The 40th anniversary

[peasea]

OK folks, let's not forget that 2009 is the fortieth anniversary of the release of 'Easy Rider'. A movie that "changed the way America looked at itself". The catch phrase was; "A man went looking for America and couldn't find it anywhere".

I'm sure that many will relate to the urges that the movie created; the urge to find yourself, the urge to find the freedom of the road, doing things in your own time and so on. Today such an ethos might sound lame but 40yrs ago it was ground breaking material.

Forget the bikes; look further, look beneath the stars and stripes paint, the chrome frame and the Panhead "Vee Twin poppers" and you'll see what director Dennis Hopper was looking at, what he was trying to convey. He was looking at the Great American Dream and what a crock it was, even back then. Today is no different. Is the GAD achievable? Can you really toss your wristwatch into the dust, ride off into the sunset and make all your dreams come true?

Even loaded with cash (amongst other things) the stars of Easy Rider couldn't do that. They "blew it".

Movies like Easy Rider don't come along every day. It was a cheap biker movie to the mainstream celluloid moguls of the day but it made people sit up and look. They looked at themselves and at how false their world really was.

There are many aspects of the movie that are still relevant and for Hopper that must feel great. (Or terrible, depending on your outlook.)

What (if you've seen it) did the movie do for you (if anything) and is there anything in the movie that you take into your daily life?

[tribsanor]

[











What (if you've seen it) did the movie do for you (if anything) and is there anything in the movie that you take into your daily life?[/QUOTE]

I could't wait to try grass and LSD

[peasea]

[











What (if you've seen it) did the movie do for you (if anything) and is there anything in the movie that you take into your daily life?

I could't wait to try grass and LSD[/QUOTE]

Seriously, it's all over-rated isn't it?
Pot: get a high happening, laugh your arse off, get paranoid, get the munchies, listen to Pink Floyd and get a dry throat. Big fuckin' deal.

Acid: Laugh your arse off, analysze things to the nth degree, redesign your Desidarada poster, get stomach cramps, fail to eat your veges and drool over Easy Rider posters. Oh them were the daze.

[Motu]

It put me on the path to motorcycles when I saw it at 16 - but I was going there anyway.

Run down by red necks on my chopper at 18 - what the fuck do you think I was thinking.Double barrels and a fireball was prominent in my brain.

[The Lone Rider]

Um.. my impression from Denis Hoppers own words was that they had a movie idea involving not much but riding motorcycles and the travel.. then they spent the whole time drugged up and out came the movie we saw.

[HenryDorsetCase]

OK folks, let's not forget that 2009 is the fortieth anniversary of the release of 'Easy Rider'. A movie that "changed the way America looked at itself". The catch phrase was; "A man went looking for America and couldn't find it anywhere".

I'm sure that many will relate to the urges that the movie created; the urge to find yourself, the urge to find the freedom of the road, doing things in your own time and so on. Today such an ethos might sound lame but 40yrs ago it was ground breaking material.

Forget the bikes; look further, look beneath the stars and stripes paint, the chrome frame and the Panhead "Vee Twin poppers" and you'll see what director Dennis Hopper was looking at, what he was trying to convey. He was looking at the Great American Dream and what a crock it was, even back then. Today is no different. Is the GAD achievable? Can you really toss your wristwatch into the dust, ride off into the sunset and make all your dreams come true?

Even loaded with cash (amongst other things) the stars of Easy Rider couldn't do that. They "blew it".

Movies like Easy Rider don't come along every day. It was a cheap biker movie to the mainstream celluloid moguls of the day but it made people sit up and look. They looked at themselves and at how false their world really was.

There are many aspects of the movie that are still relevant and for Hopper that must feel great. (Or terrible, depending on your outlook.)

What (if you've seen it) did the movie do for you (if anything) and is there anything in the movie that you take into your daily life?

Uh, not really.

people running studios looked at it and saw that it made money. Because of that it spawned a lot of imitators.

I quite like the film, and I think that Jack Nicholson walks away with it every time he is on screen. I really dislike the stupid montage sequence shot in the the cemetery, notwithstanding the chick with her norks out. Then again I don't approve of psychedelia in general and hippies in particular.

The story goes that the cemetery sequence came out of a bunch of Dennis friends being called the second unit, and despatched with a bunch of LSD and some handheld 16mm cameras to "do something groovy": what they got was a bunch of shite basically: but they had to use it because they'd run out of money. You can see the difference between that sequence shot in 16mm, and the rest of the film shot in 35mm.

One of the often overlooked aspects of the film is the use of the producers/directors record collection for the soundtrack. the artists and labels concerned basically gave away the rights to use the songs for nothing, not realising there was a market for it: then the soundtrack album (itself a relatively novel concept in a non-mainstream film) sold HEAPS: that has lead to the use of existing songs being very closely controlled for soundtrack use, and it is often now cheaper to commission music for a film than use existing tracks.

It is viewed as a manifesto for the counter culture: but I'm not sure that it really is, or that its in fact that great a movie. There are some great shots in it (monument valley, desert, the southern states) and some great vignettes , but my favourite part of the film is always Jack Nicholson. I do remember being a bit shocked by the ending first time I saw it too. I guess its a 7.5 out of 10 because its too self indulgent.

