Easy Rider (1969) User Reviews

This used to be a helluva good country. I can't understand what's gone wrong with it.

[film-critic · 8/10 · 25 September 2004]

I was utterly surprised by this film. I was expecting nothing more than some short scenes of our now-infamous actors smoking marijuana followed by trippy Willy Wonka scenes . Oddly, this did occur, but this film was much more than that. This film should be shown in every American History class in the United States. It not only showed the beauty of the country of which we reside, but it also spoke about the people that reside in it. You know the old saying, 'Guns don't kill people, people kill people', well after watching this film, it is a very true statement. We are afraid of what is different. We are a culture that is afraid of change, yet seek it so badly. We are a society of hypocrites, androids, and ignorants. We thrive on the fact that we are the best country in the world, yet somebody shows any disassociation of routine, we are the first to question and get angry. I would dare say that we have moved so far from the 60s that I cannot see why our parents do not cry everyday. Their generations was a free-spirited, mind challenging culture that explored all possibilities no matter the cost. The experience was all they needed as a reward. Now, we are more concerned about money and the family-plan that we sometimes place ourselves on the backburner to life. Wake, eat, and pay the bills. What a sad daily structure that we have. When was the last time you considered the possibility of just jumping on your bike and riding until you hit water? Probably not for a long time … why? It is called 'bills' and 'responsibilities'. These are the choices that we chose to make, and for anyone to say that they cannot do it, I would have to challenge. You CAN do anything, it is whether you chose to do it is another question. I wonder what it will be like in another 30 years. Where will we be, and will the idea of individualism be lost? I can't wait to see …

Outside of the deeply rooted themes of this film, I felt that Hopper (who also directed) knew exactly what he was doing behind the camera. He kept the talking short, the music loud and symbolic, and allowed the background to do the explaining. I loved the fact that we really knew nothing about Fonda or Hopper's characters. It allowed us to relate to them. You could easily add your story into their characters and have the life that you lead and wish to escape. Hopper was able to transform this film from a drug movie to a film about humanity. Fonda, who also helped write the film with Hopper, did a superb job of adding Nicholson's character into the mix.

Nicholson represented us, the American public and our love of liquor, football, and lies. I viewed Nicholson as the average American. He drank too much, was the product of a wealthy upbringing, but did not know much about the world. He was sheltered. He never smoked weed (in fact didn't even know what it was when presented to him), never left the state line, and never lived life. He constantly used the expression, 'I have always wanted to …'. How many times do you hear this a day from either a family member or a co-worker? If you always wanted to do it, why haven't you? So, here we have Hanson, dreaming a dream but never following through, who is traveling with two guys that live the ultimate life and live by their own rules. They are complete opposites, but Hanson's words seemed to remain in my mind for a long time. He reminded me of one of my wife's students today that spoke about freedom. He knew exactly what it was, but never practiced it. Hopper and Fonda were walking (driving most of the time) representations of the word 'freedom'. It is tragic what happens to Harmon, because he (unfortunately) experienced the negative side of freedom … hatred and fear of the unknown.

There was one scene that just jumped out at me. It occurs in the diner before the incident later that night where our travelers experience hatred in the country they admire so much. They go from peace and love to fear and hate. It is as if they witnessed night and day. It was frightening to hear the words coming from people in that restaurant. It was not only scary to wonder what was going to happen to our narrators, but mainly that people were speaking that way to fellow citizens. I know that it still occurs today, and it is surprising to me. We bomb a country because they do not follow the same principles that we do, but we need to start asking ourselves this question … do we need another United States?

Grade: ***** out of *****

The American Dream/Nightmare

[The_Void · 8/10 · 25 August 2005]

Dennis Hopper's Easy Rider is often cited as being an all time classic, and while I don't think this is a great film in terms of technical brilliance, it sums up the era it was made and the tongue in cheek, cynical take on the 'American dream' is both potent and well done. This film is very much a product of the sixties and, like many things from the decade, will always be fondly remembered. Dennis Hopper and Peter Fonda, men of substance and substance abuse, wrote the film together and Hopper directed it. These two were obviously in the thick of what was cool in the sixties, and that gives the film an element of authenticity as we feel like what we're seeing isn't too far away from the things really going on at that time. The plot is simple and more just a base for the film to deliver it's real sting than anything else. It follows two motorbike riders on their way from Los Angeles to the Mardi Gras in New Orleans. We follow their exploits as they travel the country meeting various people including, most notably, George Hanson; an offbeat lawyer, played by the great Jack Nicholson.

