A critical and financial failure when it was released in August, '91, but later a hit on video, "Harley Davidson and the Marlboro Man" was directed by the Aussie Simon Wincer, 1 year after his venture into westerns with "Quigley Down Under", written by Don Michael Paul (from the B-movies, "Dangerously Close" and "Cyborg") and starred by two of the macho icons from the 80's Era, Mickey Rourke & Don Johnson.

Set in the future of '96, with a large Bank corporation ruling Burbank, California at a same time that a new deadly drug hits the streets, it tells the story of a loner biker which calls himself Harley Davidson (Rourke),who travels to reconnect with his childhood friends, The Marlboro Man (Johnson); Jack Daniels (Big John Studd) & his now wife, Lulu (Vanessa Williams); José Cuervo (Eloy Casados); Jimmy Jiles (Giancarlo Esposito) & "The Old Man" Jiles (Julius Harris),owner of a Diner established 40 yrs ago, where all the boys met, and now in danger of being foreclosure by The Great Trust Bank. Harley convinces the rest of the gang to rob the same Bank to save the Diner, in which Marlboro, reluctantly, agrees, but things will not go as they thought...

Even if the plot sounds simplistic and formulaic, like dozens of buddy action movies seen before, the writing is very good for this kind of 'genre' film, especially the dialogue exchanges between Rourke & Johnson (some cleary improvised by the actors),that reminds a bit of an earlier Rourke's character, The Motorcycle Boy in Coppola's cult film, "Rumble Fish" ('83).

The well cast duo and their genuine chemistry on-screen it's one of the highlights in the movie, this two were made to ride along together. Rumours said that Rourke only accepted this role because he was payed like 1 million, but even if he acts here with his "i don't give a..." attitude, he was cleary having a blast with this tailormade role for his on-screen persona and, with the exception of "White Sands", it was the last time the classic, charming and cool Mickey from his hair to his extravagant clothes hit the screens... after that all went downhill. Don Johnson, makes the perfect transition from the stylished Miami Cop, Sonny Crockett, to a modern day cowboy and his taglines were the best in the movie.

The supporting cast is full of colorful characters from Harley's gang to the bad guys, played by a fresh faced Tom Sizemore and his first in command, Daniel Baldwin, plus appearances from the forever henchmen, Branscombe Richmond & Sven-Ole Thorsen, plus cameos from Robert Ginty ("The Exterminator") and the beautiful Tia Carrere ("True Lies"). Chelsea Field (in the same year she played Bruce Willis' wife in "The Last Boy Scout") plays here Johnson's mistress, Virginia Slim, a female cop fan of bikes...and bikers !!

The movie itself is loaded with good staged action scenes; tons of humour in the interaction between the two protagonists; nice photographed widescreen visuals, including aerial shots, and a great soundtrack, provided by the maestro Basil Poledouris, and featuring the Bon Jovi hit, "Wanted Dead or Alive", also such bands as Copperhead, AC/DC, Roadhouse, The Screaming Jets, Waylon Jennings, The Kentucky Headhunters & L.A. Guns to name a few.

In short, "Harley Davidson and the Marlboro Man" is a truly watchable 'buddy flick', a modernization of the classic "Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid" and a joy to watch with a pack of Marlboros and a sixpack.

Don't listen to the critics, i give it a 7.5 !!

Biker Harley Davidson (Mickey Rourke) joins up with his cowboy friend Robert Lee Anderson aka The Marlboro Man (Don Johnson). Their friend is in danger of losing his bar to the bank. The boys and other cohorts decide to rob an armored truck from Great Trust Bank. Only they are attacked by heavily armed assassins. They escape with bags that are surprisingly filled with a special new drug. The bank president Chance Wilder (Tom Sizemore) is dealing the drugs and uses his gunmen to hunt down the boys.

It's a silly action B-movie. I'm willing to buy the ridiculous title characters played competently by these two actors. They seem to have fun and this movie could be fun. However the villains especially the black coated assassins are too ridiculous. It pushes it over the edge for me. I can't enjoy this when it looks so stupid.

I probably would have liked this flick a lot better back when it first came out. I was still a pro wrestling fan back then, so seeing Big John Studd would have been a treat. Except for being overweight, he looked better and younger here, well after his wrestling career was over. I had to wonder though what happened to his cauliflowered forehead from all those blading jobs he did back then. So now you fast forward to the late 2000's and Mickey Rourke actually becomes "The Wrestler" and it's like coming full circle.

I was reading the other reviews on this site, and was intrigued by the number of comparisons given Rourke and Don Johnson to Redford and Newman. I had the same thought while watching the film, but not because this was such a great buddy film. The story actually ripped off two "Butch Cassidy and The Sundance Kid" gimmicks - the 'Who are you guys?' line, and the buddy jump off the cliff to escape the posse. As far as their buddy chemistry went, I'm not convinced they were as tight as Butch and Sundance, and certainly not in the same league.

As for action and plot, this one's been done dozens of times, and at best is passable for a couple of hours of light entertainment. I was probably most intrigued by the movie references made by all the memorabilia in the Old Man's bar, especially the poster and statue honoring John Wayne's "Hondo". It seems I just saw a film with another Hondo poster in it not too long ago - "The Man With Bogart's Face". One of the benefits of being an attentive movie fan.

Anyway, I was never a big Don Johnson fan, and as for Rourke, it looked like he was doing Bruce Willis here just a couple of years after Willis got his big movie break with "Die Hard". Suffice it to say that this was no crystal dream, and if I might point to another buddy flick, "Tango and Cash", this one might not quite have been FUBAR, but it was pretty close.