Chopper Stars

When the Steel Steed Steals the Spotlight

How many times have you watched a western television show or movie where the real star was the horse? It wasn’t Roy Rogers but Trigger who really stole the show. It wasn’t the Lone Ranger, it was Silver. There is a long list of hero-horses. It could be said; the man did not make the horse, the horse made the man.

It’s the same with motorcycles.

Peter Fonda and the Dragon Bike

 In 1966, early in his acting career, Peter Fonda was lucky to get a role co-staring with an awesome chopper in Wild Angels. Hollywood made a ton of biker movies which ranged from bad to worse. This one was on the better side of bad. The reason most people watch these old movies is not for the plot but to see the old school bikes.

In 1969 he got another opportunity to co-star with another beauty in Easy Rider, which is still a cult favorite today. Not because of Peter’s stellar acting, it’s because of the bikes, the open road and image of freedom that it brings.

Dennis Hopper and Peter Fonda on the set of Easy Rider

But he was not the only one who got his start taking advantage of co-staring with pretty machinery. Did you know Jack Nicholson got his start the same way?

First with The Rebel Rousers, then Hell’s Angels on Wheels and finally Easy Rider, Jack rode his way to the top.

Jack on a cool Harley Flathead in The Rebel Rousers, filmed in Chloride, Arizona

Jack Nicholson in Hell’s Angels on Wheels

The steed he rode in Hell’s Angels on Wheels was not the coolest chopper ever, but it still beats the shiniest bagger. As a friend of mine recently said, “They don’t make movies about baggers.”

Veteran actor Buck Taylor, son of long-time character actor Dub Taylor, also got his start as a biker, or at least playing one. Along with dozens of television appearances, instead of horses, he rode choppers in several movies, including Wild Angels and Devil’s Angels, before going on to play Newly on Gun Smoke.

Buck Taylor behind Peter Fonda and Nancy Sinatra in Wild Angels

A couple of years ago I ran into him at an art show in Fort Worth, Texas. He was selling his marvelous paintings of cowboy characters in movies. When I got a chance to talk to him, I brought up seeing him in old biker movies. He laughed and said, “You remember that?”

“Of course, you were a memorable character.”

Laughing again, he said, “Everybody I talk to wants to hear about being in Tombstone with Kurt Russell, Val Kilmer and Sam Elliott, nobody remembers those old films, it’s nice to hear that.”

Buck Tayor and Dale in Fort Worth

I told him, “I guess there’s no limit to what you can accomplish, even if you start out as a biker.”

So maybe Trigger and Silver handed the reins over to chrome and gasoline, but the heart of the story stayed the same. A good machine doesn’t just get you where you’re going—it becomes part of who you are.

And some bikes?
They’re not just remembered.
They’re felt, long after the credits roll.