Bikesploitation Movie Posters

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Since the Outlaw biker clubs began forming on the West Coast in the late 1940s and the culture achieved popularity in the Marlon Brando film The Wild One (1953), a string of low-budget exploitation films aimed at a teenage audience such as Motorcycle Gang (1957) and The Hot Angel (1958) has splashed across screens big and small. The genre really took off in the mid 1960s after the Hells Angels gang became prominent in the media, particularly after Hunter S. Thompson's book Hell's Angels: The Strange and Terrible Saga of the Outlaw Motorcycle Gangs was published in 1966.

In 1965 director Russ Meyer made Motorpsycho, an obscure film about an evil motorcycle gang led by a disturbed Vietnam War veteran. In 1966 American International Pictures (AIP) released The Wild Angels starring Peter Fonda, Bruce Dern, and Nancy Sinatra. That film was a surprise hit and a new exploitation film subgenre was born.

Other small independent filmmakers went on to produce dozens of low-budget biker films until the trend dissipated in the early '70s. A number of novelty films were made featuring all-female biker gangs, as well as horror hybrids such as Werewolves on Wheels (1971). Black motorcycle gangs appeared in a few blaxploitation films such as The Black Angels.

There were some greats of course; besides The Wild Angels, Easyrider and Mad Max are certainly classics. But the majority are pretty bad. They didn't do a hell of a lot for our reputation either- think about how many TV shows in the last 30 years have pitted the "good guy" against a gang of evil bikers?
Makes me want to go trash some squares, man.

Of course they've never gone away, as evidenced by the popularity of stuff like Sons of Anarchy and Hell Ride. Here are some posters from the best of the worst.
Grab some popcorn and fire up YouTube.