Two Good Movies ?!?

Gary Imhoff recently wrote about how great cars are and how the majority of people think they're more fun than biking

the vast majority of people will continue to prefer the flexibility, freedom, and — yes — fun of driving to mass transit or bicycling.  Fun isn’t just sports cars and muscle cars going twenty or thirty miles over the speed limit.

David Alpert responded. And then Gary Imhoff came back and in part tried to insinuate that the love of cars is greater than the love of bicycles because there are only two good bicycle movies.

There are also two good bicycle movies, Breaking Away and American Flyers, that make bicycle racing seem to be an exciting sport. (But let me rub it in: the paucity of bicycle movies, compared to the wealth of automobile movies, makes my point.)

Ahem. There are more than two. Here's my top ten list. One of them is the Bicycle Thief which in 1952 was named the greatest movie ever made by Sight and Sound Magazine and had only slipped to 6th by  2002. An alternative opinion on the top 10 includes several movies I haven't yet seen or didn't mention:

Beijing Bicycle
Rad
Quicksilver
The Bike Squad
Buffalo Dreams
Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid
The Goonies
Napoleon Dynamite
New Jack City
Running Out of Time 2
The Wizard of Oz

There are more here. Only two? Join Netflix Gary. The list reminds me that I need to resee Americathon (which has a young Jay Leno in it) for a Beach Boys song about bicycles. The ultimate car band singing about bikes...eat it up with a spoon Imhoff.

There is even a Bicycle Film Festival Every year. Two movies...Gary please.

And if Mr. Imhoff still doesn't think that bikes inspire the kind of romance and passion that cars do, he should check this out.

Perhaps more shocking than his paucity of knowledge of film is when Alpert asks “Why are the desires of those who enjoy walking or bicycling insignificant, while those of the car enthusiast paramount?” he doesn't back off and say that the desires of car enthusiasts aren't paramount. Instead he states:

The answer is simple. It’s the same reason cities have more basketball courts then they have broomball stadia: bicycling and long-distance walks are the preferences of small minorities. They are doomed to remain that as long as automobiles are an option. When it’s too hot or cold, rainy or snowy; when the distance is too great or what you have to carry is too heavy or bulky; when the destination isn’t convenient to public transportation or to mass transit schedules — in other words, most of the time — cars are a better option.

A recent study of the UK determined that the saturation level for bicycling is about 43%. So almost half of all trips would be done by bicycle if the built environment didn't prohibit it. In several places where the automobile is an option bicycling is not doomed to a small minority.

Imhoff has the cause and effect backward. Few people bike because we've treated the needs of drivers as paramount. The built environment is the cause and few cyclists is the effect - not the other way around. I've heard hundreds of people tell me they'd love to bike to work but they can't (no shower, bad roads, scary roads, too far - often because of barriers etc...) I've met only one bike commuter who told me they'd love to drive but they can't (drunk driving convictions made that impossible). While there are probably more, mostly the city is filled with frustrated possible bike commuters.

Comments

[Forest]

Yes, there are a lot of bicycle films, and bikes do generate a certain romance and passion in their enthusiasts, but I do think he has a small point (just a small one.) Most people do not drive cars around because they've been romanced by them; they drive them around because they have to! They need to get to work, drop off their kids at the daycare, or head to the grocery, and walking or riding a bike seems prohibitively extra difficult. We are lazy people, especially when it's so much easier to throw your groceries in a car and drive home than to schlep them around on your back and bike up a hill in the middle of one of DC's hot, humid summers.

I once saw a sign in NYC that said, "imagine a car free NY!" That really captured my imagination and for a while, I thought the best thing possible would be a completely car free city. But in retrospect, there are lots of people who do need cars. I can't imagine carrying a 2 month old baby around on a bike (although I know people who have tried), and some places are just far enough away that getting there by bike is an impractical all-day activity. Instead of encouraging a car free city; I think we should be encouraging a city with less cars, and more importantly, a city with smaller cars, designed to be safer for pedestrians. This is sort of what I have in mind: http://www.spira4u.com/

[Washcycle]

But that isn't his point. If his point was that "the car uniquely meets some needs, and therefore will always be a part of the transportation system." I would agree. That the needs of drivers should be paramount to those of others because a majority of people drive (80% in the region, but only 53% in the central jurisdictions and only 50% in DC - and dropping) is not something I agree with.

[SJE]

The merits of what makes a good movie are not a good basis for conducting your everyday life, or there would be far more rape, murder, alien invasions and Miley Cyruses and less reading to your kids, making dinner, and sleeping.

[Jonathan Krall]

@Forest, I made my reduced-car lifestyle possible by setting up a bike with a rack and foldable baskets for grocery shopping. Then I put the bike in a handy spot (a locked shed in my yard) where I could grab it an go quickly. And I decided that helmets were overrated--one less thing to keep track of when I'm out running errands.

I also decided to prioritize my choices by factoring in the time spend in a car, which I do not value. My annual miles quickly fell from 9000/year to 5000/year.

People simply do not need to drive as much as they think they do.

[Early Man]

My guess is that Gary Imhoff really has no idea what being passionate about cars is about. If you really love a particular make and model, you detail it on Sunday, cover it up during the week and don't sully it with mundane tasks, then put it to some frivolous use on the weekend. Rinse and repeat. The bike is so much better adapted to the mundane tasks because the connection to the environment and reliance on your own power can make biking to work or the store a lot of fun. Fun and freedom in a _real_ car kicks in above 4500 rpm, preferably on a closed course. But since my personal engine makes only fractions of a horsepower, every stoplight sprint can be challenging and fun, without being dangerous.

[Your Brother]

I have to mention that any movie list with bicycles that does not include BMX Bandits is woefully incomplete. It's got a young (16 years old) Nicole Kidman and there is some sort of plot and stuff.

[Washcycle]

It's #6 on my list.

[IMGoph]

gary imhoff's problem is that he's terrified of seeing his influence and importance wane as a new generation of public-opinion makers and muckrakers come into existence to take his place.

we all get old, gary, and we all get irrelevant. you'll have to come to grips with that.

[SJE]

Imhoff seems to proceed from the assumption that smart growth advocates, cyclists and other hippies are only out to be killjoys. Hey Gary, I agree that driving is FUN. The problem is that your fun might be someone's death: just ask Codi Alexander, if she was alive.