Easy Rider

Easy Rider (1969) follows two motorcyclists riding from Los Angeles to New Orleans. They have made money selling drugs and want to reach Mardi Gras. They stop at camps, farms and small towns along the way; the subject is not the destination but how the country looks at them. The part of George Hanson originally belonged to Rip Torn. It came apart at a meeting with Hopper and Fonda in early 1968; according to Terry Southern's biographer, Hopper started ranting about the people he had met on a scouting trip through the South, Torn, a Texan, objected, and the two nearly came to blows. The role went to Jack Nicholson. The matter reached court years later. Hopper said on Jay Leno's show that Torn had pulled a knife that day; in fact it had been the other way round. Torn sued for defamation and won on every count. The budget was between 360,000 and 400,000 dollars and the film took 60 million worldwide. Fonda paid the crew's travel costs on his own credit cards. Real drugs were used in the drug scenes. The final campfire scene was shot after the wrap party, by which point the motorcycles had been stolen, which is why they are not in the background. Nicholson only appears in the second half and was nominated for an Oscar; the film made him a star. It runs 95 minutes. Good for: the beginning of New Hollywood, sixties counterculture, and road films. Less good for: there is no plot and the long drug sequences stop the narrative. The cemetery section is deliberately incoherent. The women are barely written at all.