Though the heroes are bikers, "Easy Rider" is a bit like the fantasy of a very earnest, stressed-out Harvard freshman with family problems. Critics who raved about it back in 1969 needed to have their heads examined. What with all the LSD, some of them eventually did.
Dennis Hopper was no dope, though. This film earned 100 times its cost; it was commercially as shrewd as a Coca-Cola ad. Just as intended, it had young audiences shouting "Right on!" at the screen and paying to see it again. They were the same people who shouted "Right on!" at "The Graduate" and paid to see it again. Back in the day, their grandparents paid to see Erich Von Stroeheim, the Evil Hun, again so they could shout at him too. Their kids just paid to see the equally commercial, manipulative "American Beauty" over and over again-- and then threw a pile of awards at it. Some people never learn.
Hopper's film was commercially shrewd in another way: it attacked ordinary Southern whites, America's Bad Guys in 1969 (before everyone needed their Electoral Votes) in the crudest, most lamebrained possible fashion. This film is still worth seeing, though, if only to see what the fuss was about. The Western panoramas look great and the music is good. Hopper has his usual wacky charm. And Jack Nicholson, the comic relief, takes over the movie while he's in it.
Dennis Hopper was no dope, though. This film earned 100 times its cost; it was commercially as shrewd as a Coca-Cola ad. Just as intended, it had young audiences shouting "Right on!" at the screen and paying to see it again. They were the same people who shouted "Right on!" at "The Graduate" and paid to see it again. Back in the day, their grandparents paid to see Erich Von Stroeheim, the Evil Hun, again so they could shout at him too. Their kids just paid to see the equally commercial, manipulative "American Beauty" over and over again-- and then threw a pile of awards at it. Some people never learn.
Hopper's film was commercially shrewd in another way: it attacked ordinary Southern whites, America's Bad Guys in 1969 (before everyone needed their Electoral Votes) in the crudest, most lamebrained possible fashion. This film is still worth seeing, though, if only to see what the fuss was about. The Western panoramas look great and the music is good. Hopper has his usual wacky charm. And Jack Nicholson, the comic relief, takes over the movie while he's in it.