Easy Rider 26/10/11
Director: Dennis Hopper Writers: Dennis Hopper/Peter Fonda/Terry Southern
1969
The beginning of this film impacts our ears more than our eyes with the unmistakeable rumble of a motorbike engine. We are also quickly shown drug use, a much bigger deal in 1969 than now. From the start then the film flies its counterculture flag high. We see Captain America (Fonda) and Billy (Hopper) making some kind of deal and receiving a bundle of cash, but the details don’t matter and dialogue is blocked out by aeroplane engines, what matters is what happened next: money, the open road and our introduction to the films rock n roll soundtrack.
That soundtrack was fairly unique back when original scores were the norm, but it was completely the right move. They used the genuine music of a cultural movement that the lead characters were supposed to be part of, using artists like Steppenwolf, The Jimi Hendrix Experience and Bob Dylan to connect with the audience. Another notable innovation is the way the edit between scenes flickers back and forth. Perhaps this to replicate a drug altered sense of time, or perhaps to put focus on the act of change, or perhaps just to be interesting.
For the majority of the film we are happy to drift along the roads with our two protagonists, letting the plot get there in the end and enjoying the shots of beautiful wide open country combined with great music. There are plenty of interludes throughout the film where all we are seeing are men riding their choppers through the desert and these are 100% necessary to the film, we have to absorb these scenes to know their way of life and get a sense of their freedom on these bikes. These aren’t Hell’s Angels or part of any motorcycle gang, they are Hippies, and the bikes are just a way to be free.
We get to see the Hippy way of life as Fonda and Hopper pass through a commune; it is simple, and tough, but free. There is a laugh as the two bikers join on to a parade, not causing any real trouble, but it gets them in jail. However that introduces us to Jack Nicholson doing what he does best as a hilarious alcoholic lawyer (with an epic excuse for a bike helmet). It is here that the film begins to take on meaning, the three set off to Mardis Gras and become good friends. They try to eat in a small town diner and see the price of even looking like you might be free, other people don’t like it. Nicholson gets the opportunity for a great speech about freedom, and then they are all punished for knowing what it’s all about. A very good film.
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