Easy Rider (1969) The revolution that went on in filmmaking during the 60's and into the 70's still amazes and delights us.......even if some of the most celebrated movies of those eras don't hold up anymore, now seeming clumsy and painfully dated.
While many of these groundbreaking movies from the then upcoming new generation of directors remain classics ("Chinatown", "The Godfather 1 & 2") 'Easy Rider', we're sorry to say, looks like what it always was......a shapeless, chaotic mess.
That didn't matter......because the movie hit the zeitgeist like a perfectly aimed guided missile, With unerring accuracy, it caught the mood, anger and rebellion of Baby Boomers repulsed and furious at America's great love affair with violence, in the suppression of protest and assassination at home and in the ruinous, pointless, self-perpetuating Vietnam war.
And frightening to observe, the deeply divided America the film depicts, riddled with ingrained racism, brutality and hatred, really hasn't changed much and still resonates today. But now the toxic divisions are no longer strictly between generations, but between those who still believe in democracy and those eager to embrace authoritarian fascism and surrender their hearts and minds to a mad cult leader.
We've no trouble at all believing the many incredible background stories about the film's production......how it was more or less improvised on the spot by its creators, Peter Fonda, director Dennis Hopper and writer Terry Southern. The trio remained at each other's throats throughout the 'make it up as we go along' shooting.
The film made instant icons out of Fonda and Hopper's outlaw bikers Wyatt and Billy.....zippin' down scenic southwest highways on their impressive choppers as they head toward Mardi Gras at New Orleans. And at the time, (we know this, 'cause we were there) little moral judgement was ever made on their status as cocaine dealers newly flush with cash they'd scored off a major drug kingpin (played by the late rock impresario and convicted murderer Phil Spector).
After their wandering encounters in 'off the grid' communes, Wyatt and Billy come across the movie's other monumental plus......the young Jack Nicholson as the laconic, disaffected George Hanson, a wastrel lawyer using booze to soothe his weary disgust at an America gone wrong. Shortly after he, Wyatt and Billy barely survive a memorably ugly visit to a diner filled with rednecks, the film wastes no time martyring him.
Then it's finally off to New Orleans where the movie makes a film-school pretentious stab at displaying its idea of an LDS binge. A blurry montage has our boys trippin' through one of the city's above ground cemeteries with a couple of Big Easy whores (the fast rising 70's star Karen Black and choreographer Toni Basil, later famed for the 'Mickey' video)
By the time Fonda turns to Hopper and mutters, "We blew it", we're not sure that refers to his realization that they're no less compromised and immoral than the society they've rejected or that they've simply run out of story to improvise.
"Easy Rider"s famously abrupt violent conclusion (which always sticks with people who remember nothing else about it) benefited from being both stunning and inevitable at the same time.......and it defined the way that many 1970's films would climax - in soul-sucking nihilism.
The film's overwhelming box-office success with young audience also poleaxed executives at the crumbling studios. As bloated, expensive and old fashioned movies tanked, the Hollywood suits desperately sought to court the young crowds who flocked to the movie. And take it from us, the so-called 'youth' movies that began to roll off the assembly line and into theaters in 1970 were horrendous to behold......and quickly forgotten.
As a permanent snapshot of its time, we'd rate 'Rider' at least 3 stars,(***) since it's a vital time capsule and essential viewing in the history of cinema. But as an actual movie itself, it never amounted to anything more than an amateurish 1 & 1/2 stars. (* 1/2). If you care about movies, see it once.....that's more than enough.......
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