History MediaNotes / BikerMedia

Meanwhile, in [[TabletopRPG pen-and-paper tabletop gaming]], ''Full Throttle'' had inspired ''UsefulNotes/{{Fudge}}''-based games like ''[[https://rpggeek.com/rpgitem/195704/mutant-bikers-atomic-wasteland-fudge Mutant Bikers of the Atomic Wasteland]]'' (1997) and an [[https://rpggeek.com/rpgitem/211650/full-throttle unofficial adaptation]] by James Wedig in 2002, both of which stayed true to Schafer's bikers-as-power-fantasy narrative. Robert Nolan's ''[[TabletopGame/OnePercenter 1%er: The Outlaw Motorcycle Game]]'' (2013), on the other hand, shows a strong ''Sons of Anarchy'' influence, going all-in on the bikers-as-criminal-enterprise narrative instead.

The earliest motorcycle clubs ([=MCs=]) in the modern sense have been founded in the American Southwest soon after UsefulNotes/WorldWarII, often by war veterans who had difficulties readjusting to civilian life. The seminal event for bikers' pop-cultural image was the so-called [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hollister_riot "Hollister riot"]] in early [[TheForties July 1947]], when 4,000 inebriated bikers from different clubs made a ruckus in a tiny Californian town. While nobody was seriously hurt (there was property damage, though), sensationalist media reports blew the event [[IfItBleedsItLeads way out of proportions]] in the public consciousness.

It took Hollywood six years to dramatize the events of the Hollister riot: ''Film/TheWildOne'' ([[TheFifties 1953]]) starred Creator/MarlonBrando (himself an avid motorcyclist) and almost [[TropeCodifier single-handedly established]] many of the [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Outlaw_biker_film outlaw biker film]] staples, from the opening shot of outlaws revving down an empty highway and into an unsuspecting town, through their [[BloodKnight unprovoked and disproportionate aggression]], to the iconic [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Perfecto_motorcycle_jacket Perfecto leather jacket]] -- a personal preference of Brando that has since been [[TheRedStapler adopted by many real-life bikers]] as a result of the movie's success. It is worth noting, however, that the [[CoolBike motorcycle of choice]] in this movie wasn't a [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harley-Davidson Harley-Davidson]], but Brando's own [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Triumph_Thunderbird Triumph Thunderbird 6T]].

While ''The Wild One'' was a critical and commercial success, the outlaw biker film really [[NoSuchThingAsBadPublicity took off after the media craze]] that followed the alleged rape of two women by the Hells Angels in [[TheSixties September 1964]] in Monterey, California. Thompson's 1967 book (which, in fact, opens with the Angels' account of the Monterey incident) also contributed a lot to bring bikers into the popular consciousness, and the latter half of the decade was arguably the golden age of biker cinema, thanks in no small part to the [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Counterculture_of_the_1960s countercultural movement of the '60s]]. The quantity-over-quality approach was dominant, however, so the vast majority of the films from this time have been forgettable [[ExploitationFilm exploitation movies]], dubbed "bikerploitation" by some sources.

In many ways, biker flicks of the late '60s followed in the footsteps of the [[TheWestern classic Westerns]] a decade earlier, from adopting a lot of their tropes (outlaw gangs, upright sheriffs, terrorized townsfolk) to their overall [[FandomLifeCycle trajectory in terms of genre popularity]]. By the [[TheSeventies mid-'70s]], public interest in biker movies has [[CondemnedByHistory dropped off sharply]], as the freshness of the biker menace wore thin under the barrage of [[StrictlyFormula boilerplate formula plots]], and in an attempt to keep the audience's attention, film producers began [[GenreMashup mixing up]] pure bikerploitation with other genres.

Sexploitation has been part of the biker movies since at least the 1968's ''[[https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0061759/ The Hellcats / Biker Babes]]'', ''[[https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0063306/ The Mini-Skirt Mob]]'', and ''[[https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0063595/ She-Devils on Wheels]]'', and these genres' unholy matrimony continued well into TheNineties with ''Film/BarbWire'' (1996).

Finally, the [[TheEighties late '80s]] brought about biker comedy, from the straight up satire of ''[[https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0100119/ Masters of Menace]]'' (1990), through romantic comedy of ''[[https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0097260/ Easy Wheels]]'' (1989), comedy horror of ''[[https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0097550/ I Bought a Vampire Motorcycle]]'' (1990), to the [[NinjaPirateZombieRobot comedy-horror-sexploitation]] of ''[[https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0103959/ Chopper Chicks in Zombietown]]'' (1989).