There are a BUNCH better movies that came out around that time, particularly if you subscribe to the "Director as Auteur" theory: the '70's were when some of the best of those films came out: to name check a few: Taxi Driver, Apocalypse Now, Deer Hunter, Dog Day Afternoon, Serpico, Chinatown, The Godfather. Even some of the cult movies (Two Lane Blacktop, Vanishing Point, Zabriskie Point) I think are better representative of the "Counter culture" and the "road movie" than Easy Rider.

Having said all that, I'm not going to get rid of my DVD copy any time soon.

[peasea]

You're right about Nicholson, he's a right gem isn't he?

You're also right about there being better movies but how many of them featured outrageous bikes?

Anyway, thanks for the post.

[P38]

Got the movie on DVD.

Dust it off every now an then.

Still enjoy watching it.

[Motu]

Jack Nicholson didn't ride a bike in the movie,so he was a nobody for me.

Bikes and music,that was what it was all about.Sure there were other good movies at the time,the westerns were really good back then - One Channel of Shit on the TV to Choose From....So we went to movies on friday and saturday nights,kind of a scene.

But for movies that had bikes - Easyrider and On Any Sunday stand out by a country mile.

[peasea]

Jack Nicholson didn't ride a bike in the movie,so he was a nobody for me.

Bikes and music,that was what it was all about.Sure there were other good movies at the time,the westerns were really good back then - One Channel of Shit on the TV to Choose From....So we went to movies on friday and saturday nights,kind of a scene.

But for movies that had bikes - Easyrider and On Any Sunday stand out by a country mile.

Oh come on.........
You can't deny that Jack N has a certain 'presence' in any movie that he appears. ER was (ER, I love that abbreviation....) a kick-start for the guy and he's done well. I wish I had 10% of his acting ability when stopped on the road by the filth.

[MeHigh]

Uh, not really.

people running studios looked at it and saw that it made money. Because of that it spawned a lot of imitators.

I quite like the film, and I think that Jack Nicholson walks away with it every time he is on screen. I really dislike the stupid montage sequence shot in the the cemetery, notwithstanding the chick with her norks out. Then again I don't approve of psychedelia in general and hippies in particular.

The story goes that the cemetery sequence came out of a bunch of Dennis friends being called the second unit, and despatched with a bunch of LSD and some handheld 16mm cameras to "do something groovy": what they got was a bunch of shite basically: but they had to use it because they'd run out of money. You can see the difference between that sequence shot in 16mm, and the rest of the film shot in 35mm.

One of the often overlooked aspects of the film is the use of the producers/directors record collection for the soundtrack. the artists and labels concerned basically gave away the rights to use the songs for nothing, not realising there was a market for it: then the soundtrack album (itself a relatively novel concept in a non-mainstream film) sold HEAPS: that has lead to the use of existing songs being very closely controlled for soundtrack use, and it is often now cheaper to commission music for a film than use existing tracks.

It is viewed as a manifesto for the counter culture: but I'm not sure that it really is, or that its in fact that great a movie. There are some great shots in it (monument valley, desert, the southern states) and some great vignettes , but my favourite part of the film is always Jack Nicholson. I do remember being a bit shocked by the ending first time I saw it too. I guess its a 7.5 out of 10 because its too self indulgent.

There are a BUNCH better movies that came out around that time, particularly if you subscribe to the "Director as Auteur" theory: the '70's were when some of the best of those films came out: to name check a few: Taxi Driver, Apocalypse Now, Deer Hunter, Dog Day Afternoon, Serpico, Chinatown, The Godfather. Even some of the cult movies (Two Lane Blacktop, Vanishing Point, Zabriskie Point) I think are better representative of the "Counter culture" and the "road movie" than Easy Rider.

Having said all that, I'm not going to get rid of my DVD copy any time soon.

To a certain point you are right. The main mistake you make is that you judge the movie trough the eyes of a movie critic not as an art statement that had the most impact in the social life from all those “better” movies you mention there.
I think that u can find Captain America chopper in every country in the world and Easyrider nicknames in all generations. That alone is amazing for an artwork of any media.

[popelli]

Jack Nicholson didn't ride a bike in the movie

Peter Fonda didn't kick start his bike once during the movie either

That aside its a brilliant movie that I watch time and time again

Its a Shame Fonda and Hopper don't do a sequel on a couple of Road Kings

[Molly]

Easy Rider = Two drug dealers go for a ride. The end.

[popelli]

Easy Rider = Two drug dealers go for a ride. The end.

that film sold motorcycling as fun, adventure and a lifestyle

without the film easyrider would the chopper craze of the 70's have been as big as it was

and without the chopper craze of the 70's would harley have survived at all, they almost went belly up in the early 80's

and would the weekend warriors now masquerading as hog members ever have been inspired to get a bike at all if it wasn't for that film

that film has inspired many people and has to some degree changed the face of motorcycling, without it there would be possibly no harley and no harley inspired clones

[Motu]

Zigactly - the movie put the chopper before the eyes of millions.Very few people actually rode choppers in the '70's in NZ - and now there are thousands reliving something they never did when they were young.Easyrider put the image out there for people to copy for decades down the line.

[74 knuckle]

Own the movie, and I ride a 70s harley, which I enjoy immensely. I agree that movie was the beginning for alot of things, but so was James dean. I,ve watched a number of other bike movies which ironically Peter Fonda is the portrayed as the Icon of biker heroes. So no matter how you interpret the movie, It was the beginning of something