In the mid-1960s, photojournalist Danny Lyon embedded himself with the Outlaws Motorcycle Club in the suburbs of Chicago, snapping portraits and candid photographs while interviewing members of the Outlaws. The result was a photo book called “The Bikeriders,” published in 1968, that serves as the inspiration for Jeff Nichols’ latest film of the same name, a meditation on midcentury motorcycle life, the birthplace of a certain kind of cool.

Nichols is clearly enchanted by the inimitable style and intoxicating lore that Lyon’s photographs conjure up, and he populates his cinematic Chicago-based motorcycle club — the Vandals — with a coterie of ruggedly handsome stars who can make sideburns and motor oil look good, including Tom Hardy, Austin Butler, Norman Reedus, Beau Knapp, Boyd Holbrook, Emory Cohen and Damon Herriman. There are also some unexpected and welcome casting choices like Karl Glusman and young Australian actor Toby Wallace, who is terrific as a young Vandals wannabe.

As the enigmatic Benny, Butler’s supernova star quality is undeniable, and the film opens with a bourbon and a bang — a shovel to the back of his head during a bar brawl that will haunt the rest of the film. In this bit of bravura filmmaking, Nichols demonstrates a slick style and rhythmic musicality that instantly draws us into this world

When we next lay eyes on Benny, he’s hulking over a pool table at a bar, his long, golden arms and tousled blonde coif raked over by the greedy gaze of Kathy (Jodie Comer) who stops in for a drink and leaves with a lifetime lover. Nichols’ camera eats Butler up hungrily, every inch of battered denim and well-worn leather; every soulful pout and blood-spattered grin wordlessly seducing Kathy to the dark side. It’s no wonder Kathy’s boyfriend beats it as soon as Benny turns up on their curb, and it’s no wonder Kathy bends her life around her brooding new boyfriend and his clan of grease-streaked miscreants.

Kathy becomes our narrator, her mile-a-minute Midwestern patter adding a layer of percussion to the rumbling engines and plaintive crooning of ‘60s rock ‘n’ roll on the soundtrack. In a rapid-fire Chicago cadence expertly enunciated by Liverpudlian actor and master of accents Comer, Kathy reels off stories about the boys in the Vandals into the microphone of Danny Lyon (Mike Faist). She’s the observant eyewitness and caretaker of their oral history, though the details are potentially lost, muddled or otherwise exaggerated by our storyteller. We see them though her eyes: sexy, dirty, violent and often tragic.

We also see them through re-creations of Lyon’s photographs, which Nichols and longtime cinematographer Adam Stone painstakingly compose and set to motion. In a montage, we see Lyon snapping portraits of characters like Cockroach (Cohen), Wahoo (Knapp) and Corky (Glusman), or capturing candids of the gang from the back of a bike. We see an image of a relaxed Benny riding over a bridge, one hand lazily gesturing behind him. Nichols improves upon Lyon’s shot by having our subject face the camera, rather than looking away.

Watching “The Bikeriders” feels like flipping through a photo book, absorbing arresting compositions and snippets of stories, and there’s a sketchy, snapshot quality to Nichols’ screenplay as well. The film is an evocation of character, place and time, the tempo alternating between moody and lively, like our central odd couple, laconic Benny and chatterbox Kathy.

Kathy has plenty to say about Benny, though we rarely see his unique qualities in action. He’s somewhat underwritten, and while Butler has the outsize presence to inhabit the iconic image, Kathy takes up all the air in the script. Benny is reduced to a symbol of sorts, a visual emblem of the Vandals’ dangerous glamour. Their mutual attraction is initially palpable, but we don’t see the glue that keeps them together throughout the years of peril and partying. The mysterious Benny has more chemistry with Johnny (Hardy), the Vandals founder and leader, and so too does Kathy.

Hardy is typically fantastic and fantastically weird, and he emerges as the gravitational center, not just of the Vandals, but of the film itself. Johnny leads by his own specific instinctual code, based on whim and personal values, which gets harder and harder to enforce as the club grows, with veterans returning from Vietnam seeking camaraderie, and bringing back darker vices.

“The Bikeriders” is a great hang, until the party’s over and it’s time to hit the road. Though the dramatic thrust of the narrative never quite coheres, there is plenty of pathos, and the ebb and flow reflects both life itself and the uniquely human nature of the storytelling, as Kathy regales us with tales of these wild ones, who now live with the sound of roaring engines only haunting their memories.

‘The Bikeriders’

3 stars (out of 4)

MPA rating: R (for language throughout, violence, some drug use and brief sexuality)

Running time: 1:56

How to watch: In theaters June 21

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Everything about Morgan Wallen is oversized, from his two most recent albums (with 66 songs between them) to his chart success (15 of his 16 singles hit the Top 10 on country radio, with most landing at No. 1) to his many controversies that have somehow only made him bigger (uttering a racial epithet on video, tossing a chair six stories off a Nashville rooftop bar that landed mere feet from a police officer).

