Easy Rider

Easy Rider (1969)
Director: Dennis Hopper

This is one of those movies that is on the AFI's "Top 100 films of all time" list. In my opinion that list is bogus. Only about a quarter of the films on that list deserve to be there. I don't think Easy Rider is anywhere close to one of the top 100 films of all time. Easy Rider seems fairly pointless. Billy(Dennis Hopper) and Wyatt (Peter Fonda) drive around on their choppers, pick up a hippie, and drive around some more. That sums up the first half of the film. Don't get me wrong, it isn't exactly boring, but it isn't exactly a great story either. To be honest this movie doesn't really have a story.

Dennis Hopper directed this film and the word is that he was completely stoned out of his mind. I can believe that. There is a scene at the end where the Billy and Wyatt drop some acid and go on a little trip with two hookers in a cemetary. To me it seems pretty easy to shoot an acid trip. Just shoot random stuff, cut it together randomly and voila! You have your scene. Or better yet, give the camera to a monkey. The out of focus shots and frenetic animal jerkiness will only add to the overall aesthetic of the scene. Its ok for the first 20 seconds, but anything longer than that gets monotonous.

Jack Nicholson is amazing as usual. He is so good, so convincing, and has such presence that he completely steals every scene that he is in. The other actors are good too in their own ways; Dennis Hopper made me laugh several times, but then again watching stoned guys do stupid things will usually make you laugh anyway.

The cinematography is very good. László Kovács does good work and he captures the scenery very well. God knows there is plenty of time for that during the course of the movie. There is a little incongruity towards the end when they try to match 16mm footage with the rest of the 35mm film, but other than that the picture is good. There are some weird things done with the editing that I didn't really understand or care for. There is a reoccuring theme of stuttering images before cutting to a new scene. It kind of seems like a film student experiment that was left in the film accidently.

I'll bet this movie was great back in the days of hippies and woodstock, but now it just comes off flat. It does give some insight into that time period, but there are many other better films that can do the same thing and tell you a story at the same time.

My rating: 2 out of 5