Wyatt (Fonda) and Billy (Hopper), two Harley-riding hippies, complete a drug deal in Southern California and decide to travel cross-country in search of spiritual truth. On their journey, they experience bigotry and hatred from the inhabitants of small-town America and also meet with other travelers seeking alternative lifestyles. After a terrifying drug experience in New Orleans, the two travelers wonder if they will ever find a way to live peacefully in America.
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When you go looking for classic movies, Easy Rider comes easily to mind. Since I’d never seen it before, I was anxious to watch it. Being such an iconic film, I figured I was in for a good time. But would time have passed this film by, or would it still be as iconic as people say it is.
Peter Fonda and Dennis Hopper take the lead in Easy Rider, and they have a lot riding on their performances. Not only did they star, but they co-wrote the film, Fonda produced it, and Hopper directed it, so they have a little more riding on its success than most actors. Fonda plays the more contemplative guy, while a pretty unrecognizable Hopper (who is even missing the gravelly voice later viewers are more used to) plays the hotheaded gabber. Both are completely outshone by Jack Nicholson, who steals the show easily in every scene he’s in, as he brings a presence the other two just don’t have (at least in this film).
The plot for Easy Rider seems simple enough. Two fellows, after selling some drugs to earn enough cash to live out the rest of their lives, decided to take a motorcycle trip from Los Angeles to New Orleans just in time for Mardi Gras. Viewers aren’t given any of this in the setup, and have to figure it out nearly halfway through. All viewers know is the drug deal then these two get on motorcycles and start riding.
It’s the way the story is told that’s probably the biggest problem with Easy Rider. While there may be an underlying theme for the film (more on that later), the whole film seems to be made up of just vignettes of different parts of their road trip. They aren’t really connected together, except by the fact they happen during their trip. More than that, though, is the disjointed feel of each vignette. Their different encounters vary so wildly (from visiting a free-love commune to getting thrown in jail for being in a parade to a senseless death) that it makes the whole presentation feel even more off-kilter.
The underlying theme for Easy Rider is hard to determine (in fact, it’s hard to say if it’s there at all). There is an obvious one about these motorcycle travelers being free, and normal people are frightened of that freedom, since most are stuck in the grind of daily life and envy these two. Muddling things up, though, is the drug use. While these two are constantly doing drugs (cocaine, marijuana, LSD), their constant use doesn’t necessarily condone the drug use (ala Up in Smoke or something similar). Instead, thanks to a bad acid trip and the old saying “marijuana is a gateway drug” actually being a gateway drug for these two, there’s as much an anti-drug message as there seems to be a pro drug message. It’s odd, and just muddles the whole thing up even more.
But, then again, maybe that’s the point. Easy Rider, taken from the viewpoint of people whose minds are messed up on drugs, almost works as an LSD hallucination. Maybe they aren’t actually on this road trip, and have imagined this whole thing. That’s what viewers are probably hoping for, because then the movie would make sense, even if only in a hallucinatory fashion. Alas, when this doesn’t prove to be the case, and the message seems to lean more towards others fearing the freedom of these two, it makes for a pretty disappointing feel overall.
Maybe Easy Rider was better-suited for the late-60’s audience when it was originally released. First time viewers now, without any sense of nostalgia for the film, will find this ride to be mostly nonsensical – and pretty darn boring. The only reason to watch this now is to see Hopper and Nicholson share some screen time, and even that can’t save this flick.
