Easy Rider

Easy Rider is a 1969 road movie, written by Peter Fonda, Dennis Hopper and Terry Southern. It was produced by Fonda and directed by Hopper. Southern also came up with the title of the movie, which borrows the slang term easy rider.

The film tells the story of two young men, Wyatt (played by Fonda) and Billy (Hopper), who "went looking for America but couldn't find it anywhere." Some see the film as representing the embodiment of the hippie ideals and lifestyle of the counterculture of the 1960s.

Plot summary

After smuggling some cocaine from Mexico to Los Angeles, Wyatt and Billy sell it to a man in a Rolls-Royce (played by music producer Phil Spector) in exchange for a large amount of cash. With this money stuffed into one of the fuel tanks of their California style choppers (a type of customized motorcycle that was popularized by this film), they ride eastward in an attempt to reach New Orleans, Louisiana in time for Mardi Gras.

Wyatt, whose name evokes the American Old West lawman Wyatt Earp, dresses in American flag-adorned leather and calls himself Captain America. Billy, whose name evokes the American Old West outlaw Billy the Kid (or, perhaps, gambler Wild Bill Hickok), dresses in Native American-style buckskin pants and shirts. Clothed almost literally as America, they experience its land and people as they bike through the American Southwest and South.

During their trip they pick up a hitch-hiker (Luke Askew) who turns out to be a leader of a commune. They agree to take him there and they stay for a few days. Life in the commune appears to be hard, with hippies from the city finding it difficult to grow their own crops. At one point they even witness the ceremonious prayer for blessing of the new crop, as put by a leader: A chance "to make a stand", and to plant "Simple food, for a simple taste." The commune is also host to a travelling theater group who perform for their food. The notion of "free love" appears to be practiced, with two women seemingly sharing the affections of the commune's leader, and who then turn their attention to Wyatt and Billy. As Wyatt and Billy leave, the commune leader (known only as "Stranger on highway" in the credits) gives Wyatt some LSD for him to share with "the right people".

While jokingly riding along with a parade in a small town, the pair are arrested by the local authorities for "parading without a permit." In jail, they befriend alcoholic ACLU lawyer George Hanson (played by Jack Nicholson). George helps them get out of jail and decides to travel with Wyatt and Billy. As they camp that night, Wyatt and Billy introduce George to marijuana. As an alcoholic, George is reluctant to try the marijuana, but he eventually relents.

While attempting to eat in a Louisiana restaurant, the trio's appearance attracts the attention of the locals. The local high school girls in the restaurant want to meet the men and ride with them; the local men and police officer threaten and verbally abuse the riders. One of the men even states "They won't even make the parish line". Wyatt, Billy and George leave without eating and make camp outside of town. The drug and events of the day cause George to comment: "This used to be a helluva good country. I can't understand what's gone wrong with it."

In the middle of the night, the local men return and brutally beat the trio while they sleep. Wyatt and Billy suffer minor injuries, but George is killed by a machete to the neck. Wyatt and Billy wrap George up in his sleeping bag, gather his belongings, and vow to return the items to his parents.

They continue to New Orleans and find the brothel which had been recommended by George. Taking two prostitutes (Karen and Mary) with them, Wyatt and Billy decide to go outside where Mardi Gras celebration parades is ongoing. They wander the parade-filled streets of New Orleans. They end up in a cemetery, where all four ingest LSD. They all experience a psychedelic trip, represented through quick edits, sound effects and over-exposed film. Their trip is not a positive one but a bad trip.

In the end, though Billy remains oblivious, Wyatt declares: "We blew it." Wyatt realizes that their search for freedom, while financially successful, was a spiritual failure. The next morning, the two are continuing their trip to Florida. Then all of a sudden, two rednecks in a pickup truck spot them. One of the rednecks decides to scare Billy, by shooting a shotgun towards him. But the redneck has bad aim, and hits Billy. Wyatt immediately turns around to see his friend on the side of the road. Wyatt hops on his bike, hoping to get help for his friend in time. Just then, the rednecks turn around, see Wyatt speeding on his bike. The redneck aims at Wyatt and shoots. Wyatt's bike explodes. Starting from the flaming bike on side of the country road, the camera ascends towards the sky, and the duo's journey "looking for America" ends once and for all.

Impact

Despite being shot in the first half of 1968, between Mardi Gras and the assassination of Robert F. Kennedy, the film did not have a US debut until July of 1969.

Both the film and the director won a Golden Palm at the 1969 Cannes Film Festival. It was also nominated for an Academy Award for Best Actor in a Supporting Role (Jack Nicholson) and Best Writing, Story and Screenplay Based on Material Not Previously Published or Produced.

The film was #88 on the American Film Institute's list of 100 Years, 100 Movies, and has been selected for preservation in the United States' National Film Registry.

Along with Arthur Penn's Bonnie and Clyde, Easy Rider helped kick-start an artistic renaissance in Hollywood during the late sixties and early seventies. The major studios realised that money could be made from low-budget films made by directors with artistic intentions. Heavily influenced by the French New Wave, the films of the so-called "Hollywood Renaissance" came to represent a generation increasingly disillusioned with their government and the world.

