Easy Rider
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| Easy Rider | |
|---|---|
 Original movie poster |
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| Directed by | Dennis Hopper |
| Produced by | Peter Fonda William Haywood Bert Schneider |
| Written by | Peter Fonda Dennis Hopper Terry Southern |
| Starring | Peter Fonda Dennis Hopper Jack Nicholson Luke Askew Karen Black Toni Basil Phil Spector |
| Music by | Roger McGuinn |
| Cinematography | Laszlo Kovacs |
| Editing by | Donn Cambern |
| Distributed by | Columbia Pictures |
| Release date(s) | July 14, 1969 |
| Running time | 94 min. |
| Language | English |
| Budget | ≈ $340,000-400,000 |
| All Movie Guide profile | |
| IMDb profile | |
Easy Rider is a 1969 road movie, written by Peter Fonda, Dennis Hopper and Terry Southern. It was produced by Fonda and directed by Hopper. Southern also came up with the title of the movie, which borrows the slang term easy rider (which in this context refers to a man who is supported financially by a girlfriend who is a prostitute).
The film tells the story of two young men, Wyatt (played by Fonda) and Billy (Hopper), who "went looking for America but couldn't find it anywhere."
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[edit] Plot summary
After smuggling some cocaine from Mexico to Los Angeles, Wyatt and Billy sell it to a man in a Rolls-Royce (played by Phil Spector) in exchange for a large amount of cash. With this money stuffed into the fuel tank of Wyatt's California style chopper (a type of customized motorcycle that was popularized by this film), they ride eastward in an attempt to reach New Orleans, Louisiana in time for Mardi Gras.
Wyatt, whose name evokes the American Old West lawman Wyatt Earp, dresses in American flag-adorned leather and calls himself Captain America. Billy, whose name evokes the American Old West outlaw Billy the Kid (or, perhaps, gambler Wild Bill Hickok), dresses in Native American-style buckskin pants and shirts and a bushman hat. Clothed in black leather and natural leather, they experience its land and people as they bike through the American Southwest and South.
During their trip they pick up a hitch-hiker (Luke Askew) who turns out to be a member of a commune. They agree to take him there and they stay for a few days. Life in the commune appears to be hard, with hippies from the city finding it difficult to grow their own crops. At one point the bikers witness a prayer for blessing of the new crop, as put by a communard: A chance "to make a stand", and to plant "simple food, for a simple taste." The commune is also host to a travelling theater group that "sings for its supper" (performs for food). The notion of "free love" appears to be practiced, with two women seemingly sharing the affections of the hitch-hiking communard, and who then turn their attention to Wyatt and Billy. As Wyatt and Billy leave, the hitch-hiker (known only as "Stranger on highway" in the credits) gives Wyatt some LSD for him to share with "the right people."
While jokingly riding along with a parade in a small town, the pair are arrested by the local authorities for "parading without a permit." In jail, they befriend alcoholic ACLU lawyer George Hanson (played by Jack Nicholson). George helps them get out of jail and decides to travel with Wyatt and Billy. As they camp that night, Wyatt and Billy introduce George to marijuana. As an alcoholic and a square, George is reluctant to try the marijuana ("It leads to harder stuff"), but eventually he relents.
While attempting to eat in a Louisiana restaurant, the trio's appearance attracts the attention of the locals. The local high school girls in the restaurant want to meet the men and ride with them; the local men and police officer threaten and verbally abuse the riders. One of the men even states "They won't even make the parish line". Wyatt, Billy and George leave without eating and make camp outside of town. The events of the day cause George to comment: "This used to be a helluva good country. I can't understand what's gone wrong with it".
In the middle of the night, the local men return and brutally beat the trio while they sleep. Wyatt and Billy suffer minor injuries, but George is killed by a machete strike to the neck. Wyatt and Billy wrap George up in his sleeping bag, gather his belongings, and vow to return the items to his parents.
