10 Badass Movie Motorcycle Moments
Everyone always talks about the most famous cars in cinema, but often their two-wheeled brethren are overlooked, even though they also have their share of iconic moments. I’ve posted ten of the best movie motorcycle moments I could find.
1) Ducati Delight – The Matrix Reloaded
The Matrix Reloaded may have sucked something awful, but at least it had a few sweet action scenes, including this freeway chase featuring a Ducati.
2) Snake Bite – Escape from L.A.
Snake Plissken steals a motorcycle when the moment calls for it, and promptly gets chased by a post-apocalyptic biker gang. Hey, you’ve gotta do whatever it takes to save the president right?
3) Biker Tornado – The Wild One
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zGn_od9owp8
Marlon Brando rescues his girl from a swarm of hostile bikers in one of the most iconic motorcycle movies ever made, The Wild One. Love the hat. The engines fire up at the 4 min mark.
4) Transformation – Ghost Rider
Ghost Rider somehow made over $200 million worldwide, proving that everyone loves motorcycles even if they’re CGI and attached to a horrendous script. Here the Ghost Rider cycle goes from Buell to badass when Nick Cage needs some help.
5) Cow Crash – The Motorcycle Diaries
Alberto and a young Che Guevara run smack into some cows (2:00 into the video) on their cross-continental journey of self-discovery in a movie where the motorcycle is a metaphor. But for what?
6) C’mon, Hit Me! – The Dark Knight
The Batcycle barely qualifies as a real motorcycle, but this was one of the best scenes from one of the best movies of this year, or last year, or nearly any year.
7) If You Want to Live – Terminator 2: Judgement Day
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EgphD_ZO_jI
Arnold only needs a shotgun and a Harley Fat Boy to ensure the safety of the human race. Here he faces off against a semi-truck while trying to save John Connor’s ass.
8 ) Opening Credits – Easy Rider
Nothing beats Peter Fonda and Dennis Hopper riding through the desert on their choppers while “Born to Be Wild” blasts in the background. This scene was the inspiration for a million mid-life crises in America.
9) Mission Impossible II
The people who swapped out their tires should go be a pit crew for Nascar.
10) The Great Escape
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6zwW7iWinrk
In this short clip from The Great Escape (rent/Netflix it if you haven’t seen it), McQueen didn’t actually perform the famous jump over the wall – but he did most of the other stunts in the film. (In an earlier scene, he dressed as a German and chased “himself” on another motorcycle because of his skill as a rider.)
