5 Iconic Harley-Davidson Motorcycles Made Famous After Appearing On The Big Screen

Harley-Davidson and Hollywood have had an intangible connection since the invention of the silver screen. The brand's cinematic legacy goes beyond product placement. Directors use Harley-Davidson motorcycles to express power, rebellion, and freedom. No other motorcycle comes close to becoming an intangible part of the film, and in some cases, as iconic as the movie's hero itself. From the old-school chopper cruising across America in "Easy Rider," to the burly Fat Boy and Arnold Schwarzenegger jumping into a storm drain in "Terminator: Judgement Day," these motorcycles helped shape pop culture. Of course, the connection to movies helped turn enthusiasts toward the Harley showrooms. 

Some notable movies that featured Harley-Davidson motorcycles are "Pulp Fiction," "Wild Hogs," "Rocky III," "Expendables II," "Hobbs and Shaw," "Green Hornet," "X Men Origins: Wolverine," and "Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull." Harleys even featured in TV series such as "Sons of Anarchy," which revolved around biker gangs. We have curated a list of movies that give Harleys significant screen time and a role nearly as important as the hero. We recommend cool biker movies across the pond as well, such as "God Speed You! Black Emperor," which is a fascinating look at a real Japanese biker gang. 

"The Wild One" revolves around a young Johnny Strabler (played by Marlon Brando), a leather-clad leader of the Black Rebels motorcycle club. It was a movie that introduced the Harley-Davison biker outlaw stereotype to the silver screen. Funnily enough, Johnny wasn't responsible for this. He rode a Triumph Thunderbird. It was the rival gang leader Chino – played by Lee Marvin — who rode a Harley-Davidson Hydra Glide and helped Harleys to be associated with rebellion and the outlaw image. It is also one of the 10 most memorable Harley-Davidsons from movies and TV. "The Wild One" was the movie that helped give Harley-Davidson its first brand exposure. 

Harley-Davidson introduced the Hydra Glide in 1949 and, with it, introduced new innovative hydraulic front forks on the motorcycle, as well as a new front-end design language that is still in use today. The motorcycle featured a 74 cubic inch Panhead V-twin engine. A fun fact: Indian ceased production in 1953, the same year the Hydra Glide featured in "The Wild One", leaving Harley-Davidson as the sole surviving American motorcycle brand for a while.

"Easy Rider" made enthusiasts yearn for a custom cruiser and helped fuel the chopper craze of the '70s. The movie is about two Harley riders travelling across America and offers a cultural view of the country in the '60s. Interestingly, while they were not credited, African American bike builders Cliff Vaughs and Ben Hardy built the motorcycles used in the film. This was highly unusual at the time, as African American bike riders and builders faced discrimination and prejudice in both the movie industry and the bike scene. 

Of the two motorcycles, the one ridden by Wyatt "Captain America" (played by Peter Fonda) went on to be called the Captain America chopper and became a cultural Icon. Based on a 1950s Harley-Davidson Panhead, the custom motorcycle looked striking, with a star spangled banner paint job on the fuel tank (and a matching helmet), an impossibly long rake, chopped fenders, and chrome trimmings.

Introduced in 1948, the Panhead V-twin motor replaced the Knucklehead engine. These featured better lubrication and more efficient cooling, thanks to massive fins on cast aluminum heads. As for the Panhead name, the nickname is thanks to the pan-shaped rocker covers. Four old Harley-Davidson Panhead police bikes were procured and modified for the movie. Four choppers (two of each) were made, one of which was destroyed during filming, and the rest were stolen during production. Interestingly, one of the film's actors, Dan Haggerty, restored a Captain America Chopper and sold it for a cool $1.35 million in an auction.

Make no mistake, "Harley-Davidson and the Marlboro Man" is a movie glorifying Harley-Davidson motorcycles (and cigarettes). The movie follows biker Harley-Davidson (played by Mickey Rourke), who enlists the help of his cowboy friend Marlboro Man (played by Don Johnson), to rob an armored truck to save their friend's bar. As far as '90s action flicks go, this one was unabashedly trashy, and while it bombed at the box office, it did elevate Harley-Davidson's cult status. In fact, some would argue that the movie is an hour and a half long advert for Harley-Davidson bikes, especially the Softail and the FXR.

The FXR was introduced in 1982 to stand up against the influx of Japanese motorcycles on American soil. The Harleys were no match for the handling and ride quality offered by these foreign bikes, but the FXR set out to change all of that. It delivered the performance of a V-twin while offering better handling as well.  

While Don Johnson rides a black Harley Softail in the movie, it's Mickey Rourke's silver FXR that stole the show. Known as Black Death, the motorcycle was heavily customized, featuring megaphone pipes, a raked out front end, and drag pipes. Interestingly, Mickey Rourke owned a custom FXR, and a replica was built for the movie stunt scenes. This one was identical to Mickey's motorcycle but had an S&S 80 cubic inch V-twin instead of the original 98 cubic inch motor.

It wasn't the first time a cyborg rode a Harley-Davidson. That honor goes to "RoboCop 2," released a year before, where RoboCop (played by Peter Weller) rides a 1986 Softail Custom. However, that scene, though cool, isn't as iconic as the Fat Boy's jump scene in "Terminator 2: Judgement Day." The Terminator franchise put Arnold Schwarzenegger on the Hollywood map and gave us one of the coolest characters in moviedom. Dressed in black leather and black sunglasses, and with a shotgun in one hand, Arnold, as a T800 cyborg, was a menacing protagonist, but his look was incomplete without the black Harley-Davidson Fat Boy.

The Fat Boy underwent a lot of testing and customer validation before it was introduced in 1990. Over the years, its thick headlight bezel, solid wheels and straight exhausts have become iconic design elements that define the Fat Boy. 

Back to the iconic jump scene, which has Arnie astride the Fat Boy, jumping off the Los Angeles freeway into a dry storm drain. For the movie, director James Cameron insisted on using Harley-Davidson motorcycles, despite riders saying this Harley-Davidson is the most difficult to handle. Lead stuntman Peter Kent purchased five 1992 Fat Boys, two of which were modified to make them quicker. The jump scene has a 30-foot drop, and with the heavy motorcycle, it was impossible to execute the jump without destroying the motorcycle and the rider's spine. So, the bike was lowered into the storm drain with the help of steel cables, which were later digitally removed in post-production.

The "Captain America" franchise has had its fair share of Harley-Davidson motorcycle cameos. The movie franchise follows Steve Rogers (Chris Evans), who is turned into a super soldier to fight Nazis. During a World War II-era fight scene, Chris can be seen riding a WLA Liberator. It was a motorcycle that helped America win the war. It was Harley's wartime production model, featuring a stripped-down, tough build and was used for patrolling, light artillery, transportation, and reconnaissance during the war. For the movie scene, a more modern Softail Cross Bones edition was used as a donor bike and heavily modified to look like the Liberator.

In the second movie of the "Captain America" franchise ("Captain America: The Winter Soldier"), Steve is seen fleeing the bad guys in a modern Harley-Davidson Street 750, which, at the time, was only recently released. You can even see him briefly riding a black Harley Softail Slim in "The Avengers."

In fact, you will see Harley-Davidson motorcycles peppered across the Marvel cinematic universe. Some notable examples are Black Widow (Scarlett Johansson) riding a Harley LiveWire in "Avengers: Age of Ultron," and the Street 750 ridden by the Winter Soldier (Sebastian Stan) in "Captain America: Civil War."