If you bought into the idea that biker gangs were simply covers for vandals, thieves, and drug dealers, you missed the whole bonding angle that comes out in “The Bikeriders.”
Based on Danny Lyons’ photographic account of a Midwestern gang, the film shows how the Vandals (odd, right?) became family for those who may not have had any.
They hang together repeatedly, protect each other’s girlfriends and aren’t far away when a rival gang comes calling.
It’s an interesting take on a world that thrived on screen in the ‘60s and became a mainstay on television with “Sons of Anarchy.”
Here, though, there’s a different side, largely because Jodie Comer plays such a compelling narrator. She’s Kathy, the motorcycle-gang-adjacent girlfriend who’s more than willing to talk about its personnel, relationships, and shortcomings. In interviews with the photographer, she opens up and isn’t afraid to call out the toughs in her way.
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Comer towers, even in quiet moments where she’s sitting in the back of a room.
Bruce Miller is editor of the Sioux City Journal.