The American Dream has always been about freedom. But like George Hanson says; it's one thing to talk about being free, but something else entirely to actually be it. That's the theme of the entire movie, and the way that it plays out, and the ending especially, aptly portray the difference between saying something and actually doing it. The acting performances are a big part of the movie, and the two leads; Peter Fonda and Dennis Hopper stick out the most. The two actors brilliantly get into their characters, and after a while you forget that you're watching actors and start to think that these people really are these characters. Jack Nicholson turns up halfway through and steals the show. It's not hard to see why this actor went on to become one of the best of all time. Even here, he shows his charisma and ability to steal the show and that is what he would go on to become famous for doing later in his career. Last but not least, another great thing about Easy Rider is the music. Music was, of course, a big thing in the sixties; and it's a big thing about this movie. Classic rock accompanies the pictures of the two men rider their bikes, and it's very cool indeed. On the whole, this film is an out and out classic.

A Country Full of Anger

[Hitchcoc · 7/10 · 13 May 2015]

My friends and I went to see "Easy Rider" when we were in college. We sat around and commiserated about the fact that there was that Sword of Damocles, the Vietnam War, hanging over each of our heads. The anti-hero became the hero. Peter Fonda and Dennis Hopper travelling across the country, scoring drugs, taking risks, trying to find America (the cliché of the time). They have some dalliances and some confrontations. They hook up with some pathetic women. Hopper is a hothead. Fonda full of wanderlust. Jack Nicholson as George come along for the ride because he has never seen anything like this before. The problem was a sickness that permeated everything at the time. As I've grown older, it has been easier to see weaknesses of these men. We were so angry about the conclusion and our parents say these guys got just what they deserved. That's what America was at that time. This movie made us think of the fragility of our lives in the hands of politicians and base individuals. See this again after all these years.

view

[Delonga22 · 9 February 2006]

Wyatt was a character that you could connect with because he wanted to find something better than what life offered so far. The image that struck out the most to me was this idea of the cities versus the open road and expansive valleys. I noticed that when they were on the open road they were meeting interesting down to earth people that shared similar ideas with them. They come across the farming family that sit down for family meals and live off of the land. Wyatt seemed to admire this idea of living off the land and the willingness to offer them food and a place to sit while most people would turn strangers away. The family did not stereotype them or disrespect them because of the way they looked.

At the point in the movie when they picked up the hitchhiker you could tell the distrust that people had towards each other. Billy did not trust the man even though the man was simply trying to do them a favor. Trust in fellow human beings was something rare during the time and it seemed like kind acts were suspicious acts. Billy was not a trusting person but he was also a little bit paranoid, while Wyatt was willing to believe in the goodness of people and give them a chance before judging them. Wyatt figured that the trust had to start somewhere.

We can tell when the close minded communities are coming in to play because we are leaving the open road and coming to the small enclosed streets. When they run into George he is their saving grace from this small town. George offers a new perspective for Billy and Wyatt because he is a suit that does not judge them but he acknowledges the prejudices against them. He gives them the first straight answer they will receive on the way the world works. George's character was really refreshing and it was interesting that he is the one that gets killed by people that he 'represents.' I thought that the scene when they finally get to New Orleans and are tripping the cemetery is really telling of how religion was viewed by Wyatt and Billy. They are tripping and sitting on statues and graves and the girls start to take their clothes off while they run around and curse their parents and the world in the middle of funeral services. At one point Wyatt looks up at a statue and sees a great ball of fire crashing to the earth. This is an omen of how is life will end and it almost seemed like god was scorning them or something with that flash of fire kind of like the apocalypse.

An aspect of the filming that I found interesting was the transitions that they used to go from scene to scene. The characters would be sitting by the camp fire and then to go to then next scene of them riding off was the three panic-like shots of the incoming scene. I thought that this method went well with the film and the characters because they were always changing scenery in search for something more. They were restless souls with no limits but they do not find clarity in the end. Wyatt felt that their experience in Orleans was not what they had expected and that they had failed but the question of what they had failed at was something that could be many different things. Easy Rider was a shocking film in a good way a film that many youths relate to because of the sense of restlessness and the need to live and be real.

Good and Bad

[BenjaminBufordBlue · 6/10 · 11 May 2011]

All things considered, I liked the movie.

I loved shots of scenery as Fonda and Hopper ride cross-country. I loved a lot of the dialog, especially when Jack Nicholson makes his appearance, and I love the theme and message the film conveys. However, there a multiple scenes that drag on way to long without anything substantial happening. I understand that the point of these scenes was to convey the lifestyle, but I couldn't help but be incredibly bored by some scenes, namely the commune. I never connected with a character more so than when Dennis Hopper has had enough of the commune, and say something along the lines of "Lets get the hell out of here, man" I knew exactly how he felt and was glad I wasn't actually there with him, and could leave the boredom and craziness much easier than he could.

