Marianne Faithful plays a bored housewife, who decides to leave her husband, and ride a motorcycle throughout the European countryside. She'd been having a steamy affair with a handsome, virile man, who she considers way more exciting than her milquetoast spouse. So, she takes off with her paramour to find herself, and lead what she hopes is a more fulfilling life.It was unusual for a young woman to take to the road by herself, back in the 60s. So in this way, this film was unique in it's day. It does have an overabundance of psychedelic special effects, throughout the course of the movie. This was customary for many 60s films, but it was overdone here, and had a distracting effect that was irritating.Marianne Faithful looks ravishing in her full-body leather biker gear. She has a good-looking, but rather wan face. I thought a more robust-looking actress, who could project a more fiery temperament than Marianne, would've been more appropriate in the lead role. Marianne just seemed too ethereal, to be a rebellious biker gal.The movie has a snazzy concept. But, it also has a lackluster quality, that ruins the overall premise of the plot. The pace of the film, is far too slow and boring, for a film about a devil-may-care girl biker. If you're a Marianne Faithful fan, you may enjoy this movie, in spite of its lugubrious quality.

I'm not sure what to think about Girl on a motorcycle. It wasn't... great and it wasn't intellectual. I kind of want my time back. Marianne Faithful wasn't terrible, but her "Wheee! I'm free on my biiike!" were over the top. Now that I've seen it, I see where a lot of actors get their inspiration when they spoof being incredibly attractive bastards. Hellooo, Delon. The premise is interesting - marrying for security, marrying to give you a reason to rebel, chasing the absolute worst person for you as punishment for whatever you think you need to be punished for, or to punish others. I felt this version was self-serving and indulgent on the part of the director.

Oh yeah, baby! Now this film may not be good in a conventional sense of the word, but man is it one hopelessly dated, yet charming and unintentionally amusing slice of swingin' 60's camp silliness. Rock singer/songwriter, former smack addict, and onetime Mick Jagger main squeeze Marianne Faithful portrays Rebecca, a bored housewife who bails on her drab, stuffed shirt hubby, dons a spectacular skintight leather jumpsuit, hops on a shiny, powerful custom chopper, and drives halfway across Europe to reunite herself with her absolute to die for stud muffin college professor lover Daniel (the ever-cool Alain Delon). This marvelously messed-up and ridiculous misfire boasts clumsy direction by Jack Cardiff (who also did the often stunning garish cinematography), a groovy score by Les Reed, the gorgeous Marianne looking positively smashing both in and out of her clothes, plenty of funky oh-so-60's psychedelic visuals (I especially loved the brilliant ruddy whirlpool with the silhouetted seagulls flying around it), a startling bummer of a surprise downbeat ending, and, best of all, Marianne articulating via voice-over all these incredibly dippy heavy sentiments on such worldly topics as war, tying the knot ("Marriage is a little death"), love, obsession, and, naturally, the galvanizing, liberating feel of a mean machine throbbin' between your legs (shout it with me everyone: "My black motorcycle devil makes love beautifully!"). Like, biker zen, dude.

Imagine Diana Rigg joining "Easy Rider's" Dennis Hopper and Peter Fonda for a ride across France and Germany and you will have a pretty good idea what "Girl on a Motorcycle" looks like. Made one year before "Easy Rider"; this is an amazing 1960's road movie that includes hip camera angles, groovy music, a leather suit and a Harley Super Glide.While low-budget, it is not a thrown together "B" Movie but a thoughtful existential trip inside the mind of a flawed character who happens to be a sexy woman. On close examination, what appears to be yet another fruitless examination of the mysteries of female discontent is really a more expansive study of the human condition. Rebecca, the main character, illustrates life as a process of choosing between comfortable security and the need for freedom and excitement; a daily struggle with guilt and its consequent self-destructiveness, and the seductive lure of risk. Motivations familiar to almost all serious motorcycle riders.In voice-over, Marianne Faithful gives us Rebecca's story in a series of flashbacks, with minimal scenes of conventional dialogue. Most of these work very well although there is a ski weekend flashback about midway through the film that looks more like a travel advertisement than a movie scene. And while much of Jack Cardiff's film is beautifully shot, the action sequences are somewhat clumsy looking and obviously low budget. And there is excessive reliance on the Elvis movie technique of projecting moving scenery(shot by the second unit) with the star pretending to be cruising along the road while actually stationary in the studio.Cardiff was very creative with the editing and came up with some great match cuts, typically used to bring Faithful out of her frequent flashbacks/dreams. In one we see her lover slowing pulling open the zipper of her suit, then the film cuts to the tread of an Army tank moving past the place where she has been napping by her motorcycle.Cardiff's technique was quite revolutionary at the time as his camera has a love affair with the leather suit , the motorcycle, and Faithful's eyes. His extensive use of very tight shots is extremely effective and the most pleasing thing about the film.The ending is a bit of a puzzle; after the accident they pull up from the scene to a wide aerial shot and you expect the movie to go out on this shot (copied for "Easy Rider's" ending), which would have been very effective. Instead they cut to a travelogue-like scene of a European village and go to credits after about 60 seconds of this stuff. It serves no purpose other than to deflate any lasting impact.Faithful is on screen in almost all the scenes and gives a surprisingly good performance. Alain Delon as her lover gets a fair amount of screen time (all in flashbacks). I've not been able to take Delon seriously as an actor since his performance as a character named "Baldy" in Dean Martin's "Texas Across the River" in 1966. Plus I get him confused with Jorge Rivero and his almost identical character "Capt. Pierre Cordona aka Frenchy" in "Rio Lobo". Maybe they are the same person and used two names as a tax dodge.Both the VHS tape and the DVD include a nice stills gallery and a couple trailers.All in all I recommend this film. It has thoughtful themes and many well-shot scenes. If you like motorcycles, a sexy body in and out of a leather suit, the most beautiful eyes ever, and cute freckles you should view this film.