List of Adventure Motorcycle Movies

Discussion in 'The Perfect Line and Other Riding Myths' started by Durden, Jun 7, 2009.

  1. Durden

    Durden Freak!

    Joined:
    Aug 12, 2005
    Oddometer:
    477
    Location:
    Calgary, Alberta
    Im not sure if there is a master list out there, or if this is right place, but I wanted to start a list of reality/non-fiction Motorcycle Adventure movies. I'll start the list with the ones I know about starting with my favorites in order:

    1) Mondo Enduro 5/5 (the epic amature made movie that did it all)
    2) Terra Circa 5/5 (the continuation of Mondo Enduro - Amazing trip)
    3) Call of the Wild 3/5 (KLRs taking on single track in BC, Canada - short and good)
    4) Long Way Round 5/5 (Very well made, awesome movie, worth watching, but support crews suck)
    5) Race to Dakar 4/5 (Very Good look into just had difficult the Dakar rally is)
    6) Dust to Glory 4/5 (Baja 1000, more of a race documentary than adventure travel, but cool none the less)
    7) Long Way Down 3/5 (sequels rarely meet expectations of the original - this is no exception)
    8) Moto Siberia 3/5 (Awesome trip, great KTM bikes, no support crews, just a bit short and skimpy on the biking footage)

    Others Recommend (In no specific order):

    1) Natural Born Traveller x/5 (lonely planet flick)
    2) Get Lost Oregon x/5 (havent seen the Get Lost series, but the filming looks bad-ass - In a very good way)
    3) Get Lost Baha x/5
    4) Exploring the Deserts of the Earth x/5 (desert crossing on a motorcycle more culture than motorcycle)
    5) Riding Solo To The Top Of The World x/5 (solo travels through asia - looks amazing)
    6) One Crazy Ride x/5 (uncharted roads across the Himalayan state of Arunachal Pradesh)
    7) Journey Beyond Reason x/5 (North America top to bottom by Nick Sanders - this one looks very promising)
    8) One Man's Island x/5 (documentary of how one man sold everything to embark on the riding adventure he had dreamed of since childhood)
    9) On Any Sunday x/5 (Documentary on motorcycle racing featuring stars of the sport, including film star Steve McQueen)
    10) World's Fastest Indian x/5
    11) Globe Riders: Globeriders Silk Road, Indochina, Iceland and Eurasia (Helge Pedersen's shameless self-promotional videos)
    12) Achievable Dream Series (Horizons Unlimited's series on moto travelling, more of a how-to than a movie)

    Good Fiction Movies:

    1) One Week 5/5 (Great Canadian flick about a guy who has one week to live and decides to buy a bike and ride across the country - 2009)
    2) The Motorcycle Diaries 4/5 (classic story of Che, good movie, not a pure adventure or motorcycle movie, regardless makes the cut - circa 2005)
    3) Time Rider x/5 (The Adventure of Lyle Swann - 1982)

    Updated with my rating scale based on quality of videography, footage, and level of adventure. Those with x I have yet to see. Cheers keep the list growing.
    #1
    TonyKZ1 likes this.
  2. roswellj

    roswellj ARGHventurer

    Joined:
    Jul 2, 2008
    Oddometer:
    802
    Location:
    Castlemaine Australia
    'Natural born traveller' is a lonely planet one. It's pretty good. It's an amature one that Lonely planet picked up. Bit of a shame as it misses alot of south america because he was broke and had to sell his camera equipment and laptop to continue the journey. Picks up again in north america somewhere though.
    Very well made and well worth a look.
    #2
  3. DAKEZ

    DAKEZ Long timer

    Joined:
    Mar 18, 2007
    Oddometer:
    19,879
    Location:
    Begin Op Zoom
    Get Lost Oregon

    Get Lost Baja

    http://www.getlostoregon.com/ (you can view a trailer)

