Review of Easy Rider (1969) by Abhijeet P — 23 Jan 2009

1969 will forever be seen as a watershed year in history. You have Woodstock, the first time protests were very vocal in an American war, the almost certain election of Robert F. Kennedy who was making an Obama-like run to the Presidency before his assassination. And in films you had Easy Rider.

Easy Rider is basically the story of two guys: Billy (Dennis Hopper, who also directs) and Wyatt a.k.a. Captain America (Peter Fonda) that take their score from a cocaine deal and head to Mardi Gras. There's very little in Mardi Gras. The story is about the trip and the people along the way, such as the hippie commune that seems like a Neanderthal exhibit in a museum now that forty years have passed. They also bring a boozing young southern lawyer (Jack Nicholson) along for the ride after meeting him in a jail cell.

Easy Rider is an above average film with lots of improv, due mainly to the fact that the cast were actually smoking pot during the filming. The story is simple and there are a few spots that seem a little odd, it's an above average piece of film making.

Easy Rider equals more than it's parts. It really ushered in the era of the low budget independent film of the 1970's that exploded throughout the decade. Directors were given free reign and small pictures took the stage from big budget star studded films. Easy Rider started all that. The film itself is a drug hazed time capsule of 1969 but it's presence has been felt in film over the last forty years.