By the [[TheNineties early '90s]], outlaw bikers had become sufficiently ingrained in the American pop-culture that screenwriters were beginning to question the established bikers-as-feral-savages narrative, [[{{Deconstruction}} nudging their image]] towards something less marginal and edgy and more traditionally [[NinetiesAntiHero (anti-)heroic]]. Perhaps the most telling manifestation of this revisionism was the genre's leap into kid-friendlier media, such as the cartoons ''WesternAnimation/BikerMiceFromMars'' (1993–96) and ''WesternAnimation/AvengerPenguins'' (1993–94). Still, the fact that both chose to depict them as {{anthropomorphic animal}}s is indicative of how hard it was for them to shed the aforementioned feral savage image.

Since around the [[UsefulNotes/The2000s mid-2000s]], the outlaw biker genre has been going through a slow-burn revival across multiple media, with the once-dominant image of feral savage bikers mostly giving way to the post-Quebec narrative of biker gangs as [[TotallyNotACriminalFront fronts for drug- and/or gun-smuggling rings]] (hence the "true crime era"). Nevertheless, the revisionist portrayal of them as sentimental freedom-seeking outcasts has survived, too, and is sometimes used for dramatic juxtaposition. As a result, biker films of the 21st century have run the gamut from the good-biker-vs.-criminal-outlaws racing action in ''Film/{{Torque}}'' (2004), through the affectionate parody of everymen-motorcyclists-vs.-criminal-outlaws in ''Film/WildHogs'' (2007), to the [[Creator/QuentinTarantino Tarantino]]-produced pastiche of the '60s bikerploitation in ''Film/HellRide'' (2008).

Since around the [[UsefulNotes/The2000s mid-2000s]], the outlaw biker genre has been going through a slow-burn revival across multiple media, with the once-dominant image of feral savage bikers mostly giving way to the post-Quebec narrative of biker gangs as [[LegitimateBusinessmensSocialClub fronts for drug- and/or gun-smuggling rings]] (hence the "true crime era"). Nevertheless, the revisionist portrayal of them as sentimental freedom-seeking outcasts has survived, too, and is sometimes used for dramatic juxtaposition. As a result, biker films of the 21st century have run the gamut from the good-biker-vs.-criminal-outlaws racing action in ''Film/{{Torque}}'' (2004), through the affectionate parody of everymen-motorcyclists-vs.-criminal-outlaws in ''Film/WildHogs'' (2007), to the [[Creator/QuentinTarantino Tarantino]]-produced pastiche of the '60s bikerploitation in ''Film/HellRide'' (2008).

[[Creator/SonnyBarger Ralph Hubert "Sonny" Barger]] is one of the most prominent apologists of the outlaw biker subculture and a recurring figure in the history of biker media. A founding member and then-president of the UsefulNotes/{{Oakland}} charter[[note]]most motorcycle clubs call their regional branches "chapters", but the Hells Angels historically use the term "charter"[[/note]] of the Hells Angels MC, he was a prominent character in Thompson's book and has consulted on several of the better movies of the Exploitation Era, as well as starring in two of them, ''Film/HellsAngelsOnWheels'' (1967) and ''[[Film/HellsAngels69 Hell's Angels '69]]'' (1969).

Barger was among the Angels at the ill-fated Altamont Free Concert in 1969 and subsequently featured in ''Film/GimmeShelter1970'' (see below). He also indirectly contributed to ''[[Film/TheLosers1970 Nam's Angels / The Losers]]'' (1970), which was reportedly inspired by a telegram he sent to [[UsefulNotes/LyndonJohnson President Johnson]] in 1965, offering his charter to serve as a guerilla fighters in UsefulNotes/{{Vietnam|War}} (the President never replied). In the current True Crime Era, he has [[CastTheExpert played the aging biker]] [[Characters/SonsOfAnarchyRedwood Lenny "The Pimp" Janowitz]] in several episodes of ''Series/SonsOfAnarchy'' between 2010 and 2012. He has also become a [[https://www.amazon.com/Sonny-Barger/e/B004SR974G/ref=dp_byline_cont_pop_book_1 successful author,]] with an autobiography focusing on his love of motorcycling and the "outlaw" lifestyle, several non-fiction books about motorcycling and the "outlaw" lifestyle, and a couple of novels in a series wrapped up in -- [[CaptainObvious well, guess.]]