This film was a rite of passage

[rjbrad · 9/10 · 17 August 2005]

I cannot overstate the importance of this movie in my personal development.

In 1969 I was eighteen and a freshman at Cambridge University. I was also a near-fundamentalist and a member of the Christian Union. Its officials decreed that Easy Rider was unsuitable for Christian viewing; I'd seen some enthusiastic reviews which made me curious. Moral and spiritual dilemma followed. To view or not to view? I prayed about it - look, this is a long time ago, right - and decided that if it had been OK for the Christian Union's leaders to see it, if only to realise it was morally dubious, then it was OK for me. They hadn't been corrupted, presumably; the Lord would see that I wasn't either.

So I went and it blew me away. I thought then and think now, that this is a magnificently perceptive commentary on hippie culture and one that only the medium of film can deliver. Naive idealism is weighed against the squalid reality of drugs (and indeed alcohol). Freedom is portrayed as often aimless, self-indulgent and downright boring. The underlying morality could be seen as puritanical: a celebration of the free-lovin' drop-out Sixties it ain't, more a weary end-of-decade critique thereof. I would have thought there was much to commend it to the Christian Union moralisers, yet as ever they couldn't see past the surface - drug abuse, loose women. Yet it has its high moments, in more ways than one, and is always a treat for the eyes.

My decision to defy the Christian Union by seeing the film was an early step out of my fundamentalist prison and I haven't stopped walking yet. No-one's ever going to tell me what I can and can't watch again: nor will I censor anyone else's viewing. I'm still a believer, but not of the kind that the Christian Union would have thought will ever go to heaven. Guess I'll have to live with that.

There's more to this movie than meets the eye.

[peterlonglongplong · 7/10 · 2 August 2007]

I'm amazed that lots of the negative reviews focus on the drugs. This movie does not promote drugs. Fonda portrays a self-absorbed, aloof thinking stoner; I knew several back in the 70's. But Hopper acts more like a tweaker than a pot smoker. The movie shows some of the aspects of life in the 60's, but like anything, it's limited in scope. We see a trip back east on motorcycles of two hippies who made money from drugs. Like a pleasing work of art, we get to view some good scenery in several of the types of desert in our southern states. We get to see an interracial couple with kids inviting the bikers to dinner. Then a hitchhiker takes us to a commune. I almost joined a commune in the 70's and even if this looked like a failure of human experiments, it was a beautiful one. As if people can't see that capitalism is STILL AN EXPERIMENT. And it's not in the greatest shape right now. Of course, to keep the movie watchable to the masses and acceptable to the promoters (who are mostly from the big cities on the coasts) we saw these guys get into trouble in little towns of the south. Just so people don't start to believe that this is the way of the entire south, redneck, prejudiced slime buckets exist everywhere on this planet. There is a town I won't name in Michigan that reminds me of that line from another movie, "you sure got a pretty mouth". Because of the close relations of people in small towns, if a couple, or a few total as*h*l** get into positions of power, the town can be unsafe to people from elsewhere. The movie does often require us to suspend our belief, but it was an experimental film. Generally, the movie shows the problems involved with 'so-called' freedom and escapist drugs. It shows what closed mindedness can cause some people to do. After seeing the movie when I was young, I was 10 when it was made, I believed until my adult years that long hair and a liberal attitude in the south would get you shot. Fortunately, on my business trips to Texas, Louisiana, etc., where I had some free time to explore, I discovered something completely different. Open-minded, thinking, caring people are everywhere and my own San Francisco Bay Area has plenty of rednecks. The movie is a good portrayal of types of people, scenery, and great music. And Hopper does act more like an amphetamine snorter. Hollywood never quite has the real world down. But then, Hollywood, and the people in the limelight there, are rarely in the real world.

A Far Out Document of the late 60's Encapsulates Counter-Culture America.

[Don-102 · 9/10 · 20 January 2000]

Not many films have documented an era of American culture the way it must have really been. THE BEST YEARS OF OUR LIVES captured the reality of the post-war 1940's. TAXI DRIVER is a masterpiece of social distortion and paranoia exemplary of the 1970's. No film other than EASY RIDER captures the late 1960's as seen by the American counter-culture. Peter Fonda and Dennis Hopper's story of two men who go in search of America and 'freedom' is a bona fide sign of the times. I may not have been around at the time, but it is great to see a film portraying the long-haired, hippie attitude towards an America in turmoil in the form of a biker flick, circa 1969.

