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Our Top 5 Favorite Movie Motorcycle Stunts
There’s something extra thrilling about a motorcycle stunt and we’ve picked out some of our favorites. From a legendary ‘60s stunt to a flawless 2020s anime homage, we’re taking a look at 5 incredible stunts and how they did it. We love all motorcycle stunts for different reasons so this list goes in chronological order. And it goes without saying: spoilers for all of the following films.
The Great Escape (Hilts’ Run for Freedom)
Having made the titular great escape from the Nazi prisoner of war camp, Virgil Hilts (Steve McQueen) is still stuck behind enemy lines. Close to the Swiss border, Hilts steals a motorcycle from a German soldier. Production used a Triumph TR6 Trophy made up to look like a German bike. In a bit of bad luck, Hilts draws the attention of a German police officer and a chase ensues. As he gets closer to the two layers of barbed wire fencing, more and more German troops begin to close in on him. Everywhere he goes, more Germans appear to box him in. He makes an incredible jump over the first round of fences but is hit by gunfire and sent spiraling into the second barbed wire fence. Just inches away from freedom in Switzerland, Hilts is recaptured and returned to the prison camp to plot his next escape.
While the entire reason for an extended motorcycle chase had to do with Steve McQueen’s great love of the vehicle, insurance would not let him make that jump over the barbed wire fence. Urban legend has it that even though the insurance company forbade the jump, McQueen tested it out several times. McQueen’s reputation was such that most people believed that he had to have done the stunt himself. Whenever asked, McQueen gave credit where it was due and told them that Bud Ekins had done the stunt. The now legendary stuntman would later double for Steve McQueen in another famous scene: the car chase from Bullitt.
The Matrix Reloaded (Freeway Chase)
In a pivotal sequence in this sequel to The Matrix, Trinity (Carrie-Ann Moss) and Morpheus (Laurence Fishburne) escape with The Keymaker (Randall Duk Kim), pursued by the deadly Twins (Neil and Adrian Rayment). While Morpheus holds them off, Trinity grabs the Keymaker and the two jump from a bridge onto a passing truck filled with conveniently Ducati motorcycles. With the Keymaker’s help, Trinity commandeers a Ducati 966. She drives off the giant truck with the Keymaker riding pillion. From there, they weave and dodge through cars and trucks. Finally, Morpheus stabs a samurai sword into a truck to use as a stand (as one does) and takes the Keymaker off Trinity’s hands.
For the initial ride off the Ducati truck, the Wachowskis had the bike attached to a crane with wires. Production used both stunt drivers and Carrie-Ann Moss during the sequence, with Moss admitting later that she was terrified. The actress didn’t have a ton of experience on motorcycles and she was particularly concerned given that Randall Duk Kim was on the back of her bike. Managing to do this sequence with a passenger and no helmet makes it all the more impressive.
Captain America: Civil War (Bucky Steals a Motorcycle)
Bucky Barnes, Captain America’s brainwashed best friend, has had a bit of a rough time. As if being a WWII veteran that’s constantly frozen and unfrozen in time to be a deadly assassin wasn’t enough, Captain America: Civil War sees him framed for the assassination of King T’Chaka of Wakanda. Pursued by the authorities and the Black Panther himself, Bucky (Sebastian Stan) does what any of us would do: punch a guy off a moving motorcycle and steal it in the fanciest way possible.
When Bucky punches the man, the bike flies into the air. Bucky catches it in midair, redirects it the opposite way, gets on and rides off. It’s an impressive sequence made all the more stunning by the fact that it’s done practically using wirework. There are wires attached to the bike’s original driver that hand pull him off the motorcycle. There were also wires attached to the bike’s tail which were pulled up during the stunt while the rider tried hard to control the front of the bike enough to get on. Then Bucky and his sweet new Harley Davidson Street 750 can ride off into the sunset…right up until the Black Panther tackles him off the bike. Turnabout’s fair play.
Nope (The Akira Slide)
Even if you’ve never seen Katsuhiro Otomo’s 1988 Cyberpunk masterpiece, Akira, you’ve probably seen the legendary Akira slide. In the anime, the Akira slide involves the character of Kaneda doing a sideways slide on a motorcycle away from the camera. As the bike slides on the road, it throws up dust and sparks as Kaneda glares into the shot and rights the motorcycle. From Batman: The Original Series to Pokémon to Adventure Time, decades of animated fare has paid homage to this ionic moment. This impossible move is easier to do in animation than in real life. Nerds have been puzzling out whether or not it’s possible for decades. There are about two major live action versions of the stunt…well. One and a half. X-Men Origins: Wolverine did a modified version that involved the hero’s Adamantium claws, but we would have to wait until 2022 to see a true live action Akira slide.
Towards the end of Nope, directed by Jordan Peele, Emerald (Keke Palmer) commandeers a motorcycle and performs the film’s loving homage. With desert dust flying, she executes the slide flawlessly. This was done practically, using a rig that slid Palmer down the dirt road. “The special-effects guys and our stunt-team essentially pull Keke, and she folds over safely as the bike is pulled towards that well,” Peele told Empire Magazine. This stunt is also a bit of a window into an alternate universe as Jordan Peele seriously considered directing the long gestating live action Akira movie, before deciding to focus on original films like Nope.
Mission Impossible: Dead Reckoning Part One
Whether it’s scaling the Burj Khalifa or dangling from a plane as it takes off, Tom Cruise will risk death to give the audience a good stunt. So when set photos from Norway emerged of a giant ramp that led off a cliff, we were both concerned and intrigued. Eventually, the stunt was revealed to be a motorcycle jump off the cliff that turns into a base jump. In the film, Ethan Hunt is utterly horrified that he has to go off this cliff and parachute on to a moving train. For Cruise, however, this is a culmination of a childhood dream.
He spent a year preparing for this stunt, honing skills in base jumping and motocross. Cruise did 500 skydives and over 13,000 motocross jumps. Production built a replica ramp in a quarry in England for jump rehearsals. For these jumps, Cruise had a sensor attached to his back so they had enough data about the ramp, the wind and the trajectory to see where the drone needed to be to get the shot (also for safety probably). On the big day, after doing several practice base jumps from a helicopter, Cruise did the stunt for real. He kept steady on the ramp, opened his chute without getting tangled, and let the motorcycle fall. Cruise landed safely and the crew celebrated. And then they did it 5 more times.
This was a hard list to whittle down. There are decades and decades of incredible motorcycle stunts from around the world that almost made the cut. The amount of effort, care and daring put into stuntwork is truly breathtaking. We hope this blog inspires you to go watch some great action movies.
