a b c Seeger, Bob (1989). Everybody Says Freedom. New York u.a: Norton. pp.87–100. ISBN 0393306046. Danny Lyon: Message to the Future” will be on view at the Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, June 17–Sept. 25; travels to the de Young Museum, San Francisco, Nov. 5, 2016–Mar. 12, 2017; Fotomuseum Winterthur, Switzerland, May 20–Aug. 27, 2017; C/O Berlin Foundation, Sept. 15–Dec. 10, 2017.

I didn't see "The Bikeriders" until years after it was published, when I ran across it in a college library. Often compared to Robert Franks' "The Americans" or Larry Clark's "Tulsa" for its' grit and immersion in the subject, Danny Lyon’s book of photography was sort of a companion piece to Hunter Thompson's "Hell's Angels: A Strange and Terrible Saga" - firsthand New Journalism reporting about life on "The Edge", seemingly casual but with a whiff of latent violence in every breath, ready to catch a spark and ignite. Thompson rode a BSA Lightning 650, Lyon rode a Triumph TR6 and the bikers rode Harley Davidsons, but what really separated the reporters from their subjects was violence and the fear of violence. The confidence they enjoyed from the outsiders who allowed them access to an insular tribe was provisional. The threat of violence was an existential fact for the initiated, and the reporters’ option to step away to safety put them at an arm's length. They would never have as much skin in the game, but their provisional status membership in that tribe was highly valued by them. Missouri Honor Medal for Distinguished Service in Journalism, Missouri School of Journalism, University of Missouri, Columbia, MO [7] [21]I'd recommend reading a few sections, lingering over a few photos, then repeat until finished. The rhythm of the text can take a minute to get ahold of. But once you do you are treated to these small stories of people living in a world that most of us will never encounter or engage with otherwise. Set to popular guitar riffs and snappy vocals, The Bikeriders chronicles the lives of fictional motorcycle gang the Chicago Vandals, intercut by interviews years later telling the story. It simultaneously mythologises and deconstructs its characters in a fascinating way that mixes fact and fiction but ultimately takes the sting out of the film’s drama.

Nichols frames the story via Benny’s girlfriend Kathy (Jodie Comer), who’s being interviewed for Lyon’s book. A regular, plain-speaking gal, she’s our way into this world of bike-meets, bar fights and booze-soaked parties. “I used to be respectable,” she mutters, at one point, but her love for Benny, a sensitive bruiser if ever there was one, trumps everything. Lewis, John (1998). Walking with the wind: a memoir of the movement. New York, NY: Simon & Schuster. p.192. ISBN 9781476797717. Anthony D'Alessandro (November 21, 2023). "New Regency's 'The Bikeriders' Looking For A New Home". Deadline. D'Alessandro, Anthony (July 28, 2023). "Disney Dates 20th Century Studios' Jeff Nichols Pic 'The Bikeriders' For December". Deadline Hollywood . Retrieved July 28, 2023.But Benny is deeply in love with Kathy, played by Jodie Comer with tough pugnacity and an outrageous northwestern accent with which you could slice a chrome tailpipe in two. She is effectively the narrator, speaking to Danny Lyon himself, played by Mike Faust. Like Lorraine Bracco’s Karen in Scorsese’s Goodfellas, Kathy is a respectable working-class woman who never intended to get drawn into this world, but found Benny very attractive just as he was beguiled by her cool, sceptical confidence. It is Kathy who can see the ritual absurdity of the Vandals’ codes of masculinity – how, having affected to despise rules, they set up a club with a huge amount of rules, followed with pedantic solemnity like a cross between the army and the Rotary club. She can see how her Benny is going to die one day in the service of this crazy group, and so a duel for possession begins between her and Johnny. The Bikeriders, The Destruction of Lower Manhattan, Conversations With The Dead, I Like To Eat Right On The Dirt, Like A Thief's Dream, The Seventh Dog, Deep Sea Diver, Indian Nations Photography is not merely [Lyon's] occupation or livelihood. This medium and his life are inextricably linked, and he reveals this plainly through a seamless weaving of the personal and professional... A lovely informality results from this combination of elements, as if we are rummaging unfettered through his studio."— photo-eye Kroll, Justin (September 1, 2022). " 'The Bikeriders': Emory Cohen, Toby Wallace & Others Join Ensemble Of Jeff Nichols Pic". Deadline Hollywood . Retrieved September 1, 2022.

