Austin Butler, Tom Hardy, Jodie Comer capture 1960s rebel cool in ‘The Bikeriders’

By LINDSEY BAHR
AP Film Writer

Jeff Nichols had dreamt of making a film about a 1960s motorcycle club for over twenty years. The obsession started in his brother’s apartment, when he first cracked open Danny Lyon’s book “The Bikeriders,” a New Journalism-style account of the Chicago Outlaws Motorcycle Club in the mid-1960s. He could see the movie in his mind: A story about rebels, romantics, frauds and the end of an era. “The Bikeriders” (racing into theaters nationwide Friday) is a rare summer gem: An original film with stars like Austin Butler, Tom Hardy and Jodie Comer, cool cred, pathos and a clear-eyed wistfulness for a bygone moment.