The Bikeriders                   4 ½ stars

Mike Nichols’ The Bikeriders (in theaters now) is an homage to the biker films of the sixties, and a remembrance of a culture long gone. The biker club, The Vandals, based on a real gang from Chicago in the sixties, is a collection of misfits, young to middle-aged, working-class men who only belong to each other. We commonly see them in bars at night or in open fields during the day dressed in their grimy clothes and jackets drinking beer. Their jackets sport rebellious patches such as the extended middle finger and German crosses. They are outlaws in a sense as the cops fear them, but they rarely commit any real serious crimes, preferring their typical brawling and riding through small towns. Occasionally, they are seen on the road, riding in a pack somewhere in the Midwest. While it’s not a traditional drama it does have characters you can really feel for, that seem very real. The movie is told in a narrative form with a photographer named Danny Lyons (Mike Faist) interviewing various members and taking their photos. It is based on actual interviews the real Danny Lyons did with club members and their wives and girlfriends in making his photo-anthropology book, The Bikeriders. In the movie the story is narrated by Kathy (Jodie Comer of Free Guy and the TV series Killing Eve) as she relates her story to Danny, about how she met and fell for Benny (Austin Butler of Elvis), a young heartthrob and member of the Vandals. She soon marries Benny, but in a sense also marries the gang, finding her life intertwined with other members. Chief among them is Johnny (Tom Hardy of Inception and Mad Max: Fury Road), the gang’s leader and close friend of Benny. The three of them create a great ensemble of characters whose fates are interconnected. Comer mastered an upper Midwest accent and gives an honest performance of someone attracted to a world she doesn’t really understand. Butler, coming off his roles in Elvis and Dune, Part 2, is a man of few words, but can communicate with a look and a glance with his eyes, a la James Dean. Hardy is his iconic self, a real tough guy, a Marlon Brando type, who can fight when needed, but is aging and realizes his time as leader is fast running out. With the high drama in this story, you can expect there to be tragic consequences. The cinematography is quite arresting with the many outdoor scenes of the Midwest and an impressive collection of classic cars and motorcycles. The outstanding score includes many familiar songs by artists such as The Animals, The Shangri-Las, Bo Diddley and Cream. Nichols is well known for his previous excellent movies including Take Shelter, Mud and Midnight Special. The Bikeriders may be his most classic film yet.