Easy Rider (1969)

User Rating:

7.3/10   

Director:

Dennis Hopper

Writers:

Peter Fonda (written by) &
Dennis Hopper (written by) ...

Release Date:

26 June 1969 (Sweden)

Genre:

Adventure | Crime | Drama

Tagline:

This Year It's Easy Rider

Plot:

Two counterculture bikers travel from Los Angeles to New Orleans in search of America.

Plot Keywords:

Biker | Mardi Gras | Jail Cell | Motorcycle | Hitchhiker

Awards:

Nominated for 2 Oscars. Another 10 wins & 10 nominations

Cast

Peter Fonda	...	Wyatt
Dennis Hopper	...	Billy
Antonio Mendoza	...	Jesus
Phil Spector	...	Connection
Mac Mashourian	...	Bodyguard
Warren Finnerty	...	Rancher
Tita Colorado	...	Rancher's Wife
Luke Askew	...	Stranger on Highway
Luana Anders	...	Lisa
Sabrina Scharf	...	Sarah
Sandy Brown Wyeth	...	Joanne (as Sandy Wyeth)
Robert Walker Jr.	...	Jack (as Robert Walker)
Robert Ball	...	Mime #1
Carmen Phillips	...	Mime #2
Ellie Wood Walker	...	Mime #3 (as Ellie Walker)

Also Known As:

The Loners (USA) (working title)

Runtime:

95 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English | Spanish

Color:

Color | Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Sound System)

Certification:

Iceland:16 | Argentina:18 | Netherlands:12 | South Korea:15 | South Korea:18 (DVD rating) | Brazil:16 | Philippines:R-18 | Singapore:M18 | New Zealand:R16 | Australia:M | Finland:K-16 | Norway:15 | Spain:18 | Sweden:15 | UK:18 | USA:R | West Germany:16 | Canada:R (Nova Scotia) | Canada:PG (Manitoba) | Canada:AA (Ontario) | Canada:18+ (Quebec) (original rating) | Canada:13+ (Quebec) (re-rating) (2003)

Filming Locations:

157 Bridge Street, Las Vegas, New Mexico, USA

Company:

Columbia Pictures Corporation

Trivia:

Captain America's (Peter Fonda's) chopper was so "squirrely" to ride that at one point Jack Nicholson (who was on the back) squeezed his knees on Fonda's side to balance himself and broke one of Fonda's ribs.

Goofs:

Boom mic visible: In the diner scene, a shadow on the wood panel between the booths.

Quotes:

Billy: We did it, man. We did it, we did it. We're rich, man. We're retirin' in Florida now, mister.
Captain America: You know Billy, we blew it.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in "Spin City: Uneasy Rider (#4.19)" (2000)

Soundtrack:

The Pusher

This film was a rite of passage

I cannot overstate the importance of this movie in my personal development.

In 1969 I was eighteen and a freshman at Cambridge University. I was also a near-fundamentalist and a member of the Christian Union. Its officials decreed that Easy Rider was unsuitable for Christian viewing; I'd seen some enthusiastic reviews which made me curious. Moral and spiritual dilemma followed. To view or not to view? I prayed about it - look, this is a long time ago, right - and decided that if it had been OK for the Christian Union's leaders to see it, if only to realise it was morally dubious, then it was OK for me. They hadn't been corrupted, presumably; the Lord would see that I wasn't either.

So I went and it blew me away. I thought then and think now, that this is a magnificently perceptive commentary on hippie culture and one that only the medium of film can deliver. Naive idealism is weighed against the squalid reality of drugs (and indeed alcohol). Freedom is portrayed as often aimless, self-indulgent and downright boring. The underlying morality could be seen as puritanical: a celebration of the free-lovin' drop-out Sixties it ain't, more a weary end-of-decade critique thereof. I would have thought there was much to commend it to the Christian Union moralisers, yet as ever they couldn't see past the surface - drug abuse, loose women. Yet it has its high moments, in more ways than one, and is always a treat for the eyes.

My decision to defy the Christian Union by seeing the film was an early step out of my fundamentalist prison and I haven't stopped walking yet. No-one's ever going to tell me what I can and can't watch again: nor will I censor anyone else's viewing. I'm still a believer, but not of the kind that the Christian Union would have thought will ever go to heaven. Guess I'll have to live with that.