EASY RIDER is an exploration of vast and desolate parts of the country. Of course, the stop at Mardi Gras is a necessity, but what Fonda and director Hopper are trying to tell us is that there was no 'freedom' as they saw it. The sprawling journey shows filmgoers the multiple frictions and shattered idealism of a generation in the midst of cultural change. Sex, drugs, and music were exploding socially and 1960's ideology may have come to an end in 1969, literally and figuratively speaking - much like it shockingly does in this film.

Peter Fonda plays cool "Captain America", otherwise known as Wyatt, while Hopper is a paranoid prophet of the hippies as "Billy the Kid". The stunning DVD version of the film notes the importance of Laszlo Kovacs, the director of photography. Much of the film consists of Kovacs' simple shooting of the riders as they travel spiraling highways and bigoted backroads. It is some beautiful footage and essential to the trip. A major deal is made, much grass is smoked, and the film takes off from there. Their ultimate goal is never clearly defined, but Fonda's final comment to Hopper may sum it up for viewers. Did they find what America was supposed to be about? I guess not according to Fonda.

There is a surreal experience at a commune the Kid and Wyatt stop at. These scenes are out of a Fellini film. One significant shot paints the commune with a 360 degree pan across the faces of the live-in hippies. The expressions on the faces all seem different, some grinning, others just zoned out. Kovac's amazing camera work (especially on the road with the bikes) along with a virtual who's who in rock music of the late 60's makes for a sometimes visceral filmgoing experience. The immortal 'Born to be Wild' blares over the opening title sequence and everyone from Hendrix to The Byrds are heard throughout.

EASY RIDER also contains one of Jack Nicholson's 2 or 3 most memorable performances, even to this day. As drunken lawyer "George Hanson", he creates an amazingly funny and perfect counterpoint to Hopper and Fonda. He realizes what the general public can think of the "long-hairs" and puts himself in danger just by traveling with them. A bizarre notion of alien presence in the U.S. government is part of a hilarious conversation Nicholson and Hopper have over Whiskey and smoke. His scenes on Fonda's chopper with the golden football helmet are absolute, cinematic classics.

Credit must be given to Fonda, Hopper, Nicholson, Kovacs, and Terry Southern for giving a new face to movie-making. They captured the era in a raw, jump cutting fashion. Maybe the hippies were not entirely right by trying to live off the land, or smoking dope all the time, but they may have been onto something.

RATING: ***1/2

Hopper goes with the flow

[n_r_koch · 6/10 · 15 January 2007]

Though the heroes are bikers, "Easy Rider" is a bit like the fantasy of a very earnest, stressed-out Harvard freshman with family problems. Critics who raved about it back in 1969 needed to have their heads examined. What with all the LSD, some of them eventually did.

Dennis Hopper was no dope, though. This film earned 100 times its cost; it was commercially as shrewd as a Coca-Cola ad. Just as intended, it had young audiences shouting "Right on!" at the screen and paying to see it again. They were the same people who shouted "Right on!" at "The Graduate" and paid to see it again. Back in the day, their grandparents paid to see Erich Von Stroeheim, the Evil Hun, again so they could shout at him too. Their kids just paid to see the equally commercial, manipulative "American Beauty" over and over again-- and then threw a pile of awards at it. Some people never learn.

Hopper's film was commercially shrewd in another way: it attacked ordinary Southern whites, America's Bad Guys in 1969 (before everyone needed their Electoral Votes) in the crudest, most lamebrained possible fashion. This film is still worth seeing, though, if only to see what the fuss was about. The Western panoramas look great and the music is good. Hopper has his usual wacky charm. And Jack Nicholson, the comic relief, takes over the movie while he's in it.

An American Classic

[Jill-68 · 9/10 · 20 February 2001]

Over time, this rough diamond of a film has become a real gem in my collection. When I first saw it at the theater, I remember liking the anti-establishment attitude and the rock music soundtrack. Later, on T.V., I remember thinking what a great actor Jack Nicholson was...and how terribly low-budget the rest of the film appeared.

And now, over 30 years later....it's one of my favorite movies of all time. Peter Fonda tries to be Everyman....but he's really the most insecure individual of the group. His cathartic trip at the cemetary in New Orleans is embarrassingly honest to watch. His search is not for individual freedom...his search is for a family. And yet, he is always the outsider, the observer.

Dennis Hopper is the sidekick, the fool. And like a fool, he cannot hide his thoughts behind a socially acceptable demeanor. He constantly says exactly what he thinks. He has little patience for flower children, pretentious intellectuals, coy women, law officers, drunks in jail, or rednecks passing him on the road. Like a fool, he is doomed. Jack Nicholson is the core of the film. He does not appear until halfway through the bikers' odyssey, but the trip will not make sense until his face rises up from the jailhouse cot to peer bleary-eyed at his surroundings. He is the innocent man of this group....he is the AMERICAN. This movie is just another road picture, the way ON THE ROAD by Kerouac was just another travel book. This little counterculture movie is an American Classic.