Later, Lyon began creating his own books. His first was a study of outlaw motorcyclists in the collection The Bikeriders (1968), where Lyon photographed, traveled with and shared the lifestyle of bikers in the American Midwest from 1963 to 1967. [12] [13] Living in a rented apartment in Woodlawn, Chicago, Lyon followed the Chicago chapter of the Outlaws Motorcycle Club in an "attempt to record and glorify the life of the American bikerider". Seeking advice from Hunter S. Thompson, who spent a year with the Hells Angels for his own book, Hell's Angels: The Strange and Terrible Saga of the Outlaw Motorcycle Gangs, Thompson warned Lyon that he should "get to hell out of that club unless it's absolutely necessary for photo action." [14] [15] Lyon said of Thompson's response: "He advised me not to join the Outlaws and to wear a helmet. I joined the club and seldom wore a helmet". He was a full-fledged member of the Outlaws between 1966 and 1967. [15] On his time as an Outlaws member, Lyon said: "I was kind of horrified by the end. I remember I had a big disagreement with this guy who rolled out a huge Nazi flag as a picnic rug to put our beers on. By then I had realised that some of these guys were not so romantic after all". [14] FROM EARLY ON, Lyon had not only harnessed but excelled at photographic composition, and the imprecise skill of capturing a compelling picture. This feat is all the more impressive since Lyon was really self-taught in photography, without models or mentors. At the University of Chicago (where he was a classmate of Bernie Sanders’s), Lyon majored in history and studied documentary photographs of the Civil War; he also admired the work of James Agee and Walker Evans, especially their first-person documentary account of living among Southern tenant farmers, Let Us Now Praise Famous Men (1941). In 1962, even before he had graduated, Lyon traveled to Albany, Georgia, to photograph civil rights demonstrations. At age twenty-one, he joined the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC); worked the front lines with activists Julian Bond, John Lewis, and Howard Zinn; and was jailed alongside Martin Luther King Jr. Lyon’s extraordinary civil rights images show the courage and integrity that became the hallmarks of his early work, as he waded into tense encounters with burly Southern cops and angry Mississippi mobs. a b Seymour, Tom (2 October 2016). "Major Danny Lyon retrospective comes to London". British Journal of Photography. Apptitude Media . Retrieved 12 January 2017. Austin Butler as “Benny” in 20th Century Studios’ THE BIKERIDERS. Photo credit: Kyle Kaplan. All Rights Reserved. Benny (a captivating Austin Butler) is the young rogue of the gang, a favourite of leader Tommy (Tom Hardy) despite his brash ‘punch first, ask questions later’ approach. What begins as a group of outsiders finding community in motorcycles and low-level crime mutates into something beyond their control, arriving at something of an empire that is seemingly above the law. Director Jeff Nichols posits that gangs such as these essentially created a new Wild West; feared by the police, feuds settled in traditional duels and horses traded for uniquely ‘chopped’ (self-built/modified) motorcycles.

All of Lyon's publications work in the style of photographic New Journalism, [4] meaning that the photographer has become immersed, and is a participant, of the documented subject. a b Feinberg, Scott (August 31, 2023). "Telluride Awards Analysis: 'The Bikeriders' Opens Fest, Puts Jodie Comer in Hunt for First Oscar Nom". The Hollywood Reporter . Retrieved September 1, 2023.

The inspiration behind the new film with Austin Butler, Jodie Comer, Tom Hardy, Michael Shannon, and Mike Faist Tom Hardy, Austin Butler and Jodie Comer to Begin Filming New Movie in Cincinnati". Cincinnati CityBeat. August 8, 2022 . Retrieved August 11, 2022. The book is a seminal example of the practice called New Journalism, in which the writer or photographer is immersed in the scene he's documenting and is a participant in it. The rerelease of The Bikeriders is not only an homage to this movement, it reminds us to follow our instincts and react to the world as fearlessly as Lyon did.a b Kroll, Justin; Wiseman, Andreas (August 4, 2022). "Jodie Comer, Austin Butler & Tom Hardy to Lead Ensemble For Jeff Nichols' The Bikeriders At New Regency". Deadline Hollywood . Retrieved August 4, 2022. Rubin, Rebecca (October 17, 2023). "Austin Butler and Tom Hardy Drama 'The Bikeriders' Delays Theatrical Release Due to Strike". Variety . Retrieved October 17, 2023.