Wikipedia describes exploitation films as films which attempt to succeed financially by exploiting current trends, niche genres, or lurid content and are generally low-quality “B movies” that sometimes attract critical attention and cult followings. They go on to say that “some of these films, such as Night of the Living Dead (1968), set trends and become historically important.” A form of exploitation film that has pretty much captured the imagination of the movie going public are biker and hot rod flicks. Films such as Marlon Brando‘s The Wild One and Vin Diesel‘s Fast And The Furious franchise are wildly popular, financially lucrative and have captured the Zeitgeist of American and worldwide culture.
We’ve compiled a selection of vintage exploitation film posters from around the world which showcase the evolution of the biker/hot rod films from the 1950’s through today. We hope you enjoy!
Directed by Laszlo Benedek and starring Marlon Brando is considered to be the original outlaw biker film, and the first to examine American outlaw motorcycle gang violence. Brando’s character’s persona became a cultural icon of the 1950s and set the standard for many many films that followed including James Dean‘s character in the iconic film Rebel Without A Cause.
The Wild Angels (American International, 1966) One Sheet
One of the best poster of the genre, designed by artist Reynold Brown
Director Roger Corman‘s Cult Classic, Starring Peter Fonda, Nancy Sinatra, Bruce Dern and Diane Ladd
Released three years before Easy Rider and was the first film to associate actor Peter Fonda with Harley-Davidson motorcycles and 1960’s counterculture and was also the film that inspired the outlaw biker film genre that continued into the early 1970’s. The studio went on to follow this film with Devil’s Angels, The Glory Stompers with Dennis Hopper, and The Born Losers.
The first of the Billy Jack movies, quickly written to capitalize on the then-popular trend in motorcycle gang movies, which was based on an actual event where members of the Hells Angels were arrested for raping five teenage girls in Monterey, California
Directed by Russ Meyer
Three Go-Go dancers embark on a spree of kidnapping & murder in the California desert
Vintage poster for the 1968 bikers movie about a biker who is falsely accused of a murder committed by a drunken sheriff. His Vietnam vet brother doesn’t believe this accusation, so he decides to join the Hell’s Chosen Few biker gang in order to find out the truth.
Easy Rider (Columbia, 1969) Japanese B2Vintage poster printed for the 1969 Japanese release
The modern western that legitimized the motorcycle genre which became an international phenomenon
Rare large 2 panel poster of the 10th episode of the Japanese produced Yakuza / bikers Furyo Bancho series starring Tatsuo Umemiya, Bunta Sugawara and Reiko Oshida
Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift (Universal, 2006) Advance One Sheet
Death Proof (Dimension, 2007) Japanese B1Director Quentin Tarantino homage to 1970’s exploitation films
Limited Quantities Available on all vintage posters.
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