Not many films have documented an era of American culture the way it must have really been. THE BEST YEARS OF OUR LIVES captured the reality of the post-war 1940's. TAXI DRIVER is a masterpiece of social distortion and paranoia exemplary of the 1970's. No film other than EASY RIDER captures the late 1960's as seen by the American counter-culture. Peter Fonda and Dennis Hopper's story of two men who go in search of America and 'freedom' is a bona fide sign of the times. I may not have been around at the time, but it is great to see a film portraying the long-haired, hippie attitude towards an America in turmoil in the form of a biker flick, circa 1969.

EASY RIDER is an exploration of vast and desolate parts of the country. Of course, the stop at Mardi Gras is a necessity, but what Fonda and director Hopper are trying to tell us is that there was no 'freedom' as they saw it. The sprawling journey shows filmgoers the multiple frictions and shattered idealism of a generation in the midst of cultural change. Sex, drugs, and music were exploding socially and 1960's ideology may have come to an end in 1969, literally and figuratively speaking - much like it shockingly does in this film.

Peter Fonda plays cool "Captain America", otherwise known as Wyatt, while Hopper is a paranoid prophet of the hippies as "Billy the Kid". The stunning DVD version of the film notes the importance of Laszlo Kovacs, the director of photography. Much of the film consists of Kovacs' simple shooting of the riders as they travel spiraling highways and bigoted backroads. It is some beautiful footage and essential to the trip. A major deal is made, much grass is smoked, and the film takes off from there. Their ultimate goal is never clearly defined, but Fonda's final comment to Hopper may sum it up for viewers. Did they find what America was supposed to be about? I guess not according to Fonda.

There is a surreal experience at a commune the Kid and Wyatt stop at. These scenes are out of a Fellini film. One significant shot paints the commune with a 360 degree pan across the faces of the live-in hippies. The expressions on the faces all seem different, some grinning, others just zoned out. Kovac's amazing camera work (especially on the road with the bikes) along with a virtual who's who in rock music of the late 60's makes for a sometimes visceral filmgoing experience. The immortal 'Born to be Wild' blares over the opening title sequence and everyone from Hendrix to The Byrds are heard throughout.

EASY RIDER also contains one of Jack Nicholson's 2 or 3 most memorable performances, even to this day. As drunken lawyer "George Hanson", he creates an amazingly funny and perfect counterpoint to Hopper and Fonda. He realizes what the general public can think of the "long-hairs" and puts himself in danger just by traveling with them. A bizarre notion of alien presence in the U.S. government is part of a hilarious conversation Nicholson and Hopper have over Whiskey and smoke. His scenes on Fonda's chopper with the golden football helmet are absolute, cinematic classics.

Credit must be given to Fonda, Hopper, Nicholson, Kovacs, and Terry Southern for giving a new face to movie-making. They captured the era in a raw, jump cutting fashion. Maybe the hippies were not entirely right by trying to live off the land, or smoking dope all the time, but they may have been onto something.

RATING: ***1/2

I saw "Easy Rider" several decades ago and hated it. I had no idea what people saw in it. However, in the meantime, I have watched 457293811 films (give or take) and have changed a lot--as we all do over time. When I watched it again yesterday, I found so much to this film that I simply couldn't see the first time. Now I am NOT going to say that Dennis Hopper and Peter Fonda (who made and starred in the film) were geniuses here but they managed, with some amazing luck, to hit on something with this movie. In other words, their use of drugs managed to help them create the right movie for the right time. However, Hopper's next chance at directing ("The Last Movie") was a complete mess--and listed as one of the films in the excellent book "The 50 Worst Movies of All Time" by Harry Medved)--because the drugs simply made his work incomprehensible.

The film begins with two friends (Hopper and Fonda) making a big score--selling some cocaine to a crazy rich guy (very appropriately played by Phil Spector). Now with a fortune, they plan on taking their motorcycles across the American Southwest to New Orleans to party it up at the Mardi Gras.

The film has little in the way of a strong plot--more just snapshots of their adventures along the way. Some of the vignettes seem to extol the virtues to the selfless and idealistic hippie movement (such as the group headed by Robert Walker, Jr.),some the importance of letting go and enjoying life (their bizarre meeting with Jack Nicholson) and many show the anger and hatred the 'squares' had towards these free spirits. However, what made this movie for me is that although it SEEMED to have a shallow plot and was often rather unprofessional looking, there was an amazing depth to the film that would make it excellent for repeated viewing. While the film would SEEM to make it look like it was idealizing drug dealing, it did not--as Fonda's character eventually realizes that all this money didn't give them the peace and happiness that some others had. It also was a great indictment of the state of America at the time--especially in the old South. All in all, well worth seeing.

By the way, I grew up in a very conservative home during this time period. My father would often drive us into Georgetown (in DC) so we could watch the hippies and laugh at them....seriously. We would never yell at them or anything--just snicker at their clothes, hair and lifestyle. One time, however, our car broke down and these 'filthy hippies' all came and helped fix our car! It was, incidentally, the LAST time we ever went out to laugh at the hippies! Perhaps this, too, is why I found "Easy Rider" to be so interesting.

Easy Rider is not quite a classic, but what it is is a great movie. It does start off slowly, but when it picks up the film has very few problems if any. The production values are excellent, the soundtrack is inspired, the script is very effective and Dennis Hopper's direction shows perfectly that he was as good a director as he was an actor. The story is also very compelling with a purposefully depressing ending(certainly a refreshing change from the somewhat clichéd riding into the sunset ending) and although the start is slow the pace is solid on the whole. The acting is faultless, the three leads Peter Fonda, Dennis Hopper and Jack Nicholson are superb and work wonderfully together.

All in all, Easy Rider is a fine movie, while just missing out on masterpiece status. What's for sure though, it is one of the best road movies there is. 9/10 Bethany Cox