Greatest motorcycling sequence in a movie?
 

Well?

Despite a certain fondness for that bit in 'The World's Fastest Indian' where Burt comes steaming through the competition after a faulty start, I'm going to have to go with Steve McQueen heading for the Swiss frontier in 'The Great Escape'. It's probably the moment as a child I fell in love with motorbikes.

Any others worth a mention? (Just movies, not documentaries).

Matt :)

PS- This doesn't qualify, as it's in a cartoon, not a movie, but I LOVE the sequence in the Simpsons when Homer wins a Harley and rides it into church on Sunday and just sits there revving it over Rev. Lovejoy's sermon! :)

Not sure about the greatest, but one of the worst has to that in "Mission Impossible II". I owned a Triumph Speed Triple at the time and went to see the film purely because this bike was featured in it.

Film: Absolute drivel.
Bike sequence: terrible, plus the soundtrack was for a small capacity single, most definitely not a triple!

Motorcycle sequence
 

How about "Animal House" where the guy rides his triumph up the stairs. Or...dust to glory, great shots of racing baja, or Harley davidson and marlbourl man, funky movie but a honda rat chopper gets shot up. The original "On any sunday" has still got to be my favorite.

Freebie and the Bean.
Montesa cota stuck in traffic.

Best biking sequence?
 

Well, I know its a bit before most peoples time, but a scene that captures the essence of motorcycling: the freedom, the thrill and the danger, is the first 5 minutes of Lawrence of Arabia with Peter O'Toole.

I've never been near a bike that old (Brough Superior, no?), but the sound, the way the camera follows the road or pans as the bike goes past really makes me want to get on and ride.

Love it!!

Close second is the bit in MAd MAx when The Goose is riding home on some Z1000 before the dastardly biker gang ambushes him...

PS on a tangent: does anyone else become insanely irritated by the fact that in so many hollywood movies, they use the sound of some ropey GXS550 4 cyliner, or worse still a Harley sound, as the sound track to some Ducati, or Motoguzzi pulling away. No one ever heard of continuity??

Terminator 2
 

Arnie on a Harley and the dirtbike chase down the Los Angeles canal is worth a mention. They got the soundtrack wrong in that sequence too.

Bill is right about Dust To Glory. The segment where one rider takes to the beach in an attempt to catch up with the rider in front on the road is unforgettable. It's fantastically captured on film from the air but I suppose it's a documentary really.
Stephan

Arnie on a dirt bike
 

I stand to be corrected as always but wasn't Arnie on a VMAX for that scene.

I know it's so over the top it's ridiculous but the Ducati chase sequence in the Matrix was visually very impressive, it did have a very odd Harley type sound though.

Anyone remember the scene of the rockers heading to Brighton in Quadrophenia? Love that movie.

Easy rider, when they are going down the road standing on the saddle and mucking around.

Greatest line has to be from Mad Max, "see yer on the road skag"

Steve

Warthog I agree with the whole Mad Max image. I remember when I was younger watching that before I had a bike thinking how cool the goose was on his bike and how I wanted to be that bad. I have a couple 1970's Hondas that I restored and those cafe/rat bikes that the gang had kept coming to mind the whole time I was working on them.
While I have to admit Mila Jovovich is a hotty, the image was just pretty ridiculous. Well actually I think the whole movie was and that's propably why these scenes were to me. In the new Resident Evil movie the main gal is fighting zombies in a post apocalyptic world where there are only a handful of survivors and she gets around on a BMW K1200 I think, killing all these bad guys and trying to save the day. You have to give it to her though, she did look pretty bad on the bike.

Nathan

Oh yeah, great sequence :) . Got to see 'Lawrence of Arabia' at the cinema a few years ago (one of the advantages of living in Edinburgh, they do this sort of thing during the festival) and it was just an amazing experience. Always thought it was a great film but on the big screen...AMAZING!

Matt :)

Holywood gets it wrong! :(
 

Following on from the chat about putting the wrong sountracks to the wrong bikes.

The motorcycle and sidecar chase in 'Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade'. Not a bad chase sequence, but really, did they really think dressing up modern dirt bikes in german army green and hanging some webbing on them was going to fool anyone? Grrr...

Having said that, until I saw 'The Great Escape' I never realised the German Army were issued with triumphs! ;)

Matt :)

Quadrophenia
 

Yes, I rewatched it last month after nearly 20 years. The scooters scenes are cool too. :thumbup1:
Stephan

Quadrophenia! Bikes and scoots. I discovered this movie in my teens and it is an honest representation of everything that a teen goes through. Trying to fit in with drugs and cliques.
The scene riding along the cliffs to the conclusion is fantastic. All the while the Who soundtrack wailing at #11 volume. The whole movie just clicked for me. The album cover for Quadrophenia is a concept as well, surreal fog and the band in the mirrors.
We never really had a scooter scene here in N. America it would be interesting to hear tales of that time.

I need your boots, your clothes, and your motorcycle!
 

Arnie was on a Harley Fatboy that he stole in the opening sequence and the kid was on a dirtbike.

There's a little quiz here for those that like them. It mentions a few of the films covered in this thread.
Stephan