‘Serious film buffs’ often dismiss the admittedly ponderous and indulgent 1968 film from Jack Cardiff that was based on Mandiargues’s quasi surrealistic novel as a slightly ridiculous joke.

But if you dig the aesthetic of the last couple of years of the sixties, you’re interested in the idea of girls on motorbikes being slightly unnerving and subversive, then you really should take the time to hunt it down on your local bit torrent.

The clip below gives a good flavour of the feel of the film. The bike riding scenes are ludicrous but still somehow kinda cool.  The Harley is almost comical and otherworldy in thc context of the French countryside. Marianne Faithful looks pretty and seductive and vaguely sinister in her skintight leather one-piece in combo with the futuristic open face lid.

But, you can’t help but notice the similarities with other films like Easy Rider and countless schlockish bikesploitation movies that equate motorcycles with freedom, rebellion and  sexuality. It’s cool to witness an European take  on the theme, and the main character’s interior monologues are  amusing — and her encounters with randy gendarmes laugh-out loud hilarious.

Perfect viewing for the frustrated biker on a wet Easter weekend.

The message that Harley-Davidson killed its sporting sub brand Buell broke to shocked yank bike loving global community last week. In response, Harley CFO John Olin told the press recently “We have not quantified the benefits of increased focus on [the] Harley-Davidson brand as a result of discontinuing Buell nor included any potential savings in our restructuring estimates.”

Reports have been current that net income across the HD empire has fallen 71.4 percent so far in 2009 compared to the same period during  2008, whoch was already a very quiet trading period.

According to various sources the company plans to get themselves out of their very large financial hole by building more large-capacity tourers and cruisers, as well as offering more performance add-ons and accessories to their existing range. They also plan to shut down production of the erstwhile perennial big seller the Sportster for the rest of 2009

It’s always a tragedy when companies go under, people lose their jobs and an absence is created in the culture of quality machinery. Though they were not to everyone’s tastes, Buell certainly produced some spectacular bikes over the years (our fave being the muscular XB 12-S), and pioneered some truly innovative technology, notably fuel-in-the-frame.

This obviously emotional statement from company founder Eric Buell says it better than any of us could hope to. And if you’re a Buell lover, then it might be time to get down the local dealership and scoop up an instant classic.

There are so many car and bike culture books out there, it’s hard to pick a single volume or a series of books that stand out. So many of them are written by experts with an almost blinkered view of the subject matter to which the respective book relates, that outside the cloistered world of the aficionado, they have little appeal.

The books by Rin Tanaka on the other hand, are some of the most entertaining, beautifully produced books on the subject that offer a kind of visual narrative of the bits and pieces of car, bike and surf culture.

Tanaka is a collecting aficianado of material culture that references Harleys, helmets, hot rods – as well as skate and surf culture. He documents every possible manifestation of how these things have been marketed and consumed by people with passion, and draws broad lines that join the dots of things as disparate as Selvidge denim and Moonlight Risers.

Especially worth checking out is the Harley Davidson book of fashions, which is nearly impossible to get hold of in the UK, but all the more sweet when you finally manage to track it down.