IMDb RATING
5.3/10
2.6K
YOUR RATING
A married woman leaves her husband and zooms off on her motorcycle to see her lover.A married woman leaves her husband and zooms off on her motorcycle to see her lover.A married woman leaves her husband and zooms off on her motorcycle to see her lover.
Bari Jonson
- French Customs Officer
- (as Bari Johnson)
Chris Williams
- 2nd Student
- (as Christopher Williams)
Robert Rietty
- Of two roles
- (voice)
Stephanie Mildenhall
- Child
- (uncredited)
Storyline
Did you know
- TriviaA German woman who was a Playboy centerfold was originally cast as Rebecca, but was let go after she had a drug overdose. Marianne Faithfull was subsequently cast in the lead.
- GoofsIn close shots Rebecca and her motorbike stay vertical even going around corners, revealing the fact that she was probably on a trailer being towed behind the camera.
- Crazy creditsThe word "Customs" in the end credits is repeatedly and incorrectly written as "Custom's" (with an apostrophe).
- Alternate versionsOriginally released as "The Girl on a Motorcycle" and X-rated; later trimmed and re-released as "Naked Under Leather".
- ConnectionsFeatured in Harley-Davidson: The American Motorcycle (1992)
- SoundtracksGirl On A Motorcycle
Composed and arranged by Les Reed
Performed by The British Lion Orchestra conducted by Douglas Gamley
Featured review
Trail-blazing road movie
I saw this film in the 1970s at a Cleveland Drive-in, then titled "Naked under Leather", and enjoyed it as a peculiarly big-name (stars in the cast) exploitation film. I later have realized it was perhaps the first of its kind and influential.
Of course, it is compared to Easy Rider, though predating that hit by a year. The use of the road movie format to present an existentialist story was later to reach its apotheosis in 1971 with Monte Hellman's "Two-Lane Blacktop" and Richard C. Sarafian's major cult classic "Vanishing Point", the last-named becoming my favorite film of the time. I even bought a Dodge Challenger and enjoyed watching "VP" and other similar movies at the drive-in sitting in my favorite car.
This Jack Cardiff original is being revived at the New York Public Library upon the suggestion of staff from Film Comment magazine, so it's due to be taken seriously. My problems with the film are worth this short review.
Similar works by French authors were quite popular at the time, my choice being Sebastian Japrisot's "The Lady in the Car with Glasses and a Gun", a strange work that was filmed twice, the first one being vastly underrated: Jean Negulesco's glossy movie starring Samantha Eggar and Oliver Reed.
Cardiff adapted the screenplay and rather adventurously presents the story almost exclusively in voice-over from the heroine's point-of-view: much of the action is mere fantasy on her part. Mick Jagger's girlfriend at the time, singer Marianne Faithfull, stars, and the movie unfolds almost as a love letter to her - endless closeups and enough smiles for her to audition for The Sound of Music.
The director in his commentary emphasizes the participation of Alain Delon as her co-star: a subordinate role but crucial as he was the top leading man in Europe for the 1960s.
But Cardiff is off-base in his self-praise for the frequent use of positive/negative post-production alteration of the visuals, that create a "psychedelic" effect intended to fend off the censors. The technique is crude and ineffective. Similarly, his yeoman work to disguise the fact that Faithfull cannot ride a bike, let alone a magnificent Harley at high speeds, goes for naught -most of the footage looks fake or clearly second unit (with a stunt guy doubling for the beauty).
But as an experiment its power continues, even to the extent of the Tom Hardy one-man-show "Locke", which I thought was imitating "Vanishing Point" with its protagonist behind the wheel for an hour and a half, but owes more to Cardiff's single-minded creation.
And the sex that earned the movie an X-rating (though at a time when X rated movies included "Midnight Cowboy") is more of the fetish kind. You know, the British kink for rubber and leather and such, best epitomized in the '60s by Diana Rigg's fabulous fetish outfits in the hit TV series "The Avengers".
We get to see tasteful nude shots of Marianne, which now should prove amusing to her fan base as she morphed from Jagger's ""As Tear Go By" to a fine, mature folk singer over the years, and an emphasis on her leather costume that puts to shame the thousands of ridiculous bondage/fetish videos that clutter up this IMDb database (search for odd-ball names under the Genre "Adventure" and you'll find them.
Of course, it is compared to Easy Rider, though predating that hit by a year. The use of the road movie format to present an existentialist story was later to reach its apotheosis in 1971 with Monte Hellman's "Two-Lane Blacktop" and Richard C. Sarafian's major cult classic "Vanishing Point", the last-named becoming my favorite film of the time. I even bought a Dodge Challenger and enjoyed watching "VP" and other similar movies at the drive-in sitting in my favorite car.
This Jack Cardiff original is being revived at the New York Public Library upon the suggestion of staff from Film Comment magazine, so it's due to be taken seriously. My problems with the film are worth this short review.
Similar works by French authors were quite popular at the time, my choice being Sebastian Japrisot's "The Lady in the Car with Glasses and a Gun", a strange work that was filmed twice, the first one being vastly underrated: Jean Negulesco's glossy movie starring Samantha Eggar and Oliver Reed.
Cardiff adapted the screenplay and rather adventurously presents the story almost exclusively in voice-over from the heroine's point-of-view: much of the action is mere fantasy on her part. Mick Jagger's girlfriend at the time, singer Marianne Faithfull, stars, and the movie unfolds almost as a love letter to her - endless closeups and enough smiles for her to audition for The Sound of Music.
The director in his commentary emphasizes the participation of Alain Delon as her co-star: a subordinate role but crucial as he was the top leading man in Europe for the 1960s.
But Cardiff is off-base in his self-praise for the frequent use of positive/negative post-production alteration of the visuals, that create a "psychedelic" effect intended to fend off the censors. The technique is crude and ineffective. Similarly, his yeoman work to disguise the fact that Faithfull cannot ride a bike, let alone a magnificent Harley at high speeds, goes for naught -most of the footage looks fake or clearly second unit (with a stunt guy doubling for the beauty).
But as an experiment its power continues, even to the extent of the Tom Hardy one-man-show "Locke", which I thought was imitating "Vanishing Point" with its protagonist behind the wheel for an hour and a half, but owes more to Cardiff's single-minded creation.
And the sex that earned the movie an X-rating (though at a time when X rated movies included "Midnight Cowboy") is more of the fetish kind. You know, the British kink for rubber and leather and such, best epitomized in the '60s by Diana Rigg's fabulous fetish outfits in the hit TV series "The Avengers".
We get to see tasteful nude shots of Marianne, which now should prove amusing to her fan base as she morphed from Jagger's ""As Tear Go By" to a fine, mature folk singer over the years, and an emphasis on her leather costume that puts to shame the thousands of ridiculous bondage/fetish videos that clutter up this IMDb database (search for odd-ball names under the Genre "Adventure" and you'll find them.
helpful•51
- lor_
- May 3, 2018
- How long is The Girl on a Motorcycle?Powered by Alexa
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- Release date
- Countries of origin
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- Also known as
- Girl on a Motorcycle
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- Production companies
- See more company credits at IMDbPro
- Runtime1 hour 31 minutes
- Aspect ratio
- 1.66 : 1
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By what name was The Girl on a Motorcycle (1968) officially released in India in English?
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