Apparently, today is the 50th anniversary of the release of the movie, Easy Rider. Watching the movie today, one gets the idea of a silly, cheap attempt at a hippie spaghetti western. And in many ways it is a bit silly. But it really captures a slice of the Twentieth Century, and the odd, violent, and confusing days of the 1960s. In particular, it captures the Americana of the South during this time of cultural change.
I always enjoyed Easy Rider. I was nine years old when the movie came out. The resulting fallout defined my generation and the world we inherited. For someone interested in motorcycles, music, the outdoors, and traveling, it spoke to me in a unique way. I still watch the movie every couple of years (a psychological necessity much like re-watching The Matrix, Scent of a Woman, and The Wrath of Khan). Seeing Jack Nicholson riding on the back of Fonda's Panhead through South Louisiana, wearing a 50s era football helmet, to the soundtrack of Hendrix' If 6 was 9, is priceless. Knowing that a little further into the film his character will be murdered by idiot rednecks, intent on preserving their small-minded, violent, racist, theocratic society brings back memories of my childhood in Alabama, and reminds me that if I look around I can see we still haven't progressed as far as we should have by now.
In any case, 50 years on it still celebrates the quirky and is as cogent a statement on America, 1969 as Woodstock, Hurricane Camille, the Moon Landing, or anything else. Here is an interesting link from the NY Times on Easy Rider: https://www.nytimes.com/1969/07/15/archives/easy-rider-a-statement-on-film.html?fbclid=IwAR3wk8THHMvwKzgZHmfiQOgY56r2nm7JxfFBIIv7cowBUWO6s-PRGwac1bQ
I always enjoyed Easy Rider. I was nine years old when the movie came out. The resulting fallout defined my generation and the world we inherited. For someone interested in motorcycles, music, the outdoors, and traveling, it spoke to me in a unique way. I still watch the movie every couple of years (a psychological necessity much like re-watching The Matrix, Scent of a Woman, and The Wrath of Khan). Seeing Jack Nicholson riding on the back of Fonda's Panhead through South Louisiana, wearing a 50s era football helmet, to the soundtrack of Hendrix' If 6 was 9, is priceless. Knowing that a little further into the film his character will be murdered by idiot rednecks, intent on preserving their small-minded, violent, racist, theocratic society brings back memories of my childhood in Alabama, and reminds me that if I look around I can see we still haven't progressed as far as we should have by now.
In any case, 50 years on it still celebrates the quirky and is as cogent a statement on America, 1969 as Woodstock, Hurricane Camille, the Moon Landing, or anything else. Here is an interesting link from the NY Times on Easy Rider: https://www.nytimes.com/1969/07/15/archives/easy-rider-a-statement-on-film.html?fbclid=IwAR3wk8THHMvwKzgZHmfiQOgY56r2nm7JxfFBIIv7cowBUWO6s-PRGwac1bQ
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