While ''The Wild One'' was a critical and commercial success, the outlaw biker film really [[NoSuchThingAsBadPublicity took off after the media craze]] that followed the alleged rape of two women by the Hells Angels in [[TheSixties September 1964]] in Monterey, California. Thompson's 1967 book (which, in fact, opens with the Angels' account of the Monterey incident) also contributed a lot to bring bikers into the popular consciousness, and the latter half of the decade was arguably the GoldenAge of biker cinema, thanks in no small part to the [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Counterculture_of_the_1960s countercultural movement of the '60s]]. The quantity-over-quality approach was dominant, however, so the vast majority of the films from this time have been forgettable [[ExploitationFilm exploitation movies]], dubbed "bikerploitation" by some sources.

While ''The Wild One'' was a critical and commercial success, the outlaw biker film really [[NoSuchThingAsBadPublicity took off after the media craze]] that followed the alleged rape of two women by the Hells Angels in [[TheSixties September 1964]] in Monterey, California. Thompson's 1967 book (which, in fact, opens with the Angels' account of the Monterey incident) also contributed a lot to bring bikers into the popular consciousness, and the latter half of the decade was arguably the GoldenAge of biker cinema, thanks in no small part to the [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Counterculture_of_the_1960s countercultural movement of the '60s]]. The [[SturgeonsLaw quantity-over-quality]] approach was dominant, however, so the vast majority of the films from this time have been forgettable [[ExploitationFilm exploitation movies]], dubbed "bikerploitation" by some sources.

Meanwhile, in [[TabletopRPG pen-and-paper tabletop gaming]], ''Full Throttle'' had inspired ''TabletopGame/{{Fudge}}''-based games like ''[[https://rpggeek.com/rpgitem/195704/mutant-bikers-atomic-wasteland-fudge Mutant Bikers of the Atomic Wasteland]]'' (1997) and an [[https://rpggeek.com/rpgitem/211650/full-throttle unofficial adaptation]] by James Wedig in 2002, both of which stayed true to Schafer's bikers-as-power-fantasy narrative. Robert Nolan's ''[[TabletopGame/OnePercenter 1%er: The Outlaw Motorcycle Game]]'' (2013), on the other hand, shows a strong ''Sons of Anarchy'' influence, going all-in on the bikers-as-criminal-enterprise narrative instead.

The biker genre in video games has been dormant for years following [=LucasArts=]' fruitless attempts at a ''Full Throttle'' sequel, but in 2009, Creator/{{Rockstar|Games}} put the player in the midst of a ''Sons of Anarchy''-esque gang drama in the ''VideoGame/GrandTheftAutoIV'' expansion pack ''[[VideoGame/GrandTheftAutoIVTheLostAndDamned The Lost and the Damned]]''. ''VideoGame/RideToHellRetribution'' (2013) was perhaps the closest that a video game has come to being a shoddy Exploitation Era flick, while ''VideoGame/DaysGone'' (2019) instead took the late Novelty Era path, putting its ex-outlaw biker protagonists in the midst of a ZombieApocalypse.

Even more so than ''The Wild One'', these exploitation films have codified the [[BadassBiker default biker appearance]]: [[BarbarianLonghair long unkempt hair]] (or a [[BaldOfEvil completely shaved head]]), dirty Levi's jeans, a [[HellBentForLeather leather jacket or vest]] (even during [[ExposedToTheElements scorching Arizona summers]]), and weird and disturbing paraphernalia (up to and including [[PuttingOnTheReich Nazi iconography]]). The creative void of these productions is perhaps exemplified by their extremely [[StockSubtitle limited title pool]]: it's hard to find a movie from this period whose title doesn't include "angel", "wild", "wheels", "(motor)cycle" or "hell".

The next watershed event that had [[NeverLiveItDown informed the popular perception]] of bikers in general and of Hells Angels in particular was the [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Altamont_Free_Concert Altamont Free Concert]] in December 1969. Intended to recapture the magic of the Music/{{Woodstock}} festival earlier that year, Altamont was plagued by bad management calls -- in particular, by that of hiring Hells Angels as a security force and paying them upfront in beer.

