Rent Easy Rider on Amazon Video (paid link)
Written by: Peter Fonda & Dennis Hopper & Terry Southern
Directed by: Dennis Hopper
Starring: Peter Fonda, Dennis Hopper, Jack Nicholson
Rated: R
Watch the trailer
Plot
Two bikers head from L.A. to New Orleans through the open country and desert lands, and along the way they meet a man who bridges a counter-culture gap of which they had been unaware.
Verdict
This movie remains relevant because we'll always have a new generation that does things differently from the previous one. We'll always have people that defy convention and don't fit in. Two men enjoy life as they ride cross country, but society just can't leave them alone. Some are intrigued, many are appalled, but everyone notices them. This captures a time period and a feeling while remaining timeless as there's so much happening in the margins.
Watch It.
Review
I first saw this movie in the same week I watched Into the Wild. The similarities are striking, both movies are about characters that live counter to society's rules. Because of that they're outcasts, but the characters find their place despite of or maybe because of their misalignment with standard society, though they're never accepted. If you think outside of the box, you'll never be let inside.
Peter Fonda had an idea for a modern western with two bikers. He and Hopper decided to make it a movie, and production started with only an outline and the names of the main characters. There wasn't a screenplay and lines were ad-libbed as they went.
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| Dennis Hopper, Peter Fonda play Billy, Wyatt |
This jumps right into it, not explaining much. After making a drug deal two motorcyclist, Wyatt (Peter Fonda) and Billy (Dennis Hopper), head East. They're outsiders everywhere they go, hippies disrupting the world just by existing. This applies to every generation as every new generation does things differently; too free spirited, too different. This movie creates a mood as we see images of motorcycles and landscapes paired with an amazing soundtrack. It's a movie that's more of an experience, creating an amazing vibe.It's so sparse, and that's what gives the message such an impact.
Wyatt and Billy stop at a farm to fix a flat tire where the farmer invites them to eat with his family. That's in stark contrast to a small town diner where the young women are fascinated but the locals and the sheriff regard them as animals, some kind of attraction. The locals don't like the look of the men or their long hair.
They later encounter a lawyer, George (Jack Nicholson), while in jail. He's the opposite of Wyatt and Billy in nearly every way. It's no coincidence that the 'normal' person, a lawyer and family man, is also a drunk and their guide. He explains the issue the outside world has with them. It's freedom. Wyatt and Billy are unencumbered, and the locals don't like it, trapped in their routines and forced to live by the rules of society when Wyatt and Billy don't. They can't understand people that don't want to conform.
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| Jack Nicholson, Peter Fonda play George, Wyatt |
Towards the end of the movie Billy states they've got it made, they're rich. Wyatt responds that they blew it. The question is what's their error? We've seen them travel across the nation, encountering various people. Is Wyatt implying they should have stayed in California or in the hippie commune? Is he remorseful about George? It's intentionally ambiguous, but comments on the larger issue of their generation and how the previous generation sees them. That or they blew a chance at happiness and freedom. They'll never be free in a society that ridicules them.
The end of the movie captures the strife and turmoil between the easy riders and the old generation. Outcasts just can't last in a society that not only doesn't understand them but doesn't care to. Wyatt and Billy are accepting of everyone they encounter, but that favor isn't returned. Wyatt has an American flag jacket and bike, yet he rides across an America that doesn't accept him and Billy. The last scene has an impact on anyone that's been in an uncomfortable situation for being different.
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