![]() Ebert again: “It became one of the rallying-points of the late ’60s, a road picture and a buddy picture, celebrating sex, drugs, rock ‘n’ roll, and the freedom of the open road.” Better, apparently, to enjoy the freedom of unemployment.Įbert wrote in 2004 that watching the movie today was like a “time capsule.” The movie is interesting because of what it says about the audiences that loved the movie then, that took the film as an articulation of their era, and that today continue to celebrate it as an icon. They revel in their status as outcasts, as did the audience that celebrated the film. “It’s real hard to be free when you are bought and sold in the marketplace,” says one character. They are happy to reciprocate the world’s rejection. The bikers are refused a room at a hotel, looked at warily by strangers, and are met with violent hostility the further south they ride (the movie indulgences in gross stereotypes of southerners). The movie was popular because it captured the feeling of being a rebellious outcast. Nicholson is the only interesting thing in the movie, and he’s onscreen for all of fifteen minutes. Jack Nicholson turned in the performance that made him famous as a drunk lawyer that falls in with the hippie bikers, smokes weed, rides shotgun, and is violently beaten to death in a horrific scene that must have inspired Martin Scorsese in Casino. The movie was nominated for an Oscar for its screenplay, which is inexplicable, and for Best Supporting Actor, which is explicable. The penultimate scene descends into an incoherent surrealist representation of an acid trip. We spend a lot of time watching these guys riding their motorcycles, admiring scenery, listening to classic ‘60s rock. They smoke weed, ride, meet hippies and rednecks, ride some more, drop acid, and keep riding. Two guys on motorcycles sell drugs and trek to Mardi Gras. ![]() Easy Rider is unwatchable tripe.Įasy Rider is a simple road trip movie and buddy drama. Easy Rider was also released in 1969, is also a classic of the era, is also on the American Film Institute’s list of the greatest movies of all time (#84), and has one-up on Butch: Roger Ebert gave it a place on his cannon of Great Movies.
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