Barger was among the Angels at the ill-fated Altamont Free Concert in 1969 and subsequently featured in ''Film/GimmeShelter'' (see below). He also indirectly contributed to ''[[Film/TheLosers1970 Nam's Angels / The Losers]]'' (1970), which was reportedly inspired by a telegram he sent to [[UsefulNotes/LyndonJohnson President Johnson]] in 1965, offering his charter to serve as a guerilla fighters in UsefulNotes/{{Vietnam|War}} (the President never replied). In the current True Crime Era, he has [[CastTheExpert played the aging biker]] [[Characters/SonsOfAnarchyRedwood Lenny "The Pimp" Janowitz]] in several episodes of ''Series/SonsOfAnarchy'' between 2010 and 2012. He has also become a [[https://www.amazon.com/Sonny-Barger/e/B004SR974G/ref=dp_byline_cont_pop_book_1 successful author,]] with an autobiography focusing on his love of motorcycling and the "outlaw" lifestyle, several non-fiction books about motorcycling and the "outlaw" lifestyle, and a couple of novels in a series wrapped up in -- [[CaptainObvious well, guess.]]

To no one's surprise, the concert was marred by drunken violence (including against the musicians), but what really capped it off was the [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Death_of_Meredith_Hunter fatal stabbing of a student named Meredith Hunter]] by the Hells Angel Alan Passaro. Hunter was high on methamphetamine and threatened the people around him with a loaded revolver, so Passaro's actions were officially ruled in self-defense, but the damage to the counterculture, to the '60s, and to whatever goodwill ''Easy Rider'' managed to garner for bikers half a year earlier had been done. The next year, the whole affair was widely publicized by the documentary ''Film/GimmeShelter'' (1970).

[[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sonny_Barger Ralph Hubert "Sonny" Barger]] is one of the most prominent apologists of the outlaw biker subculture and a recurring figure in the history of biker media. A founding member and then-president of the UsefulNotes/{{Oakland}} charter[[note]]most motorcycle clubs call their regional branches "chapters", but the Hells Angels historically use the term "charter"[[/note]] of the Hells Angels MC, he was a prominent character in Thompson's book and has consulted on several of the better movies of the Exploitation Era, as well as starring in two of them, ''Film/HellsAngelsOnWheels'' (1967) and ''[[Film/HellsAngels69 Hell's Angels '69]]'' (1969).

Barger was among the Angels at the ill-fated Altamont Free Concert in 1969 and subsequently featured in ''Film/GimmeShelter'' (see below). He also indirectly contributed to ''[[TheLosers1970 Nam's Angels / The Losers]]'' (1970), which was reportedly inspired by a telegram he sent to [[UsefulNotes/LyndonJohnson President Johnson]] in 1965, offering his charter to serve as a guerilla fighters in UsefulNotes/{{Vietnam|War}} (the President never replied). In the current True Crime Era, he has [[CastTheExpert played the aging biker]] [[Characters/SonsOfAnarchyRedwood Lenny "The Pimp" Janowitz]] in several episodes of ''Series/SonsOfAnarchy'' between 2010 and 2012. He has also become a [[https://www.amazon.com/Sonny-Barger/e/B004SR974G/ref=dp_byline_cont_pop_book_1 successful author,]] with an autobiography focusing on his love of motorcycling and the "outlaw" lifestyle, several non-fiction books about motorcycling and the "outlaw" lifestyle, and a couple of novels in a series wrapped up in -- [[CaptainObvious well, guess.]]

Barger was among the Angels at the ill-fated Altamont Free Concert in 1969 and subsequently featured in ''Film/GimmeShelter'' (see below). He also indirectly contributed to ''[[https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0066126/ Nam's Angels / The Losers]]'' (1970), which was reportedly inspired by a telegram he sent to [[UsefulNotes/LyndonJohnson President Johnson]] in 1965, offering his charter to serve as a guerilla fighters in UsefulNotes/{{Vietnam|War}} (the President never replied). In the current True Crime Era, he has [[CastTheExpert played the aging biker]] [[Characters/SonsOfAnarchyRedwood Lenny "The Pimp" Janowitz]] in several episodes of ''Series/SonsOfAnarchy'' between 2010 and 2012. He has also become a [[https://www.amazon.com/Sonny-Barger/e/B004SR974G/ref=dp_byline_cont_pop_book_1 successful author,]] with an autobiography focusing on his love of motorcycling and the "outlaw" lifestyle, several non-fiction books about motorcycling and the "outlaw" lifestyle, and a couple of novels in a series wrapped up in -- [[CaptainObvious well, guess.]]