Author Philip K. Dick mentions Easy Rider in his story A Scanner Darkly, in which a character sees the movie in a vision induced while tripping on a reality distortion field created by Scrizer. The movie was also mentioned in the book Steal This Book by Abbie Hoffman; he urged all readers, yippies and hippies to make sure the rest of America didn't fall for the image of the Yippies, hippies, and their kind as a group with a (sic) "Easy Rider take-no-crap" image.

Easy Rider was cited and parodied many times since. A scene from the film Starsky & Hutch features the titular characters dressed as Wyatt and Billy, riding motorcycles to The Weight.

Track list (music from the film)

The Pusher (Steppenwolf) (5:50)
Born to Be Wild (Steppenwolf) (3:38)
The Weight (performed by The Band in the film, by Smith for the soundtrack due to legal issues) (4:33)
Wasn't Born to Follow (The Byrds) (2:08)
If You Want to be a Bird (The Holy Modal Rounders) (2:37)
Don't Bogart Me (Fraternity of Man) (3:06)
If Six Was Nine (The Jimi Hendrix Experience) (5:34)
Kyrie Eleison Mardi Gras (The Electric Prunes) (4:02)
It's Alright Ma (I'm Only Bleeding) (Roger McGuinn) (3:42)
Ballad of Easy Rider (Roger McGuinn) (2:15)

Trivia

The scenes playing on a New Orleans cemetery towards the end of the film were shot first on 16mm film to advertise the idea to producers.
Real marijuana was smoked in many scenes, but the "undescribed white powder" sniffed by Fonda was powdered sugar. In various interviews, Fonda has said he was told by Hopper it would be real cocaine.
The Restaurant scenes with Fonda, Hopper and Nicholson were shot in Morganza, Louisiana. The men and girls in that scene were all Morganza locals.
During the shooting, Dennis Hopper, legendary at the time for his drug excesses, tyrannized the crew so much that everyone quit. The rest of the film had to be shot with an entirely new crew (as told on the DVD).. A Making-of documentary.
The hippie commune had to be recreated and shot near the Mulholland Drive in the hills north of Los Angeles, as the original Arroyo Hondo, New Mexico commune near Taos did not permit shooting there
Peter Fonda's young daughter, Bridget Fonda, was one of the children seen in the commune.
Peter Fonda's character is named only three times in the film, as "Captain America" in prison and brothel, and then as Wyatt at the final campfire.
The bikes for the film, based on hard tail frames and Panhead engines, were designed and built by African American chopper builders Cliff Vaughs and Ben Hardy, following ideas of Peter Fonda, and handled by Tex Hall and Dan Haggerty later during shooting
In total, four former police bikes were used in the film. The 1949, 1950 and 1952 Harley Davidson Hydraglide were purchased at an auction for US$ 500. Each bike had a backup to make sure that shooting could continue in case one of the old machines failed. One "Captain America" was demolished in the final scene, while the other three were stolen and probably taken apart before their significance as movie props became known. The demolished bike was rebuilt by Dan Haggerty and shown in a museum. He sold it at an auction in 2001. Many replicas were built since.
The Mardi Gras scenes were shot first on 16mm, as a test. Hopper was given $40,000 to shoot the test and if the scenes 'passed', so to speak, the project could continue. However, Fonda got the carnival date wrong. Discovering he only had a week to prepare when he had thought he'd had a month, Hopper had to scramble to find 16mm cameras and quickly assemble a crew (as told in Easy Riders, Raging Bulls by Peter Biskind).
On the final day of the test shooting, the cemetery acid trip was shot. Hopper tried to get Fonda to talk to the statue of Madonna as though it was Fonda's mother (who had committed suicide) and ask her why she left him. What was left of the crew (most had quit due to Hopper's drug excesses) were outraged at Hopper's methods but Fonda went ahead with it. Surprisingly, Hopper was the one that was close to tears (as told in Easy Riders, Raging Bulls by Peter Biskind).
Hopper and Fonda hosted a wrap party for the movie and then realised they hadn't shot the second campfire scene when Wyatt explains 'we blew it', so they had to shoot it later. At this time, the bikes had already been stolen, so they are not visible in the background (as told in Easy Riders, Raging Bulls by Peter Biskind).
The pin Wyatt wears on his jacket is an Office of the Secretary of Defense Identification Badge.

Notable quotes

George Hanson: It's real hard to be free when you're bought and sold in the marketplace.

Wyatt: No, I mean it, you've got a nice place. It's not every man that can live off the land, you know. You do your own thing in your own time. You should be proud.

Wyatt: I'm hip about time, but I just gotta go.

Billy: We did it, man. We did it, we did it. We're rich, man. We're retirin' in Florida now, mister.

Wyatt: You know Billy, we blew it.

Footnotes

External links

Easy Rider on Filmsite.org
By whom, how and where the Easy-Rider Motorbikes were made (Choppers Magazine, November 1969)

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