Sadly Overrated!

[gab-14712 · 7/10 · 6 December 2018]

To many film pundits, 1969's Easy Rider is a groundbreaking avant garde (or experimental in layman terms) film. In a way, I agree with them. Motorcycle films were seen as cheap ho-hum exploitation films that no one cares about, but this film changed the way films were made. This film made it clear that films that were known in Old Hollywood was to be no more. The road was paved for New Hollywood and it shows that independent film can be successfully given to mainstream audiences. After all, this film was the third-highest grossing film of 1969 ($41 million dollars to a budget of a very small $400,000). I also found the movie to be a boring and frankly quite overrated. This film definitely appealed to the teens and college kids of the 1960's counterculture era, but we live in a different world today. This movie felt equivalent of taking a boatload of LSD's, and the effect quickly wore off for me. There are moments of greatness, but the overall film doesn't live up to the hype.

Wyatt (Peter Fonda) and Billy (Dennis Hopper) are two hippie bikers who smuggled cocaine across the Mexican border to earn money and travel their way across America to live the American dream. After selling the cocaine (to rock icon Phil Spector of all people), it's time for them to begin their odyssey. They take their bikes and roar down the highways going from Point A to Point B. Everywhere they go, they encounter people who hate them for not conforming with American society. They also encounter people just like them. They meet people at a hippie commune. They also meet a liberal tax evasion lawyer in a jail cell, George Hanson (Jack Nicholson). When released, they invite Hanson to go on the journey with them to Mardi Gras in New Orleans.

Jack Nicholson's performance is the main positive highlight for me. His screen time is limited, but he nails the role as the alcoholic George. One funny moment for myself is that I thought Peter Fonda's character was actually Jack Nicholson at first. I guess they look alike during this time period. Regardless, Nicholson delivered and began a long acting career thanks to this movie. Peter Fonda and Dennis Hopper were merely okay. I wasn't too much invested in their characters.

Speaking of Dennis Hopper, he was the one who directed the movie. As a first-time director, he changed cinematic history for the better and that is no easy feat. You can tell he has directorial talent, but you can also see he has much to learn. At least he got a magnificent performance out of Jack Nicholson. I also liked what the story is trying to convey. I learned some things about the 1960's counterculture era where young people were beginning to conform against society. This is the kind of thing that hasn't been seen on screen before, so it was definitely something new for audiences to take in. The soundtrack of the movie is A plus. Any soundtrack that has Bob Dylan, The Band, The Byrds, and Steppenwolf deserves a gold medal.

That leads me to my next point. The movie is just basically a 95-minute glorified music video. All these songs are great and they fit the mold of the counterculture era, but it does nothing to the plot. One of the biggest complaints about the movie is that the plot is nonexistent, which I sadly agree with. Usually, I don't mind drug use in a movie, but I was irritated by the amount of drugs used. Calm down, people! On the whole, this was a fascinating watch. On one hand, this is a ground-breaking movie with some solid ideas and a fantastic Jack Nicholson performance. On the other hand, I felt like a psychedelic after watching it. The music, the drugs, the hippie experience.....and I am not sure how I feel about that. This may be an unpopular opinion, but I was disappointed after hearing so many people in the film world rave about this film. But, that is just me.

My Grade: C+

Worth seeing a second time...

[planktonrules · 10/10 · 13 July 2012]

I saw "Easy Rider" several decades ago and hated it. I had no idea what people saw in it. However, in the meantime, I have watched 457293811 films (give or take) and have changed a lot--as we all do over time. When I watched it again yesterday, I found so much to this film that I simply couldn't see the first time. Now I am NOT going to say that Dennis Hopper and Peter Fonda (who made and starred in the film) were geniuses here but they managed, with some amazing luck, to hit on something with this movie. In other words, their use of drugs managed to help them create the right movie for the right time. However, Hopper's next chance at directing ("The Last Movie") was a complete mess--and listed as one of the films in the excellent book "The 50 Worst Movies of All Time" by Harry Medved)--because the drugs simply made his work incomprehensible.

The film begins with two friends (Hopper and Fonda) making a big score--selling some cocaine to a crazy rich guy (very appropriately played by Phil Spector). Now with a fortune, they plan on taking their motorcycles across the American Southwest to New Orleans to party it up at the Mardi Gras.