    "Who would want to watch a film about motorcyclists riding through the back country of Oregon. Doh! Well … other motorcyclists. And if you ride, you really want to buy this film. If you don’t ride, you might be more interested in the cinematography, scenery, and story. My only regret is there is not a full blown sound track...." DBrent
    #3
  4. dp_t3

    dp_t3 Adventurer

    Joined:
    May 31, 2007
    Oddometer:
    78
    Location:
    pnw, b'ham, wa
    Exploring the Deserts of the Earth, Michael Martin

    Amazon's Product Description
    Two ambitious filmmakers document their travels on film as they attempt to cross all of the world’s deserts on a motorbike in only 900 days. After starting off in Munich, they head first to the Arabian deserts, then to Asia, Australia and over South and North America and finally to Africa, documenting not only their adventures and experiences but each country’s unique culture along the way.Countries visited include: Afghanistan, Algeria, Australia, Bolivia, Botswana, Chad, Chile, China, Egypt, Ethiopia, India, Iran, Jordan, Mali, Mauritania, Mongolia, Namibia, Niger, Oman, Peru, Qatar, Tibet, Turkmenistan, United Arab Emirates, United States, Uzbekistan, Yemen






    More of a documentary on the cultures and landforms, very well done, with occasional shots of their hugely overloaded GS.
    #4
  5. AKLiz

    AKLiz Been here awhile

    Joined:
    Aug 14, 2006
    Oddometer:
    263
    Location:
    Portland, OR
    Riding Solo To The Top Of The World
    <table class="profileTable info_table" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0"><tbody><tr><td class="label">
    </td> <td class="data">Riding Solo... is a film about filmmaker Gaurav Jani's solo motorcycle journey from Mumbai to one of the remotest places in the world, the Changthang Plateau in Ladakh, bordering China.As a one-man film unit, he astonishes you, filming the landscape he passes by and the people he interacts with, capturing moments of beauty, pain, love, hardship, self doubt and spiritual triumphs


    </td></tr> </tbody></table> I love this one....it's amazing, but in parts is more travel documentary than motorcycling documentary.
    #5
  6. scottrnelson

    scottrnelson Mr. Dual Sport Rider

    Joined:
    Apr 3, 2006
    Oddometer:
    2,279
    Location:
    Meridian, ID
    The Motorcycle Diaries has some "interesting" riding on dirt roads for about the first half of the movie until they finish wearing out their Norton single. The movie is in Spanish with Subtitles and is about the early life of Che Guevara ... still worth watching once.
    #6
  7. whitham_wannabe

    whitham_wannabe Long timer

    Joined:
    Feb 26, 2008
    Oddometer:
    1,243
    Location:
    Snohomish, WA
    Also recommended .... One Crazy Ride, by the same film maker but with a few friends in tow for most of it. The suspension bridge bit is awesome!
    #7
  8. rmi03

    rmi03 Daily Motorcycle User

    Joined:
    Mar 31, 2008
    Oddometer:
    319
    Location:
    Athens, GA
    On Any Sunday.....

    A very good old flick from the makers of Endless Summer.

    Ryan
    #8
  9. Trophymick

    Trophymick Just another lemon

    Joined:
    Apr 21, 2009
    Oddometer:
    151
    Location:
    Back of beyond,UK.
    #9
  10. jesionowski

    jesionowski Chicagoland Honda CB500F

    Joined:
    May 19, 2006
    Oddometer:
    155
    Location:
    Chicagoland
    Amazon is back ordered. I need a place to get Mondo Enduro in NTSC format and would like to pay for it in Dollars. I even wrote to and got a response from the guy who made it. He sent me to a site but it was and english site with pounds and international shipping. Is there a US location that I can go to.

    thanks
    Tad
    #10
  11. Zecatfish

    Zecatfish XTique Rider

    Joined:
    Dec 30, 2006
    Oddometer:
    7,928
    Location:
    Arkansas USA
    Time Rider, The Adventure of Lyle Swann 1982

    IF you've never seen it, it was playing on fancast awhile back. Might still be there. :D

    Maybe it doesn't quite fit into the topic, as its fiction but hey its a got a DS bike in it. :deal
    #11
    Suruppak and Rick G like this.
  12. flux_capacitor

    flux_capacitor I know a shortcut!

