Day 17 Easy
Rider [1969]
Writer(s) Peter Fonda, Dennis
Hopper & Terry Southern
Director Dennis Hopper
Cinematography Lázló Kovács
Leads Peter Fonda, Dennis Hopper, Jack
Nicholson.
Production Raybert Productions, Pando
Company
IMDb 7.4/10
Rotten Tomatoes 89%
A
real cult classic this one. I try and watch films without reading too much
about how popular they are or their context at the time they were made. These
factors can be important, but I feel it’s better to judge the film on its own
merits before reading other critique or understanding how ground-breaking it
may have been when released. I liked Easy Rider. It’s like a modern Western.
Two compadres head off on big chopper motorcycles in search of the hippie’s American
dream by getting really rich from a drug sale, then retiring to Florida. There
is no real dialogue for the opening ten/twenty minutes save for the Spanish
drug dealers, but we learn all we need to know about Billy (Dennis Hopper) and
Wyatt (Peter Fonda) from the start. Two hippie bikers with a load of money, who
are headed across the southern states of the USA. This film definitely lets the
audience make their own minds up about what is going on, what the message is
and even what the story is. There is no comprehendible plot, but that is what
makes this film good. I didn’t really know what was going on as a lot of it is
filled with scenes where we watch Hopper and Fonda riding around the American
country to Steppenwolf. There are wonderfully interesting scenes though such as
the hippie commune, partying with prostitutes in New Orleans and the 17-minute
appearance of Jack Nicholson as lawyer George Hanson. In these scenes we see in
vivid images of the counterculture that emerged in Vietnam-era USA, and the
scary views of the locals in the deep South. It is a roller-coaster of a film
that leaves one wondering whether you actually enjoyed the ride. I think I did.
Acting 3 / 4
Writing 2 / 4
Cinematography 2 / 4
Music 3.5 / 4
HWF rating 3 / 4