Easy Rider (1969)
Grade: 89
Wyatt (Peter Fonda) and Billy (Dennis Hopper) are motorcycle riding dope dealers, who live on the road. In the opening minutes of the film, they score big, buying (and sampling) coke from a Mexican, then selling it to Phil Spector. Fonda rolls the big bills in a plastic tube that he hides in this motorcycle's gas tank. Then Wyatt and Billy are on the road, with the goal of reaching New Orleans by Mardi Gras, but not in the greatest hurry to get there.
"Easy Rider" is different from most films, before or since. There isn't that much conversation. What dialogue exists is to the point. The focus is on the cinematography, showing the open road, its countryside, small towns and their yokels. Since the pace of the film is slow, we connect more closely to the characters, making their feelings more real. As the bikers hit the road, contemporary rock songs are heard. Hey, I think this roach is making me crash, man...
Fonda picks up a hitch-hiker, another hippie, who needs a ride to his commune. Fonda is sympathetic to the hippie, while Hopper is suspicious and afraid of robbery. The hippie is suspicious too, refusing to be drawn into conversation. Fonda asks who he wants to be, and the hitcher says, "Porky Pig."
We find that commune life is better in theory than practice. The young adults and their feral children live in abject poverty, trying to grow crops without rain on dry dirt. There is also a lack of focus, with everyone passing time idly in small groups. Fonda has a girlfriend immediately, and fits in well. Hopper is again paranoid and wants out of there. Fonda, Hopper, and their temporary girlfriends enjoy a nude swim in a mudhole before our anti-heroes return to the road.
Hopper and Fonda make the mistake of joining a small-town parade. There are jailed overnight for "parading without a permit". The men in small country towns consistently hate Hopper and Fonda, and their hedonistic, non-conformist lifestyle. At the jail, the hippies meet ACLU lawyer George Hanson (Jack Nicholson, whose role copped an Academy Award nomination and propelled his career to stardom). Hanson is the town drunk, connects with the bikers, and decides to go to Mardi Gras with them. Fonda tells Nicholson to get a helmet, and Nicholson shows up with his high school football helmet. That night, Nicholson has his roach, which he forgets to smoke as he entertains Hopper with a wild tale of how Martians have been integrated into American society.
The group stops in a small town cafe. They don't get service, but get attention from a group of sneering, wise-cracking yokels, and a group of high school girls who ogle the bikers. For their own safety, the bikers decide to split, but unfortunately for them are covertly followed and later beaten by the yokels. Nicholson doesn't survive the attack.
To honor his memory, Fonda and Hopper decide to visit his favorite New Orleans cathouse. Hopper selects Karen Black, Fonda selects Toni Basil (later of "Mickey" fame), and the couples see Mardi Gras and drop acid. There is a lengthy, surreal drug trip, that works surprisingly well.
The bikers return to the road, but have the misfortune of being seen by more troublemaking hicks, who drive past them in their pickup truck and shoot them.
http://members.tripod.com/~Brian_Koller/movies.html
The review above was posted to the
rec.arts.movies.reviews newsgroup (de.rec.film.kritiken for German reviews).
The Internet Movie Database accepts no responsibility for the contents of the
review and has no editorial control. Unless stated otherwise, the copyright
belongs to the author.
Please direct comments/criticisms of the review to relevant newsgroups.
Broken URLs inthe reviews are the responsibility of the author.
The formatting of the review is likely to differ from the original due
to ASCII to HTML conversion.
Related links: index of all rec.arts.movies.reviews reviews