The film has little in the way of a strong plot--more just snapshots of their adventures along the way. Some of the vignettes seem to extol the virtues to the selfless and idealistic hippie movement (such as the group headed by Robert Walker, Jr.), some the importance of letting go and enjoying life (their bizarre meeting with Jack Nicholson) and many show the anger and hatred the 'squares' had towards these free spirits. However, what made this movie for me is that although it SEEMED to have a shallow plot and was often rather unprofessional looking, there was an amazing depth to the film that would make it excellent for repeated viewing. While the film would SEEM to make it look like it was idealizing drug dealing, it did not--as Fonda's character eventually realizes that all this money didn't give them the peace and happiness that some others had. It also was a great indictment of the state of America at the time--especially in the old South. All in all, well worth seeing.

By the way, I grew up in a very conservative home during this time period. My father would often drive us into Georgetown (in DC) so we could watch the hippies and laugh at them....seriously. We would never yell at them or anything--just snicker at their clothes, hair and lifestyle. One time, however, our car broke down and these 'filthy hippies' all came and helped fix our car! It was, incidentally, the LAST time we ever went out to laugh at the hippies! Perhaps this, too, is why I found "Easy Rider" to be so interesting.

"You know, this used to be a hell of a country."

[classicsoncall · 7/10 · 28 November 2020]

Technically, this is not a great movie, maybe not even a very good one. But it came at a time of cultural upheaval and political unrest in the country, with the rise of the hippie culture when the youth of America was questioning establishment values. 1969 saw the first moon landing, an upset win by the New York Mets in the World Series, and the spirit of Woodstock descending on a nation in turmoil. In the midst of all this, "Easy Rider" arrived with it's valiant attempt to underscore a conservative nation's attempt to grapple with the apprehension posed by the kind of personal freedom personified in the characters of Wyatt's Captain America (Peter Fonda) and his pot addled partner Billy (Dennis Hopper). The film was the embodiment of Kerouac's "On The Road", written a little over a decade earlier. So even if it's not a great film, it's probably an important one. One that puts into perspective what was going on at a time that helped shape the future of the country, some of it for good and some of it for bad. Watching the film today with my forty year old son, I had to field questions about whether things were really that skewed with rednecks belittling long hairs at a roadside diner because they looked different. Anyone old enough can attest to that kind of treatment of hippies, blacks, college students and anyone who didn't quite fit the mold of following in their parents' footsteps. I happened to see the picture when it first came out, and it had a lasting impact, especially the final scene in which Wyatt and Billy met their tragic end. And though I never traveled down the same path that they did, I've tried to keep that sentiment of personal freedom alive and well in my own life. Watch the movie with an open mind and search for it's message between the lines. You might come up with some surprising answers.

Head out on the highway...

[jbacks3 · 3/10 · 18 June 2005]

I recently saw Easy Rider again after a 25 year gap. I'm afraid what stood out in my mind as THE defining movie of the late 1960's hasn't aged well. To be frank: on a technical level, the movie is horrible. The production values are lousy (I realize it was a low budget job at the time), the script is lame and the photography is, at best, so-so. The acting, aside from the breakout performance of Jack Nicholson, is horrendous... everyone is portrayed as a cliché (OK, so Phil Spector might be dead on, but he's likely playing himself). Easy Rider has a few things that will ensure it's iconic place in movie history: 1) a classic soundtrack 2) Jack Nicholson 3) the 2 principal actors are out shined--and out acted-- by their choppers. Unfortunately, these bright spots are wrapped up in a production that looks like a freshman film school final. A better use of your time is to dump the soundtrack into your iPod--- or if you see the movie, watch the first 5 minutes, skip to Jack Nicholson's all-too-brief appearance then skip to the final 30 seconds... you'll think it's great. The whole thing? 3/10.

more than meets the eye

[buby1987 · 5 March 1999]

There is so much going on in the multi-layered Easy Rider. For one thing, it doesn't glorify hippies. In fact, Hopper and Fonda are really just businessmen, out to make the big score. They're quintessentially American -- Fonda calls himself Captain America, and wears an American flag on his leather jacket, and has red, white and blue painted on his chopper's gas tank. These guys really just want to make money, not change society. If it were the 80's, they'd be selling computers. Also, some interesting symbolism -- Fonda puts the stash of money resulting from the drug sale in his gas tank -- in other words, money fuels the American dream.

This film is also an anti-Western. Instead of heading west, these guys head east. They pass through Monument Valley, site of many John Ford westerns. At an early point, they fix their choppers in a barn while a farmer fixes the horseshoes for his horse.

There is a structure to this seemingly freewheeling tale: the trip starts out idealistically. After they go to the commune, Fonda and Hopper skinny-dip with two hippie chicks in a bucolic, peaceful setting. The music is laid-back, the Byrds, the drug used is marijuana. It's an idealized example of "free love." Later, in New Orleans, our two heroes hook up with two prostitutes -- so much for free love. Fonda breaks down during an acid trip, and instead of music we hear the jarring sounds of an industrial, urbanized landscape -- geographically and symbolically far away from that Arizona commune.

