User reviews

As current owner of two Harley's and also two Indians, I really enjoyed this mini-series. The only complaint that I have is how Indian builder, George Hendee, was portrayed as kind of a pompous jerk. The truth is that Art Davidson and Hendee were not enemies but were close friends who visited each other at their homes and bonded over common interests in motorcycles and other things. Also, before each sales season, representatives of both companies would meet for a big meal and discuss each companies new models and discuss what they should charge for each new model. (Would be illegal "price fixing" today!) In addition, when Indian got in financial trouble before DuPont bought the company, Harley founders even had discussions on how to help Indian financially. And when Indian finally died, there was mourning in Milwaukee. All the Indian vs Harley "war" was mainly at the dealer level. And of course on the race track! Again, I really enjoyed this series!

Great ..Seem pretty accurate to me. I'm sure they took certain liberties with the real story. Sometimes Myth and legends are difficult to separate. But as a Harley owner and a long time M/C rider I enjoyed the series. Harley Davidson is truly an American Icon, that has made over numerous adversities. Sits right up there with Ford, Chevy, G.E. etc.

For over 100 years, Harley Davidson has earned a legacy among motorcycles.

Loved the way the story line was written around the two families. Also thought the actors/actresses seem authentic. Plus the reproduction of motorcycles were believable.

Harley and the Davidsons was an excellent film rendering based on the true story of the start and growth of the Harley Davidson MC covering over 30 years of its beginning. It was well-acted, the attention to detail, the spicy human interaction and complexities, along with, of course, the trials and tribulations of testing and losing and testing again until the Harley finally came into being, kept me glued. It was also interesting to see just how fast the motor industry exploded at the turn of the century, how many MC brands suddenly appeared and how crazy the world became over motorcycles. I think this is a very human story, quite inspiring and just easy to watch. And, having seen it, I want a Harley more than ever!

This series was not meant to be a documentary, so historically inaccurate segments are expected. What it turned out to be is a fast moving (3 decades in three episodes) dramatization of the spirit of entrepreneur-ism, which accurately depicts many failures. I used this show as an example to my kids about how entrepreneurs and business people often fail, but those that succeed are the ones who continued to push in spite of the failures. These guys never gave up on the idea itself and never gave in to the setbacks and outright disasters along the way; the war, the great depression, personal illness, patent issues, failed designs, failed races, competition, money issues, etc. (many of which did happen). That is the true heart of entrepreneurship - even if some of the situations never occurred or were exaggerated. The spirit was there and you felt it throughout the entire series. Kudos...

I really enjoyed it. I am not a movie critic because I watch something for entertainment, I am not interested in historic accuracy, whether characters were realistic or not, or if the story line was embellished. If I wanted that I would watch something that is close to being realistic. Some of the reviews are more like a huge long whine about nothing and just being petty. The show is called "Harley and the Davidsons", it is about them and their lives and relationships and what they achieved. If you don't want to watch a show about that then maybe it is not for you, a documentary might be more suited to some people. I need a 10th line, and have run out of things to say, so I hope everyone has a great day.

A well profiled series that learns a story about inventing things, building (growing in) a marketing plan, expand and learning of some failures. Acting is magical and almost a AAA movie. better than some top series on HBO,Netflix and even Hollywood studios. This is a great mini-series and i hope it will get a great new discovery in some other great inventions and a lifestyle what it brings whit this great story behind the great empires

This story it's almost about fact and how it should have been that time, otherwise the story is romantic and patriotic. I see myself in this picture. Building things and creating things and see how the realities sets me back in hard crucial ebony.

As with all show business productions, the goal is to entertain and that is all I was looking for...to be entertained. To that end, I was! Others can pretend to be connoisseurs of entertainment production and pontificate as to the relative merits of plot, character development, etc., but I find that to be a ridiculous presumption of insight and unbridled arrogance. Just let this mini-series flow across the screen and simply enjoy it without trying to overthink it and you might find that it is very entertaining as a whole...I did, and when I heard that oh-so-familiar deep throated sound from the knucklehead's engine, it brought back many fond memories of road trips gone by! As with all reviews and reviewers, take them with a grain of salt and don't let anyone else try to tell you what to think. See the movie and make up your own mind!