[[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sonny_Barger Ralph Hubert "Sonny" Barger]] is one of the most prominent apologists of the outlaw biker subculture and a recurring figure in the history of biker media. A founding member and then-president of the UsefulNotes/{{Oakland}} charter[[note]]most motorcycle clubs call their regional branches "chapters", but the Hells Angels historically use the term "charter"[[/note]] of the Hells Angels MC, he was a prominent character in Thompson's book and has consulted on several of the better movies of the Exploitation Era, as well as starring in two of them, ''Film/{{Hells Angels on Wheels}}'' (1967) and ''[[Film/HellsAngels69 Hell's Angels '69]]'' (1969).

{{Horror}} genre, of course, was a natural fit, given the outlaw bikers' predominant portrayal as terrifying and/or disgusting monsters in film. An early example of this was ''[[https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0067972/ Werewolves on Wheels]]'' (1971).

In many ways, biker flicks of the late '60s followed in the footsteps of the [[TheWestern classic Westerns]] a decade earlier, from adopting a lot of their tropes (outlaw gangs, upright sheriffs, terrorized townsfolk) to their overall [[FandomLifeCycle trajectory in terms of genre popularity]]. By the [[TheSeventies mid-'70s]], public interest in biker movies has [[DeaderThanDisco dropped off sharply]], as the freshness of the biker menace wore thin under the barrage of [[StrictlyFormula boilerplate formula plots]], and in an attempt to keep the audience's attention, film producers began [[GenreMashup mixing up]] pure bikerploitation with other genres.

While the first major live-action television series about bikers was ''[[https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0299283/ The Last Chapter]]'' (2002), a Canadian mini-series dramatizing the events of the Quebec Biker War, it is the Creator/{{FX|Networks}}-produced ''Series/SonsOfAnarchy'' (2008–14) that remains the most influential biker-themed TV series to date. It success came in part from pitting the two contemporary narratives about the outlaw bikers (idealistic freedom seekers vs. ruthless criminal enterprises) against each other and making it the overarching internal struggle of the series protagonist Jax (Creator/CharlieHunnam). Upon its conclusion, ''Sons'' was followed by a spin-off, ''Series/MayansMC'' (2018–ongoing), and has had a considerable impact on film, as well, such as the Australian ''[[Film/OnePercent 1% / Outlaws]]'' (2018).

''Beyond the Law'', meanwhile, took the premise of ''Film/StoneCold'' (1991) -- [[ReverseMole a cop going undercover with a drug-trafficking biker gang]] -- and turned it on its ear by having the lawman Dan (Creator/CharlieSheen) embrace the outlaw biker lifestyle (even if he ultimately rejects it on moral grounds) and by portraying the bikers and particularly their leader (Creator/MichaelMadsen) as more alive and liberated than Dan's own superiors. In doing so, ''Beyond the Law'' had presented the biker subculture as a valid (if disruptive) alternative system of values and beliefs -- a far cry from its dehumanizing portrayals in earlier films. The movie had also featured Music/ChrisRea's 1989 song [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Road_to_Hell_(song) "The Road to Hell"]], which thereafter became the other one of the two unofficial biker anthems, alongside "Born to Be Wild".

Barger was among the Angels at the ill-fated Altamont Free Concert in 1969 and subsequently featured in ''Film/GimmeShelter'' (see below). He also indirectly contributed to ''[[https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0066126/ Nam's Angels / The Losers]]'' (1970), which was reportedly inspired by a telegram he sent to [[UsefulNotes/LyndonJohnson President Johnson]] in 1965, offering his charter to serve as a guerilla fighters in UsefulNotes/{{Vietnam|War}} (the President never replied). Finally, in the current True Crime Era, he has [[CastTheExpert played the aging biker]] [[Characters/SonsOfAnarchyRedwood Lenny "The Pimp" Janowitz]] in several episodes of ''Series/SonsOfAnarchy'' between 2010 and 2012.