American Cinema’s love affair with the biker culture started with László Benedek’s 1953 film, The Wild One, starring Marlon Brando. The actor’s legendary performance would set the tone for young rebels on screen and off. In Jeff Nichols’ terrific new picture, The Bikeriders, Tom Hardy’s Johnny gets the inspiration to form a motorcycle club from watching Brando in Benedek’s iconic film.

Telling the saga of a biker gang called the Vandals, Nichols’ latest is based on a 1968 photo book by photographer Danny Lyon. From 1963 to 1967, Lyon existed amongst the Chicago chapter of the Outlaws motorcycle club, where he documented the outlaw-biker lifestyle with honesty and respect. Writer-director Nichols takes the audience along on Lyon’s journey, in this episodic film that oozes mood and authenticity.

The Bikeriders is told in flashbacks as Danny (Mike Faist) interviews Kathy (an excellent Jodi Comer), the girlfriend of brooding Vandals member Benny (Austin Butler). Kathy’s stories of her time with the Vandals paint an intimate saga of a motorcycle club that was a tight family who looked out for one another, but one that began to crumble under the weight of crime and violence.

Beginning in 1963, Hardy’s Johnny is a truck driver who decides to start a racing club for motorcycle fanatics that eventually becomes a bigger gang. As the years go on, the Vandals morph from their tight club into a nationally chartered organization. All of this happens in the face of Johnny’s determination to keep it a familial brotherhood, though the criminal element is beginning to overshadow anything else.

Leaving behind a normal life, Kathy takes up with the Vandals after becoming girlfriend (and ultimately, wife) to Benny (Austin Butler), the most brooding of all the Vandals. While The Wild One sent leader Johnny on the path to a lifestyle of chrome and hell-bent leather, it is Benny who embodies the essence of Brando’s character. Benny has no clear path, as he rides through life with no thought of his future and rebelling against everything he can find. Butler’s performance could be mistaken as overly mannered, but the actor has the type of swagger that comes from a natural place. With his wind-blown hair, sleeveless biker jacket, and almost mythic presence, Butler’s intensity burns off the screen.

Jeff Nichols’ screenplay makes sure the other members of the club get their due, with each role well-cast and given a proper chance to build a personality. Cockroach (Emory Cohen) is a member so named because he eats the bugs that hit his face when riding. As their later years find the gang going deeper into criminal activities, Cockroach wants out to pursue his dream of becoming a motorcycle cop.

While Damon Harriman’s Brucie (Johnny’s second in command) deserved more screen time, the two most interesting supporting characters are Ziplo (Michael Shannon) and Cal (Boyd Holbrook). Ziplo is a biker who has tried to live the normal life, but cannot exist unless he is amongst his biker brothers. Taken almost verbatim from Danny Alton’s real-life interviews, Shannon’s monologues are a high point of the film.