They continue to New Orleans and find the brothel which had been recommended by George. Taking two prostitutes (Karen and Mary) with them, Wyatt and Billy decide to go outside where the Mardi Gras is going on. They wander the parade-filled streets of New Orleans. They end up in a cemetery, where all four ingest LSD. They all experience a psychedelic trip, represented through quick edits, sound effects and over-exposed film.
In the end, though Billy remains oblivious, Wyatt declares: "You know Billy, we blew it". Wyatt realizes that their search for freedom, while financially successful, was a spiritual failure. The next morning, the two are continuing their trip to Florida. Then all of a sudden, two rednecks in a pickup truck spot them. One of the rednecks armed with a shotgun shoots at and hits Billy. Wyatt immediately turns around to see his friend crashed and bleeding on the side of the road. Wyatt hops on his bike, hoping to get help for his friend. By then the rednecks have turned around. When they see Wyatt speeding towards them on his bike, without a weapon, the redneck in the passenger seat aims at Wyatt and shoots. The shot hits the gas tank of Wyatt's bike, causing it to explode violently. From the flaming bike on the side of the road, the camera ascends towards the sky, and the duo's journey "looking for America" ends once and for all.
[edit] Impact
Along with Arthur Penn's Bonnie and Clyde, Easy Rider helped kick-start an artistic renaissance in Hollywood during the late sixties and early seventies. The major studios realised that money could be made from low-budget films made by directors with artistic intentions. Heavily influenced by the French New Wave, the films of the so-called "Hollywood Renaissance" came to represent a generation increasingly disillusioned with their government and the world.
Despite being shot in the first half of 1968, between Mardi Gras and the assassination of Robert F. Kennedy, the film did not have a US debut until July of 1969.
Hopper received the "first film award" (Prix de la premiere oeuvre) at the 1969 Cannes Film Festival. It was also nominated for an Academy Award for Best Actor in a Supporting Role (Jack Nicholson) and Best Writing, Story and Screenplay Based on Material Not Previously Published or Produced.
The film was #88 on the American Film Institute's list of 100 Years, 100 Movies, and has been selected for preservation in the United States' National Film Registry.
Easy Rider has been cited and parodied many times since. A scene from the film Starsky & Hutch features the titular characters dressed as Wyatt and Billy, riding motorcycles to The Weight. Author Philip K. Dick mentions Easy Rider in his story A Scanner Darkly, in which a character sees the movie in a vision induced while tripping on a reality distortion field created by Scrizer. The movie was also mentioned in the book Steal This Book by Abbie Hoffman; he urged all readers, yippies and hippies to make sure the rest of America didn't fall for the image of the Yippies, hippies, and their kind as a group with a (sic) "Easy Rider take-no-crap" image.
[edit] Music
Both The Band and Crosby, Stills, & Nash were considered for the soundtrack. However, during editing, Hopper used various music from his own record collection. When CSN viewed a rough cut of the film, they assured Hopper that they couldn’t do any better than what he already had.
Bob Dylan was asked to contribute music, but was reluctant to use his own recording of It's Alright, Ma (I'm Only Bleeding), so a version performed by Byrds frontman Roger McGuinn was used instead. Also, instead of writing an entirely new song for the film, Dylan simply wrote out the first verse of “Ballad of Easy Rider” and told the filmmakers, “Give this to McGuinn, he’ll know what to do with it.” McGuinn completed the song and performed it in the film.
[edit] Production
Production began in the spring of 1968 with the Mardi Gras scenes, which were shot on 16mm as a test. Hopper and Fonda were given $40,000 by Raybert Productions to shoot the test scenes, and if the scenes 'passed', the project would continue. However, Fonda got the carnival date wrong; discovering he only had a week to prepare when he had thought he'd had a month, Hopper scrambled to find 16mm cameras and quickly assemble a fairly informal, makeshift crew (as told in Easy Riders, Raging Bulls by Peter Biskind). The 16mm test material appears in the final film, and includes the Mardi Gras parade and cemetery scenes.