This film doesn't glorify the hippie ethos -- in fact, it almost seems like a neo-conservative critique on the limitations of the hippie experience. Late in the film, Fonda tells Hopper, "We blew it," a line that prefigures the ultimate disillusionment that set in during the early 70's, when the Age of Aquarius gave way to Watergate, malaise, Reagan and rampant consumerism.

They Could Ride A Long Time

[daveisit · 7/10 · 7 December 2000]

Portrayed as being ultra cool, the lead roles in "Easy Rider" are awesome. Dennis Hopper is flawless with Jack and the Fonda guy not far behind. These young actors were cementing themselves without possibly wanting or knowing it, as career legends of the big screen.

"Easy Rider" is not a movie I can watch too many times. It moves along at a fairly slow pace, allowing the characters and journey to dictate the mood. However, it is definitely a movie that all with an appreciation of cinema should see. Dennis Hopper steps into the directors role with what appears to be amazing ease, although behind the scenes may not have always been so relaxed.

I would love to ride across the States but I fear I might share the same destiny as the lads in this mellow flick.

7 out of 10.

Spaced - Out Bikers

[Lechuguilla · 9/10 · 12 December 2004]

In this counterculture film, we have a spaced-out trio of Peter Fonda, Dennis Hopper, and a funny Jack Nicholson tooling down the "high"way, on motorcycles and "stuff", en route from L.A. to Mardi Gras. As artistic expression during an angry era of war and social change, the film communicates a powerful philosophy, in lieu of a complex plot.

Most scenes take place outdoors, in the American South and Southwest. Laszlo Kovacs' adroit cinematography, combined with an expansive soundtrack, hippie lingo, and "cool" clothes, convey the film's underlying message of individual freedom and nonconformity. The film is significant in that it was one of several successful 60's films made by individuals outside the traditional Hollywood studio structure. As such, "Easy Rider" broke new ground in film-making.

I hate to think of the Woodstock era as history, but here it is, unvarnished.

[secondtake · 7/10 · 14 April 2010]

Easy Rider (1969)

You can't take this movie at the same level as other Hollywood films, even from the same period. It's a low budget paean to the counterculture, and it plays itself out perfectly, with boredom and imperfection and without idealizing. This is huge. Here are a couple of bikers on the road, and things go wrong, and they meet up with some ordinary and less than savory folk, and they are less than admirable themselves.

In other words, some reality here, and the movie was released 30 days before Woodstock, which is a kind of final rallying cry to the starry eyed (thank god) and a warning, in a way, that having too simple an idea of a new future is dangerous.

Literally.

Maybe the most telling moment in the film (and no accident that it's there) is the Mexican-American family toward the beginning, where they are living, successfully, on the land. They have traditional values (they pray, they have respect) and they are happy. Later, a commune of city kids, disillusioned young people who only want the best in the world, tries for the same thing, and they are clearly going to fail. It won't rain, they don't know what they are doing, they are acting only on ideas.

So it is with our two bikers played by Peter Fonda and director Dennis Hopper (and for awhile, their tagalong lawyer in the form of Jack Nicholson). They are blindly hoping that they are in touch with a new order, a freedom that is so obvious and justified it can't be wrong. The drugs, the rednecks, the beatings, the disaster, are all naturally enough, too, but not in the idealism of their roadtrip. I think this is the 60s in a nutshell. It's not a great movie, but it's a great reflection on the times. And it's a very good movie, engrossing if you don't demand too much from it. Utterly significant.

My favorite movie of all time...

[Quag7 · 10/10 · 22 January 1999]

Too often this film is relegated to retro documentaries and cheap nostalgia for an era too often reduced to its superficial artifacts (flower power, popular music).

I was born in 1972, three years after this film was made, but the themes in it are still relevant and important to me. Maybe I'm the last of a certain kind of American; someone wondering about what's still possible in the USA, and searching for the realized potential of the American Dream. Perhaps what has changed since this film was released is that freedom - that is, real freedom, just doesn't matter as much to people as it once did. Self-enslavement is a popular past-time for today's numb middle class; a group of people who, I am convinced, do not dream when they sleep.

This movie defined the road film genre, even though it was not the first of its kind. I owe a debt of gratitude to Fonda, Nicholson, and Hopper for pointing out a very real truth about America and its often twisted approach to "freedom." By any standard, this is a film which should not be missed. It is a film I wish I had written myself.