Love this season; this is the feeling and soul of millions of Harley's Owners, and those enthusiasts who love this brand. Love the series, the beginnings, the creations, the races, the family, and those decisions that made & built the best motorcycles in the world... Not just only historical, but plenty of strategy, sweat and tears. It was enlightening how the way the company and the founders deal with the Indians, and the First World War. I just can't wait to see all that comes after those first years, and see the wild 60's and the critical 70's

When viewing this series I assumed that this series was only meant to be entertainment. I'm not a motorcycle historian and don't want to be. I loved the first episode and how it depicted the founders of Harley Davidson as an inventor/engineer and a salesman. Walter appeared as a "Johney come lately" who had money and family relationship. He also appears to have a practical sense of mechanical things which often is needed to balance the inventive mind with the more practical side of things. I know this from my own experience as a design engineer.

The first episode depicted Bill Harley as a main character, but the other two episodes kind of relegated him to a back seat making Walter the star. I would have preferred to see Bill brought out more throughout the series.

The third episode sort of fell on it's face at the end. It appears that the point of the series seems to be to dramatise the founding era of Harley Davidson and not the more recent events in the company's history. Be that as it may, I feel the overall series was fantastic and would like to see a similar series on the beginnings of the Ford Motor Company.

Bill Harley, Arthur and Walter Davidson were real people who were responsible for the evolution of not only the Harley Davidson mototcycle but also were the genesis of many of the designs and motors of other motorcycle manufacturers who flourished over the past century. Both Mrs. Shullivan and I enjoyed this semi-autobiography of the Harely Davidson motorcycle manufacturers. Of course the producers took liberty with the time, dates, and sequence of some of the actual events but please remember the motorcycle, especially the Harley Davidson motorcycle(s) is a story of over half a century of engineering, evolution, business savvy, loyalty and true friendships. Try putting all that realistically into a few hours of screen time and at the same time make it as entertaining as this mini-series is.

This biography is both entertaining as well as information based even if the writers/director took liberties with actual events. Mrs. Shullivan and I quite enjoyed it. I give the mini-series a 7 out of 10 rating.

Watched this as my dad used to own a Harley-Davidson Sportster, and partly as I got into period dramas no thanks to my American Girl collection, but I digress. Aramayo, Huisman and company did deliver something decent to the table, but my biggest beef was that while racing was a part of the company from the get-go, it seems to be given too much of an emphasis, and yet Big Bill Davidson was, in TV Tropes parlance, demoted to an extra even though he is a key founder in his own right.

I do understand that the racing subplots, and the Davidson brothers' alcohol-fueled fists of fury were weaved in for dramatic effect, but maybe the producers could've balanced it even more. Also, the original 1936 OHV wasn't referred to by the founders as the Knucklehead early on; it wasn't until the 60s where bikers referred to the engines by the shape of the valve covers, and the founders wouldn't certainly be up to presenting a Knucklehead prototype in front of outlaw racers.

As a motorcycle history buff this series was SO BAD I barely got through the first episode. BIG GLARING ERROR shows the third factory building of the Motor Company, not built till 1908, as the factory from the beginning. Also the same factory with the sign that says Davidson Motorcycles never existed. Hendee of Indian was not the PT Barnum of Motocycles, but a businessman from the beginning. Pretty much the only thing they got right was the names of the founders of the Motor Company.

This is one of those shows that is called BOATS: Based On A True Story(over heard in an elevator on an express run down).

Love the show but just cant seem to understand why they had everyone in the show drinking Budweiser a St louis beer when they were in Milwaukee the beer capital of the US at the time....... thought it would have been Schlitz Beer......????

