Back in the 60s, Danny Lyon gained the reluctant permission of a minor Chicago motorcycle club that called itself the Vandals to tag along, take notes and pictures, and, y’know, get the feel of it. The result was a seminal book on the subculture that rang true. Now, director Jeff Nichols has crafted an engrossing fiction that animates those notes and photos – and still rings true. No mean feat. 

The chameleon known as Tom Hardy plays the gang’s leader and is clearly channeling Marlon Brando. (Brando’s unforgettable response to the question in Wild One about what he was rebelling against: “Whatcha got?” is not only given homage but actually appears on a TV in the background.) Austin Butler, from Elvis, is the member through whose eyes we watch the drama unfold. He’s more channeling James Dean. 

But the movie’s anchor and moral compass is Jodie Comer as a working-class gal who finds herself caught up in all things biker when she marries Butler’s good-lookin’ character. Keep in mind that at this time biker gangs were more interested in drinkin’, fightin’, and being assholes before later turning to such profitable sidelines as fentanyl-running. 

The acting is neither staged nor performative. It’s pretty low-key for a biker movie, but this rejection of spectacle and melodrama imbues the material with great authenticity

Note: 99 percent of today’s biker gangs are respectable guys who like big bikes and spend a lot of time trying to live down the unsavory reputations caused by a few bad boys. (116 min)