This was a mix of random stuff 6/10

[saadanathan · 6/10 · 19 May 2020]

The whole plot is completely empty, while of course there are the three acts of start, middle and end. There isn't much to tell about the story. Three strangers go on a quest and travel to get high or hit the road, that's pretty much it nothing else. I don't know if Peter Fonda and Denis Hopper did a good job or a bad one. The writing was pretty original and unique and they not only perform in the film, but they directed, wrote the script and produced the movie which is a lot for two man or outlaws in this case. Jack Nicholson keeps proving us he is nuts and that good cause he's really great in the film. The editing was rather rare then special, I don't know why would the editor make the film that way but it's rather rare, all the locations were nice, had a beautiful view. Overall I was expecting more but it has a catchy song "born to be wild".

A Flawed Masterpiece

[juanathan · 10/10 · 11 July 2005]

To me, a flawed masterpiece is a film that is not perfect but by the end achieves something so great it overcomes its' flaws. The two films I can honestly say that about are Lars Von Trier's Dancer In The Dark and Easy Rider. Easy Rider perfectly defines it.

The flaws: Well, the first half although entertaining it pointless. They basically just ride around and pick up hippies and go to a commune. Peter Fonda although he looks the part but for some reason something seemed missing from his character. Also, in the beginning there is a pretty annoying editing technique which they luckily soon abandon.

The film really gets astounding in the second half. The whole film is shot very well by DP Laszlo Kovacs and the music might be one of the best soundtracks ever in film. I might even buy it. The film is filled with genuinely poetic ideas. Jack Nicholson gives a star making performance and Dennis Hopper is once again and forever THE MAN. This film is filled with many biblical metaphors which never came off as pretentious but very powerful. The film is filled with very strong visuals. No wonder Dennis Hopper once wanted to work with Alejandro Jodorwsky. The ending is might be the best part of the movie. It is almost the ultimate "what the f*ck?' moment in history, but for such a chaotic film it fits perfectly. The ending is also powerful. It represented to me the end of a generation.

Well okay. This movie I know will definitely not please everybody but for those who are open minded and into visually driven films, this film will certainly live up to its' title as one of the most influential films in American history.

different

[wolf-53 · 7/10 · 16 April 1999]

This movie does have a certain draw to it. It has beautiful cinematography, and solid acting, especially by Fonda and Nicholson. Its story is very vague and hard to understand, but it still interests you. It is not one of my favorite movies, but I understand why it is so highly regarded. The soundtrack is also amazing. 7/10

Freedom in the mind

[paulbeckmann · 8/10 · 29 June 2019]

Easy Rider conveys one of the best feelings in the world - freedom, just being out there without big thoughts in the mind. And that's why Hopper and Fonder just get started on their machines. Without thinking too much. And catch a picture of the US, which is equally desirable and scary. Or, as the film puts it: "You know, this used to be a helluva good country. I can't understand what's gone wrong with it." The question is, however, what has gone wrong since then. And, luckily, right too.

Too much showing, not enough telling (and not enough plot for that matter), and one hell of a soundtrack

[evamatijevic · 6/10 · 28 December 2019]

This movie can easily be considered a piece of modern art because, in its core, it's a shallow construction with little to no meaning; no one understands it, but for some reason everyone just nods along and talks about how great, inspirational and groundbreaking it is.

Textbook example of "too much showing, not enough telling", this movie's first 10-15 minutes are real danger to your hearing. You'll do well to make sure, as I did, to check Easy Rider's Wikipedia page before watching it so you can actually understand the plot. Besides that, and with the exception of Nicholson, acting in this movie is just a sad bunch of murmurs and drug usage. The only two positive aspects of this film are its driving sequences (that were constantly being interrupted by the film's plot) and its soundtrack.

I know this movie is considered to be an American classic, but from the point of view of someone who only wished to kill some spare time, I really can't see its value.

Less Than Meets The Eye

[louis-king · 5/10 · 22 December 2007]

This is not a movie about a couple of mavericks searching for the 'real' America in the late 1960s. Jack Nicholson's character really doesn't say anything profound.

These are 2 drug smugglers who've scored a lot of money and do nothing with it except getting wasted and doing hookers.

I was a theater usher when this movie came out and must have seen it 60 times. It does not represent America in 1969 nor does it represent the South of that time. It gives the worst stereotype of the South which is surprising, since the counterculture is supposed to be free of stereotypes.

During his monologue about America, Nicholson's character says "This used to be a hell of a good country". Oh really? When was the USA better prior to 1969? Was it better in the segregation 1950's? Was it better in the 1930's when lynching was commonplace? Was it better during the Spanish Influenza of 1918 which killed more people than WWI? Was it better in 1900 when much of the country had no electricity, there were no child labor laws? This movie has some good photography, great music, but don't look for any insights here.