2024  Focus Features

Rated:  R

Length:  1 hr  56min

Crime ~ Drama ~ True Story

Directed by:  Jeff Nichols

Starring:  Jodie Comer, Austin Butler, Tom Hardy, Michael Shannon, Mike Faist, Boyd Holbrook, Damon Herriman, Beau Knapp, Emory Cohen, Karl Glusman, Toby Wallace, and Norman Reedus.

“Freedom Is For The Fearless.”

THE BIKERIDERS tells the true story of a Motorcycle Club created in Chicago in the 1960’s. In the movie the name was changed to The Vandals, the real name of the club was The Chicago Outlaws. Between 1963 and 1967 Danny Lyon rode with and documented, in pictures and audio recordings, the lives of the members of the motorcycle club as it grew in popularity and size. In 1968 he published a book using the stories and photographs he had documented entitled THE BIKERIDERS, the movie is based entirely on that book. There are scenes from the movie that were recreated from Danny’s photographs, some of which you can see at the end as the credits roll.

The story is mostly told through the eyes and words of Kathy played by Jodie Comer. In a chance encounter at a club bringing a friend money she meets Benny (Austin Butler), a member of the The Vandals and falls for him. Johnny (Tom Hardy), who started the club, convinces her that Benny is ok and that he will make sure that she is safe and looked after within the club. Within five weeks Kathy and Benny are married and she has a front row seat to the activities and events of the club. Benny is Johnny’s right hand man and protegé, and is high up in the hierarchy of the club.

As Kathy tells it Johnny, who is married with two daughters and has a steady job, got the idea for the Motorcycle riding group while watching Marlon Brando in The Wild One. As the Club grew and expanded Johnny struggled to maintain leadership. As members joined the club after coming home from Vietnam, they brought a different element to the club. Instead of beer drinkers, most of them were Pot smokers and heavier drug users, and there started to become a rift between the old and the new.  Eventually the new won out and The Outlaws Motorcycle Club became more of a violent crime organization involved in prostitution and drug running, amongst other things.

It is a fascinating look at the birth and growth of one of the most infamous Motorcycle Organizations in the world. Jodie Comer does an excellent job of portraying Kathy. She is an English actress and you have to give her props for her accent in the movie, definitely Midwestern. There are audio recordings and pics of the real Kathy and Jodi Comer absolutely nailed the accent! Tom Hardy as the tough skinned leader was great, reminded me of his role as Forrest Bondurant in Lawless. Austin Butler also did a great job as Benny, going from the clean cut ELVIS to the polar opposite as the notorious motorcycle club member. Michael Shannon was a little different and freaky as Zipco, a guy you just didn’t want to look at funny for fear of retribution.

I thoroughly enjoyed it, I really liked all the characters, and you know I like the True Story ones. I would watch this again, maybe several times.

Highly Recommended….

Two Thumbs Up!