Review of Easy Rider (1969) by Jason J — 24 Apr 2011

3: It really is sloppy filmmaking, right from the outset. An elegant and well made film would not have been marred by the slightly awkward transition between the two opening songs. Granted, the images of the motorcycles travelling across the country are indelible and powerful, but it is doubtful Hopper had this anywhere in his grand, drug-addled plan.

Similarly, the other techniques utilized, and copied directly and obviously from the French Nouvelle Vague filmmakers, are rather clumsy and less than powerful: I'm thinking of the jump cuts employed around ten minutes into the film.

Then, of course, the film transitions into a frills-free and undoubtedly powerful section: the scene with The Band's "The Weight" playing over it. This song has had a special place in my heart even before I knew what it was.

I can recall this scene being powerful even when I first saw it back in high school. Once I became intimately familiar with the song, courtesy of a suitemate playing it basically each and every day during my sophomore year, it only grew more powerful.

Then, when a co-worker's blues band in Korea finally added it to their repertoire, it amplified it that much more. It's on my relatively short list of all-time favorite scenes. Whenever I request a song at a club or from a radio station, this is invariably the culprit.

Peter Fonda's characters optimism seems incredibly misplaced and nieve, especially when one considers where most of these hippie communes seem to have gone. I definitely understand what the draw of the film is and was though.

It is very free-spirited and out there. The drug scene towards the end is very extreme, as always. The actual final scene is, of course, quite moving and unforgettable. In the end, it is an original film that set it sights incredibly high, but failed to reach its potential.