While shooting the cemetery scene, Hopper tried to convince Fonda to talk to the statue of the Madonna as though it were Fonda's mother (who had committed suicide when he was 10 years old) and ask her why she left him. Although Fonda was reluctant, he eventually complied. Later on, he used this scene as leverage to persuade Bob Dylan to allow the use of It's Alright, Ma (I'm Only Bleeding)
During the test shooting, Hopper, legendary at the time for his drug excesses and paranoia, tyrannized the crew so much that everyone quit. At one point he entered into a physical confrontation with photographer Barry Feinstein, who was one of the camera operators for the shoot. After the turmoil in New Orleans, Hopper and Fonda decided to assemble a proper crew for the rest of the film. [1]
The hippie commune had to be recreated and shot near Mulholland Drive in the hills north of Los Angeles, as the original Arroyo Hondo, New Mexico commune near Taos did not permit shooting there.
The restaurant scenes with Fonda, Hopper and Nicholson were shot in Morganza, Louisiana. The men and girls in that scene were all Morganza locals. In order to incite more vitriolic commentary from the local men, Hopper told them to play the scene as if Billy, Wyatt, and George had raped a girl outside of town.
[edit] Motorcycles
The motorcycles for the film, based on hardtail frames and Panhead engines, were designed and built by chopper builders Cliff Vaughs and Ben Hardy, following ideas of Peter Fonda, and handled by Tex Hall and Dan Haggerty during shooting.
In total, four former police bikes were used in the film. The 1949, 1950 and 1952 Harley Davidson Hydraglide bikes were purchased at an auction for US$ 500. Each bike had a backup to make sure that shooting could continue in case one of the old machines failed. One "Captain America" was demolished in the final scene, while the other three were stolen and probably taken apart before their significance as movie props became known. The demolished bike was rebuilt by Dan Haggerty and shown in a museum. He sold it at an auction in 2001. Many other replicas have been built since the film’s release.
Hopper and Fonda hosted a wrap party for the movie and then realised they hadn't shot the final campfire scene. Thus, it was shot after the bikes had already been stolen, which is why they are not visible in the background as in the other campfire scenes. (as told in Easy Riders, Raging Bulls by Peter Biskind).
[edit] Trivia
- Real marijuana was smoked in many scenes, but the "undescribed white powder" sniffed by Fonda was powdered sugar.
- The pin Wyatt wears on his jacket is an Office of the Secretary of Defense Identification Badge.
- Peter Fonda's young daughter, Bridget Fonda, was one of the children seen in the commune.
- The scene where Wyatt, Billy and George arrive in Louisiana over a bridge (accompanied by Jimi Hendrix's If 6 was 9) was filmed in the city of Franklin, Louisiana. As the bikes go along Main Street the old city hall is visible behind what later became its replacement, under construction at the time.
- After watching the movie, Jimi Hendrix was inspired to write a song about the movie (using different spelling), "Ezy Ryder".
- In 1985, Hopper starred in the teen comedy My Science Project where he plays a high-school science teacher that's swept through a time vortex. He returns later in the film after revisiting the past dressed up in his Buckskin "Billy" outfit.
- It may be noted that both Peter Fonda and Dennis Hopper provided voices for characters in the videogame series of Grand Theft Auto. Fonda played The Truth in Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas, while Hopper was Steve Scott in Grand Theft Auto: Vice City.
[edit] Notable quotes
- George Hanson: It's real hard to be free when you're bought and sold in the marketplace.
- Wyatt: No, I mean it, you've got a nice place. It's not every man that can live off the land, you know. You do your own thing in your own time. You should be proud.
- Wyatt: I'm hip about time, but I just gotta go.
- Billy: We did it, man. We did it, we did it. We're rich, man. We're retirin' in Florida now, mister.
- Wyatt: You know Billy, we blew it.
[edit] Footnotes
- ^ Easy Rider: Shaking the Cage at the Internet Movie Database. A Making-of documentary.
[edit] See also
- Easy Rider: Shaking the Cage [1]
- American Dream
- Hippie
- Method acting
- List of counterculture films