So it was fitting that he made his local debut as a stadium headliner Thursday, selling out the first of two nights at U.S. Bank Stadium, the biggest stage in town.

The 31-year-old Tennessee native — who has occupied the Top Country Albums chart for 151 weeks total, second only to Garth Brooks’ 173-week record — wasn’t new to the Vikings stadium in Minneapolis, as he performed a 90-minute opening set for Eric Church there in June 2022, which he mentioned early on in the show. But he was much better, and bigger, Thursday night.

He performed on an expansive stage, complete with a phallus-shaped catwalk that extended far onto the stadium floor and Taylor Swift-sized screens that mostly focused on close-ups of Wallen for the cheap seats. He wrapped the first hour of his show playing four semi-acoustic songs — including his cover of Jason Isbell’s “Cover Me Up” and “Lies Lies Lies,” a brand-new song presumably from his impending fourth album — on a second stage at the opposite end of the stadium.

A large part of Wallen’s massive success is his savvy, both as a song co-writer and song chooser, in finding indelible hooks that transcend genre. He often sidles up next to hip-hop and took the stage to a recorded version of Lil Durk’s “Broadway Girls,” a 2021 hit that featured Wallen on vocals. Elsewhere, he dabbles in any number of sounds, from Southern rock to ’80s heartland anthems to sheer pop confections, like his current hit with Post Malone, “I Had Some Help.”

To be sure, Wallen has improved quite a bit as a performer since he opened for Church and showed little in the way of charisma. He’s figured out how to keep a crowd in the palm of his hand, which helps matters given his sometimes flat vocals. Five songs in and he was struggling to hit some of the notes in “You Proof.”

He also flexed his muscles with spendy staging, from the bracelets handed out to audience members that flashed along to the music (a move he borrowed from Swift and Coldplay) to copious amounts of pyro and belching pillars of flame.

For “’98 Braves” — which features some particularly tortured lyrics that liken a disappointing playoff exit from the Atlanta Braves to a romantic relationship gone wrong — he performed in front of some bleachers as an ode to his time playing baseball in high school. He kept the bleachers around for one of his finest songs, the ’70s-style soft rock ballad “7 Summers.” Later, he crooned “Chasin’ You” and “Man Made a Bar” in front of the porch of a mock small-town house.

Given the size of the sheer crowd and the fact some had been drinking since the first of three opening acts (Bryan Martin) took the stage at 5:30 p.m., they treated Wallen with a surprising amount of reverence, occasionally singing along with the chorus in a polite fashion. As unlikely a star Wallen may be to the uninitiated, his fans absolutely adore the guy.

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INDIANAPOLIS >> Four of America’s biggest swimming stars — including Lakeville’s Regan Smith — doubled up at the U.S. Olympic swimming trials on Thursday night.

Lilly King left with another big prize.

An engagement ring.

Smith, King, Ryan Murphy and Kate Douglass all claimed a second individual event in Paris with their performances in the temporary pool at Lucas Oil Stadium.

But the most dramatic moment came just off the deck.

King’s boyfriend, former Indiana University swimmer James Wells, pulled out a ring, dropped to a knee and asked her to marry him.

She said yes with a kiss and a big hug.

In the pool, Smith won the women’s 200 butterfly after previously setting a world record in the 100 backstroke. Murphy touched first in the men’s 200-meter backstroke, adding to his triumph in the 100 back. And Douglass followed up her win a night earlier in the 100 freestyle with a victory in the 200 breaststroke.

Regan Smith swims during the Women’s 200 butterfly finals Thursday, June 20, 2024, at the US Swimming Olympic Trials in Indianapolis. (AP Photo/Darron Cummings)

Smith trailed 17-year-old Alex Shackell at the final turn but rallied to win in 2:05.70. Shackell, from suburban Carmel, thrilled the home crowd by claiming an Olympic berth in 2:06.69.

Shackell is heading to the Olympics with her 19-year-old brother Aaron, who made the team by winning the 400 freestyle on the opening night of the trials. Their father, Nick Shackell, represented Britain at the 1996 and 2000 Olympics.

Earlier Thursday, Smith posted the fastest qualifying time for Friday night’s 200 backstroke final, her final event of the trials.

Smith, 22, coasted to the fifth-fastest time (2:09.30) in the 200 backstroke prelims, then cut nearly three seconds from that time in the semifinals. Her semifinal time of 2:06.41 was .82 seconds ahead of next fastest qualifier Phoebe Bacan.

