They are THE BIKERIDERS

 

Jeri Jacquin

Coming to Digital, streaming on Peacock and soon to Bluray from writer/director Jeff Nicols and Universal Pictures Home Entertainment is the story of THE BIKERIDERS.

Danny Lyon (Mike Faist) is a photography student who wants to hear the story of the Vandals and speaks to Kathy. It is 1965 and a very lovely Kathy (Jodie Comer) is with friends at the Vandals Motorcycle Club. Not wanting to stay longer, she gets up to leave when she sees Benny Cross (Austin Butler) and is stopped in her tracks. Also watching her is Johnny (Tom Hardy), the leader of the Chicago based Vandals. When Kathy accepts a ride home from Benny, they are married weeks later.

Kathy finds herself caught up in the whirlwind of being a woman who is in the club. When Benny is beat up badly, she tries to convince him to leave the club but he is dedicated to the club and the members in it. Johnny has another way of handling things and it is dangerous and destructive but it is how the club handles anyone who hurts a member.

One day, passing through on a ride, a young man known as The Kid (Toby Wallace) sees the power in riding and wants to be a part of the club. Johnny doesn’t believe he has what it takes making it clear that he is not going to be a Vandal. The Kid isn’t about to be dissuaded in any way and decides his time will come and when it does, the Vandals will never be the same.

Hardy as Vandals leader Johnny is a leader that believes in action before talk. Hardy plays this character as one who is keenly aware of the responsibilities to the members but gawd help anyone that hurt one of his guys. Looking out for them is a full-time job and he looks to Benny to help keep everything together.

Butler as Benny is quieter than the Vandals leader if that’s possible. He finds love with Kathy but makes it clear that the club comes first which puts a strain from time to time on their relationship. Butler uses his longing stares and wicked smile to the role of a man who puts himself in harms way intentional or not and usually with consequences that don’t seem to change him.

Comer as Kathy has no trouble talking about her history with Benny and Johnny and where the club was when she started hanging out in 1965. She also has no trouble talking about her feelings regarding everything she experienced and the changes to the club that were inevitable. Comer is quick in this role and has moments where her accented sarcasm is so well done and suits the character absolutely.

Wallace as The Kid comes in later to the story but is important as he is the catalyst for changing everything on his terms with no apologies. There is a streak in this character that has even less fear that Benny and Johnny and that’s all it took, that one extra step of ‘no fear’.

Shout out to Michael Shannon and Norman Reedus! I’m happy anytime I see these two actors on screen. Reedus gets a chance to be crazy and back on the bike so I’m sure he jumped at the chance to play Funny Sonny.

Other cast include Boyd Holbrook as Cal, Damon Herriman as Brucie, Karl Glusman as Corky, Happy Anderson as Big Jack, Paul Sparks as Gary, Will Oldham as the Bartender, Emory Cohen as Cockroach, Beau Knapp as Wahoo, Michael Shannon as Zipco and Norman Reedus as Funny Sonny.

Universal Pictures Home Entertainment has just added an amazing film to their library and making it available for us to all experience and re-experience in our own home theaters. There are films of every genre available from scary to drama to family films. For more of what they have to offer please visit www.uphe.com.

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Exclusive Bonus Features include Johnny, Benny & Kathy – From the accents to the attitude, get to know the lead characters of THE BIKERIDERS. Hear from the cast and producing team on how they took the personalities and environments from a book of photographs and brought a narrative to the big screen, The Era of THE BIKERIDERS – Grab your leather jacket and gear up for a ride as we enter the era of THE BIKERIDERS, and Feature Commentary with Writer/Director Jeff Nichols.

THE BIKERIDERS is a story about those who rode their bikes and the troubles they got into for it. Growing up in the 1970’s, there were plenty of stories out in the world (yes, before the internet) about “biker gangs” and the havoc they were wreaking on society. Living in a small beach community, we had our own biker bar that had one window and gawd help the town if anyone tried to peek inside. The bikes were big (so were some of the riders) and the bikes were loud, that was all we needed to know.

That’s the feeling I got from this film, as if I took a step back in time. The look and feel of the film is truly amazing and nostalgic. This was a club of bad boys who just wanted to do whatever they wanted to do with no repercussions if someone tried to interfere. The women are second to the club and if you couldn’t cut that, well, then being a biker ole lady wasn’t (and still isn’t) something to be a part of.

The cast did a fantastic job of bringing this story from book to screen. The story is inspired by Danny Lyon’s photo-book THE BIKERIDERS. Lyon’s was himself a member of the Outlaws Motorcycle Club for a year saying, “I was kind of horrified by the end…realizing that some of these guys were not so romantic after all”. Soon after, Lyon’s turned to documenting the lives of inmates in Texas prisons.

In the end - outsiders become legends!