The film creates a perfect balance between action and depth of basic needs, in the midst of an infertile atmosphere.

I enjoyed watching this film and would recommend other to give it a try , (as I am) but this movie, although enjoyable to watch due to the better than average acting fails to add anything new to its storyline that is all too familiar to these types of movies.

The film may be flawed, but its message is not.

Strong acting helps the film overcome an uncertain premise and create characters that hold our attention absolutely.

Directed by Simon Wincer 1991 this film, and let's admit it, is a a wonderful comedy even though it was not supposed to be one. Truly, who takes his film seriously?Even though this film is a biker film and produced in a time where being a biker was an ''in'' thing, we follow two men who live their lives the myth of what a biker life is: Freedom, drugs, alcohol, cheap hotel rooms, clash with the underworld, all the clichés of the biker world are united in one film.As humour and to defy the underworld which both men do by entering a bank where drug dealing is king, there is a scene or a parody of the Vietnam war with the helicopter shooting the bank. The use of the helicopter is a tribute to the Vietnam era.Secondly, the abandoned air field with airplane derelicts again seem to portray the vestiges of the Vietnam era. Probably the abandoned airfield is a symbol of the decrepitude of the biker era that was once a dream to be attained for many.The end of the film where Harley Davidson (Mickey Rourke) leaves his long life friend Marlboro Man (Don Johnson) to live a new life picks up a beautiful woman considered a Biker woman who would be bored by a mundane life and the myth of the biker picking up women is a cliché that is still in the dreams of anyone dreaming of becoming a biker and the freedom associated to this world.

There are some movies that perfectly encapsulate the late 80's, early 90's epitome of trash bag, chromed up, machismo soaked, violently silly over the top theme park ride vibe of the action genre at that time. Harley Davidson and the Marlboro Man is a perfect example of that. It's a down and dirty sleazeball flick that is just so fun. Mickey Rourke plays Harley, a biker cowboy on a steel horse who makes his way back to a slightly futuristic LA to reconnect with his old barfly friends, including the rodeo riding Marlboro Man (Don Johnson). Rourke claims he only did this one for the dough, but I call bullshit. He has such a ball with his leathery tan, cocky prick attitude and spiked hair it's impossible he wasn't invested, even in a purely camp form. Don Johnson is slick and deadly as his trigger happy buddy Marlboro. Between quips, fist and gunfights, smoking and boozing, they try to exact revenge on the tyrannical big city banker (Tom Sizemore) who laid waste to their friends inner city bar. Sizemore is no stranger to dangerous, mean spirited roles, and he plays the megalomaniac financier with a razor sharp, homicidal calm that's giddily entertaining. A young Tia Carrere shows up as his sultry assistant, as well as work from Daniel Baldwin, Kelly Hu, Vanessa Angel and Chelsea Field. It's no smart action flick, but it's a brutal, tongue in cheek modern western with dusty, broken glass and whiskey soaked style that will entertain anyone who has nostalgia for that era of action movies.

This is one of those movies that I fondly remember from my younger years, and while back then I simply watched it as a typical action movie, I come back to it now to see that it is a movie that brings out the essence of American culture, particularly culture out in the west. This movie, while set in the near future (when it was released), follows the style of a classic western movie. It is about a couple of drifters, cowboys, Harley Davidson, the new style of cowboy riding his Harley and wearing his leather jacket, and the Malboro Man, a classic cowboy with his boots and his hat.The narrative of this film is similar to the old style westerns, but in many ways goes to show that nothing has changed and nothing will change. We see that despite progress (the world now flies into and out of Burbank Airport) the west is still lawless and has still been left behind. Chance Wilder, the antagonist of the piece, only earns $500,000 a year as the head of the bank (most likely the Los Angeles branch), and has to supplement his income in other ways.The west is still lawless, and while the police to appear, they tend to take a back seat. Virginia Slim (a type of cigarette) is Malboro's girl, and while she works for the police, she has no idea about what is going on, nor does her partner. Instead, it is still the law of the gun, as can be seen by the thugs that carry out Wilder's dirty work.The cowboy still drifts, as we see Harley drifting from east to go out west, though not to make his fortune, and then drifts back east at the end of the film. However the east and west division between civilisation and barbarity is still evident as they jump on a train back east when things get too hot, though returns to the west to finish off the unfinished business.In essence this movie is about the American culture, the main characters representing the motor bike and the cigarette, with Virginia Slim being the feminine Marlboro. Throw in Jack Daniels, the the big guy who is representative of tough, but ugly guy that you don't want to upset. It is all about taming that which is wild. The cowboy rides the bull, which is in essence the duty and nature of the cowboy, to go into the wilderness and bring civilisation there. Yet this is also evident when we see the woman on the bike in the bar, in the same way the cowboy is taming the wild beast. I guess this demonstrates the American Narrative, that in one sense, looking from the east, the west is still a wild and untame place, but even now that the West has been won, there is always new horizons and new frontiers that need to be tamed.

Here it is 2011 and I'm STILL lovin' this movie! As a matter of fact up until I looked over my IMDb history, I thought I had already reviewed it but much to my surprise I haven't. I guess that will make this review that much more better as it will be one of the more current ones.This is one of those "you-either-get-it-or-you-don't" movies made to appeal to the egos and fantasies of the rugged alpha male. You get that sense at the opening credits as Mickey Rourke's intro scene during the opening credits makes you want to go out and ride a chopped up steel horse. It's the ultimate escape, at least for men! It's laced w/ moral fiber in that it's all about being down-and-out and still managing to drum up the where-with-all to help your fellow man. IMHO I think this movie's setbacks are through no fault of any of its creators or participants. Looking at many of the cynical reviews of movie-goers and critics of its time, it was clearly ahead of its own genre. And although many might find the title as well as some of the names of the characters to be cheesy (Virginia Slim, Jack Daniels, etc), I admire that they took the risk to acknowledge the outlaw, anti-hero biker image through images of Americana. I also read somewhere (probably on this site) that Rourke did this movie out of desperation which doesn't help a new viewer go in w/ a favorable attitude. Hopefully Mickey can look back and appreciate this piece of work like much of us do. I've still yet to see Butch & Sundance but now I'm inspired to check out Redford and Newman's piece even if it's just for the similarities that many reviewers have suggested.I guess it comes down to the fact that this is much like anything else in that it isn't for everybody. Perhaps the audience it was intended for has dwindled substantially (if it's ever really been out there). But if that's so, we can always take comfort in knowing that we have something we can truly appreciate w/o having to be fashionable.