Conflict is the essence of drama, and "Harley and the Davidsons" is "balls to the wall" conflict. Hardly one issue is (perhaps) settled before another rears its head. Every combination of "conflictors" is explored: brother/brother; father/children; mother/children; capitalists/little guys; creeps/decent folk, etc, etc, etc. It's an absolute model of a conflict-driven story that will keep the script reader turning the pages, until he or she collapses, screaming "We've got to green-light this one!".

To the extent I can unscramble things (I'm not an expert on the history of motorcycles), it seems that great liberties have been taken with the lives of Messrs. Harley and Davidson (such as introducing fictional characters and ignoring real ones (eg, Evinrude)). It's suggestive that there are separate credits for the story and the screenwriter.

The production values are impressive, and the film is first-rate eye candy, on multiple levels. The shot of Walter Davidson riding the prototype * across the green, green hills of... Romania?... is beautiful. The period costumes must have cost hundreds of thousands of dollars. And best of all is the recreation of early motorcycles. One can imagine -- and applaud -- the work that went into it. (Who doesn't like motorcycles?)

But the whole seems less than the sum of its parts. It just doesn't ring true. It comes off more as an example of how to write an exciting script that will get produced, than any veracious insight into what H and the Ds went through.

I'm always critical of modern films projecting modern attitudes on historical events, so I was especially annoyed when Walter said he wanted their motorcycle to project an outlaw spirit. He might very well have said that, but bikers were not seen as "outlaws" until after WWII.

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After watching the appalling episode 3, I've lowered my rating from seven stars to three stars.

The episode's principal elements are Indian's lawsuit against H-D for patent infringement, and Walter's son's rebellion. Though H-D had infringed patents, they were actually Robert Keating's. (I've been unable to confirm the film's claim that Harley had neglected to patent several inventions, and another company had patented them, which Indian used to "destroy" H-D.)

Walter Jr's rebellion might have occurred, but it's recounted as if the writer is running down a checklist of how one dramatizes such things. Walter Jr joins a group of poverty-stricken bike lovers, one of whom is a young woman wearing designer rags, the other a black man. The latter appears to be in the story for political correctness, but it seems he was a real person who went on to own an H-D dealership. Of course, everything is so overblown that one doesn't know what to believe.

The capper is Mrs Harley's bone cancer. Without telling anyone why, Harley takes increasing time off from work to go on picnics with her. Of course, it all ends semi-happily when the doctor discovers she actually has a treatable non-fatal disease.

I was expecting a documentary on the history of Harley-Davidson. What I got was a hyperbolic drama with little regard for the facts. The best thing about this series is its strongly negative view of capitalists and businessmen.

* It was actually the second prototype, as the first had to be pedaled to get uphill.

I don't know much about the history of motorcycles, though I did own a few when I was in my 20s. I wanted to see this movie because I grew up in Milwaukee and was hoping some effort had been made to situate the HD company in the history of the city.

There was none.

Instead, in between the clichéd melodrama - young Irish men drink and punch each other's lights out, all the while hurting the women in their lives - we got scenic views of countryside - and mountains! - that have never been found in or near Milwaukee.

I found it very suspect that there was no mention of the Harley Davidson Museum in the lengthy credits, nor of the Davidson family. How much of this movie actually has a basis in history? This movie might interest those who like early, primitive motorcycles. Other than that, I don't know whom it would appeal to.

Don't waste your time on this dreck. I'm ashamed we did. The acting, casting, writing and plot development is an embarrassment. Everyone involved in this project should just crawl under a rock. I feel like I'm watching an episode of Hogans Heroes meets Fantasy Island, except those campy TV shows were far more entertaining. The basic plot is that a bunch of anachronistically depicted young men act like caricatures and are somehow representing a historically accurate view of the inception of Harley Davidson motorcycle. This review is longer than the movie but is written better. One of the characters is about 20 years older than his peers and has hair like John Stamos. In fact he might be John Stamos' love baby with Rip Torn. My husband and I are laughing like fools writing this review which thank god is keeping our eyes off of this horrible mini series.