Easy Rider (1969)

Written by Peter Fonda, Dennis Hopper, & Terry Southern

Directed by Dennis Hopper

1998 List Ranking: 88

2007 List Ranking: 84

All I really knew about Easy Rider, going into it, was that it was about motorcycles. And, I suppose, I was somewhat correct. Rather, Easy Rider is a modern-day Western, featuring two modern cowboys trekking across the country in search of…well, I suppose “freedom”. Trade out the horses for motorcycles and the dusty plains for the open highway, and you’ve pretty much got this film.

And I wasn’t a fan. Shocking, I know.

This is 90% of the movie

Easy Rider features Peter Fonda and Dennis Hopper as best friends who drive their motorcycles from Los Angeles to New Orleans for Mardi Gras. Along the way, they encounter different situations and people (a hippie commune, for example), and they ingest A LOT of drugs (weed being their primary drug of choice, but they seem pretty open to anything). They end up in NOLA, plot happens, and then (SPOILER ALERT) they’re both killed. So…there’s that.

Peter Fonda

I don’t recall that I’ve ever seen Peter Fonda in anything (excluding a brief cameo in 2002’s The Laramie Project), but he’s a name that is well known to me. His father, Henry, starred in 1940’s The Grapes of Wrath, and his sister Jane is pretty much known to us all. Fonda does okay work here; my distaste for the overall material does make it hard to view his work within it. There were some shining moments during the “bad trip” sequence that I could see a little more than laid back stoicism, and I was intrigued.

Dennis Hopper

On the other hand, I do know Dennis Hopper’s work better. Not only did he appear in two earlier films on this list (1955’s Rebel Without a Cause and 1956’s Giant), but I know him most from 1995’s Waterworld (which is terribly awful) and especially 1994’s Speed (which is entertainingly awful). Almost unrecognizable here, I very quickly grew irritated with him in this film, mostly because he falls victim to (or perhaps inspired) the stereotypical drugged out elongating of vowels when speaking (“Hey maaaaaaaaaaan”, especially in a higher pitch). it quickly grew grating and annoying.

Drug use is rampant through the film

So, let’s talk about drugs, shall we? Now, I hope this isn’t a surprise, but besides the occasional alcoholic beverage, I don’t do, nor ever have done, drugs. Not a whiff, not a taste, not a hit: I’ve never even tried a cigarette! In short, you could say that I am a D.A.R.E. success story. Having said that, it’s not my place to judge anyone for doing them (although, I say let’s explore getting them any help they might need to kick the habit), I just don’t want to be around them. As such, watching such casual drug use is…not upsetting, just mildly uncomfortable. And it’s pretty pervasive. The first few minutes alone are a near-silent montage of Fonda and Hopper smuggling (what I assume to be) cocaine into the United States and then selling it (and, of course, everyone has to try some). Throughout the film nearly every principle character is hopped up on SOMETHING, and it just gets wearisome after a while.

One of MANY campfire scenes in the film

From a technical standpoint, the film definitely feels like a low-budget independent film (which, it is), but it doesn’t exactly break any new ground. A large portion of the film is devoted to multiple montages of the men cruising on their motorcycles accompanied by rock music of the era (which is usually about drugs, in this case) (also, if you love late-60’s rock, this soundtrack is the one for you. I’ma pass). There are some unusual choices in the edit, with a flash effect to images from other scenes (apparently a leftover from an abandoned concept). There also isn’t much subtlety in the film: one scene, one in a long list of scenes around a campfire, has the men discussing freedom, and it couldn’t be more obvious that this is the “this is the theme of the film” scene; a giant blinking neon light would be less subtle. And then there’s the ending, which comes so out of left-field that it really makes me wonder just what all this was even about.

Perhaps the worst thing about this film is, because it was released in 1969, we’re starting to, once again, see the dirt, grime, and grittiness of the 1970’s appear on screen. Everything is starting to look dirty, and it’s one of my least favorite aspects of art produced from the 70’s; there’s a way to produce gritty realism without the film itself looking gross. I’m sure this complaint is going to come up again throughout the next portion of films (so make your peace with it now). Going back to Easy Rider, though, I suppose this film might be much more entertaining if you’re high while watching it, which I don’t recommend nor do I intend to give it a try.

FINAL GRADE: D