THE BIKERIDERS

Director: Jeff Nichols

116min., R

Cast: Michael Shannon, Mike Faist, Boyd Holbrook, Norman Reedus, Jodie Comer, Austin Butler, Tom Hardy

Open Caption Screening Wednesday, September 4 at 7pm

 

In 1965, a young photographer named Danny Lyon (played in the film by Mike Faist) turned his fascination with a Chicago motorcycle club, The Outlaws) into a cult classic book of interviews and photos. With equal fascination, writer/director Jeff Nichols recreates a unique place in time with (sometimes brutal) honesty, but without judgement. The photographer first meets one of the bikers’ wives, (Jodie Comer, Killing Eve) who introduces him to her impulsive husband Benny (Austin Butler of Elvis fame) and to Johnny, the more even-tempered founder of the club played British actor Tom Hardy (Dunkirk, The Revenent).  Their love of the road and freedom from convention is at the core of what becomes an insulated community with its own code of honor. Trouble appears as the ‘60s come to a close, bringing new members including damaged Vietnam vets and lawless young hotheads, who are far removed from The Outlaws’ ethos of cool.

“Thrills to the pure, uncut postwar freedom – and the nightmare for ’respectable’ society.’” -Peter Travers, Rolling Stone.