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October 17, 2004
Easy Rider
I am not a fan of Easy Rider. Having just seen it, I wonder if I needed to have been alive in the 1960's and 1970's to fully appreciate it, but the point seems to me: show a bunch of stoner bikers crossing the country in the name of freedom. Then have The Man show up in the guise of a bunch of southern hicks to kill them, show most people are afraid of freedom, and make the protagonists heroes.
I was onboard for the road trip part, though I hope I wasn't expected to agree with what they wanted me to agree with. For example, the stupid hippy community was stupid and hippy. I was just watching those people thinking that every one of them was a waste of flesh, planting their stupid grain in dirt where it won't grow. At one point, Peter Fonda says that they will survive, but I think history has shown otherwise. The film doesn't go too far to glorify it, thank God.
Again though, I could go along surprisingly with the overall road trip, something I usually hate. And the characters are likable and well-acted (first and last movie I've ever though Dennis Hopper acted well in). Then Jack Nicholson shows up, and that's OK, except he gets killed by baseball bats and it's totally lame and cliched. It almost feels like Nicholson told them that he could only shoot for a couple days, they ran out of time, and then killed him off. Oh well.
As for what point this film makes, it comes off that you have two shitty choices: a life of debauchery (and by this I mean no evolution, forward movement, or growth) vs. a life of conformity. Both suck, though given the two extremes, I guess Peter Fonda's flag-clad leather jacket is closer to Americanism than the hicks of the south. But the metaphor is too easy.
In other words, I don't think this movie should be considered anything more than a Roger Corman motorcycle movie. It's got better cinematography and better acting, but the story and themes are pretty cliched. Maybe if this film came out in 1950, it'd pack more punch for me.
Posted by nick at October 17, 2004 09:19 PM