    Joined:
    Sep 28, 2004
    Oddometer:
    11,460
    Location:
    Cumming GA
    Are you guys stoned? :jose

    How does the super lame "Motorcycle Diaries" get a nod but nobody has mentioned "World's Fastest Indian"?

    "Motorcycle Diaries" was a damn big disappointment. I had no idea it was subtitled before we rented it so that was strike one. Strike two was that it really wasn't a motorcycle movie, in my opinion.

    Let's not forget our own Neduro's Dualsport Techniques DVDs. :deal

    [​IMG]
    #12
  13. mark1305

    mark1305 Old Enough To Know Better Supporter

    Joined:
    Feb 7, 2005
    Oddometer:
    6,776
    Location:
    Merritt Island, FL
    Hiya Scott :wave Nice to see a familiar name from the older DML.

    Back to the topic, if one includes all forms of riding as potential adventure, I have to nominate the movie "One Man's Island". Yes it's all about the IOM TT, but it's a documentary of how one man sold everything to embark on the riding adventure he had dreamed of since childhood. Pretty well done, IMHO.
    #13
  14. Durden

    Durden Freak!

    Joined:
    Aug 12, 2005
    Oddometer:
    477
    Location:
    Calgary, Alberta
    Great, keep the feedback coming and we can grow this list. May have to start getting a better formatting as its getting much larget than I thought :)

    jesionowski - I believe I ordered it from that British site, which made it really expensive, but worth it in my opinion.

    flux - I agree Motorcycle Diaries is more of a political movie than a motorcycle movie, but its still worth watching. How can subtitles be strike one, its a South American film! If you dont watch subtitled movies you are missing out on other great (non-motorcycle) movies like City of God and Goodbye Lenin.

    Cheers!
    #14
  15. WVChrome

    WVChrome KLR Owner

    Joined:
    Dec 6, 2006
    Oddometer:
    140
    Location:
    Morgantown, WV
    FYI, the World's Fastest Indian is based on a true story. I've not seen it, but I also hear it's very good.

    Dust to Glory is my favorite movie.

    What about On Any Sunday? I hear that's a good flick, but I've not seen it either.

    Later,
    Chrome...
    #15
  16. ztaj

    ztaj Jatz

    Joined:
    Jul 22, 2008
    Oddometer:
    1,649
    Location:
    Nelson-ish New Zealand
    How about...... African Odysee, "4 friends from Whakatane, New Zealand riding Cape town to London on motorbikes most wouldn't ride to the cow shed"
    A good watch if you can get hold of a copy, awsome sound track too.

    The Last Hurrah, a couple of older guys riding a 1965 Panther 650 and a 1954 Norton 600 from Beijing to Arnhem in 2005.Might still be able to get it from www.thelasthurrah.co.nz
    #16
  17. Questor

    Questor More Undestructable

    Joined:
    Oct 8, 2005
    Oddometer:
    4,777
    Location:
    Lake Toxaway, NC.
    What about Motoafryka?

    I first heard about it here on ADV.
    It was made by some of our Polish friends, including the infamous "Lordmaciek", who also made Moto Syberia.

    It's a DVD telling their trip down the East side of Africa in 2005.

    Good guys, great story, and some good humor.

    Thanks. :thumb

    There is an internet link:
    http://www.motoafryka.prv.pl

    Q~
    #17
  18. chasbo

    chasbo Long timer

    Joined:
    May 8, 2005
    Oddometer:
    3,731
    Location:
    West Virginia
    I will add Salt and Gold to this list. Nothing like an inmates documentary to make for fun watching.
    #18
  19. Schmeds

    Schmeds supportive

    Joined:
    Aug 16, 2008
    Oddometer:
    22,245
    Location:
    the Deep East
    Tron.
    #19
  20. Dr. Zaius

    Dr. Zaius It's a mad house

    Joined:
    Feb 11, 2008
    Oddometer:
    264
    Location:
    Arizona
    :poser

    I love that.

    I have the "Get Lost Baja" and "Get Lost Oregon" movies. Both entertaining and kept my motorcycle addicted personality happy through till the end.
    #20