Smith narrowly missed out on another Olympic berth in Sunday’s historic 100 butterfly final. Smith swam the fifth-fastest time in history but finished .1 seconds behind runner-up Torri Huske and .31 seconds behind winner Gretchen Walsh.

King rallied to finish behind Douglass, edging Alex Walsh for the second U.S. spot at the Olympics. King had previously won the 100 breaststroke.

Murphy used his stunning underwater technique to hold off Keaton Jones and Jack Akins, finishing in 1 minute, 54.33 seconds. He punched the water in triumph when he saw his name atop the scoreboard for the second time in the meet.

Jones claimed the second spot at the Olympics in 1:54.61, while it was another heartbreaking finish for Akins. He was third in 1:54.78, the same position he had in the 100 backstroke when he missed a Paris berth by two-hundredths of a second.

Douglass dominated the 200 breaststroke, going out under world-record pace over the first half of the race and finishing in 2:19.46.

King was third at the final turn, but turned up the pace on the final lap for a runner-up finish of 2:21.93.

Walsh, a silver medalist in the 200 individual medley at Tokyo Olympics, failed to join her sister Gretchen on this Olympic team. Alex Walsh still has a shot to make the squad in the 200 IM, which begins Friday.

Caeleb Dressel bounced back with the second-fastest time in the semifinals of the 50 freestyle, one night after a third-place finish in the 100 free cost him a chance to defend his Olympic title in that event.

Dressel will need to finish in the top two of the 50 free final Friday night to claim his first individual race of the Paris Games. The tattooed Floridian was one of the biggest stars in Tokyo, winning five gold medals, but he hasn’t been as dominant since returning from a long layoff.

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If the Saints are any indication, Major League Baseball hit a home run in electing to go to a full-time challenge system on balls and strikes in Triple-A games for the remainder of the season.

Starting next Tuesday, the fully automated ball-strike system (ABS) that has been used for half the games will be eliminated. Each team will be allowed two challenges, which is one less than has been available to date. A successful challenge does not cost a team a challenge.

“Everybody loves it,” Saints pitcher Louie Varland said Thursday night at CHS Field prior to the Saints taking an 8-4 lead over Toledo into the eighth inning. “Everybody wants the challenge system instead of half and half with ABS.

“The challenge system is going to make baseball way better. It’s basically a balance of old school and new school, and at the end of the day you want the right calls to be made.”

Pitcher Brent Headrick professed his love for the challenge system and said Twins pitchers who have been on rehab assignments with the Saints quickly became fans, too.

“The zone is definitely tighter with the ABS,” Headrick said, “so they weren’t getting calls they usually got in the big leagues. But pitchers love the challenge system; they can’t wait to use it.”

While Headrick said the challenge system is fair for hitters and pitchers, he feels there are some pitches — such as a backup slider up in the zone — that could clip the zone and register as a strike.

Veteran utility man Tony Kemp, who joined the Saints early in the season after being designated for assignment by the Baltimore Orioles, has been exposed to the challenge system for the first time.

“I’m happy that it will be in the big leagues at some point,” Kemp said. “We, as hitters, work our butts off to know the strike zone’s ins and outs. There have been times in my career when it’s 3-2 (count), the balls off the plate and it’s called a strike, that I wish I could have challenged.

“Instead of going to the ABS, you need to keep an umpire back there. But they need to do a better job of guys being accountable, and I think this is going to be a way umpires can be held accountable.”

Saints shortstop Brooks Lee, who hit a pair of home runs on Thursday, considers himself an “ultra-aggressive” hitter, so he said the change
won’t affect him as much as some other players.

“I try not to get to two strikes,” he said. “I swing a lot, so I don’t get strikes called on me a lot. But it definitely will be good for guys who are more patient.”

Saints manager Tony Gardenhire said he has preferred the challenge system from the start. “Going from three to two is going to be an adjustment,” he said. You’re going to have to be more careful in how you use them.”

Gardenhire said that while he allows his pitchers to challenge a call, he prefers that the decision comes from his catcher. “Catchers are really good at knowing the zone,” he said.

Catchers also have become adept at “framing” pitches, which has allowed them to steal strikes by fooling the umpire, which is another reason why Gardenhire prefers that his catcher make the challenge.

“Our catchers are so good at moving the ball that sometimes our pitchers think it’s a strike,” Gardenhire said, “and the catcher knows it’s not. So I tell our pitchers not to call it, because sometimes they get caught up in some emotions.

“But every once in a while they get one right, so they’re quick to say that they get to do it again.”

Briefly

Lee, who has been on a tear at the plate of late, made his first start of the season at second base. If the Twins elect to call him up this season, he likely would see time at second, with Carlos Correa entrenched at shortstop and Royce Lewis at third.

Matt Wallner hit his 17th home run of the season in the first inning.

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