting, clichéd story and lack of character development.
In the years since, the film has become a cult film and has been widely praised. It was also a huge box office hit, grossing over $134 million worldwide in front of a production budget of $30 million, and was nominated for Best Sound and Best Sound Editing at the 62nd Academy Awards.
Black Rain was the final film role for actor Yūsaku Matsuda. Matsuda knew he had bladder cancer and that his condition would be aggravated by acting in the movie. He elected to do so anyway, unbeknownst to director Sir Ridley Scott, reportedly saying, "This way, I will live forever." On November 6, 1989, less than seven weeks after the film's American premiere, Matsudo died of his bladder cancer at the age of 40. The film is dedicated to his memory.
SUMMARY
An American Cop in Japan. Their country. Their laws. Their game. His rules.
Two New York cops get involved in a gang war between members of the Yakuza, the Japanese Mafia. They arrest one of their killers and are ordered to escort him back to Japan. In Japan, however, he manages to escape. As they try to track him down, they get deeper and deeper into the Japanese Mafia scene and they have to learn that they can only win by playing the game the Japanese way.
RELATED MEDIA
Watch the FULL FILM on Youtube
The Vintagent Trailers: Biker Boyz
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8zcR0xTFMxw
The Vintagent Trailers: A preview of our favorite feature films out there.
BIKER BOYZ (2003)
Run Time: 1:50:00
Producer: Dreamworks Pictures
Director: Reggie Rock Bythewood
Writer: Michael Gougis, Craig Fernandez, Reggie Rock Bythewood
Key Cast: Laurence Fishburne, Derek Luke, Orlando Jones
FILM MAKERS
Biker Boyz is based on a 1999 article of the same name by freelance journalist Michael Gougis for the now defunct alternative weekly publication, the New Times. Gougis reported on the world of African-American motorcycle clubs in Southern California, and the "Biker Boyz" feature was a tour of that world, guided by Manuel "Pokey" Galloway, the president of Valiant Riders of Pasadena, California.
The film features an ensemble cast including Laurence Fishburne, Derek Luke, Meagan Good, Djimon Hounsou, Brendan Fehr, Rick Gonzalez, Larenz Tate, Terrence Howard, Orlando Jones, Salli Richardson, and Kid Rock. It also features Lisa Bonet and Vanessa Bell Calloway.
Biker Boyz was released on January 31, 2003 in the United States by DreamWorks Pictures, received generally unfavorable reviews, and was a box-office failure.
* If anyone finds a copy of the New Times LA feature by Michael Gougis, please send it our way!
SUMMARY
A son of the leader of a legendary urban biker gang tries to retain his championship street drag racing title.
A mythic motorcycle tale of father and son, this is the story of Manuel "Smoke" Galloway, also known as "the King of Cali", the president of a motorcycle club whose members are all African-American men, mostly white-collar workers who exchange their suits and ties at night and on weekends for leather outfits and motorcycle helmets. The focus of this story takes place at an annual drag-racing event in Fresno, as Manuel tries to retain his championship title.
RELATED MEDIA
Watch the FULL FILM on Amazon
Read more Los Angeles Times, 2003
Read 'Bridge', by Michael Gougis
The Vintagent Trailers: The Bikeriders
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SolhWny1zF4
The Vintagent Trailers: A preview of our favorite feature films out there.
THE BIKERIDERS (2023)
Run Time: 1:56:00
Producer: New Regency Productions
Director: Jeff Nichols
Writer: Jeff Nichols, Dany Lyon
Key Cast: Austin Butler, Jodie Comer, Tom Hardy
FILM MAKERS
Written and directed by Jeff Nichols, The Bikeriders tells a fictional story inspired by the 1967 photo-book of the same name by Danny Lyon and stars an ensemble cast that includes Jodie Comer, Austin Butler, Tom Hardy, Michael Shannon, Mike Faist, and Norman Reedus.
The Bikeriders premiered at the 50th Telluride Film Festival on August 31, 2023, and is scheduled to be released in the United States on December 1, 2023, by 20th Century Studios.
SUMMARY
"I've been thinking, I can run this club forever. I've built this from nothing. This is our family. You and me kid."
Kathy, a strong-willed member of the Vandals who is married to a wild, reckless bikerider named Benny, recounts the Vandals' evolution over the course of a decade, beginning as a local club of outsiders united by good times, rumbling bikes, and respect for their strong, steady leader Johnny.
Over the years, Kathy tries her best to navigate her husband's untamed nature and his allegiance to Johnny, with whom she feels she must compete for Benny's attention. As life in the Vandals gets more dangerous, and the club threatens to become a more sinister gang, Kathy, Benny and Johnny are forced to make choices about their loyalty to the club and to each other.
RELATED MEDIA
The Bikeriders, Danny Lyon (1967) - Purchase on the Aperture website for the current reprint that is true to the original.
