As he was signing a still photograph from The Wild Angels, he had a vision of what kind of a movie he should make. The idea for Easy Rider was conceived by Peter Fonda while he was in Canada promoting Roger Corman’s The Trip. At the age of 74, he lost his battle to cancer and died at his home in California. Petersburg and the Australian Centre for the Moving Image in Melbourne. His works have been displayed in several prestigious galleries and museum around the world including the Walker Art Center in Minneapolis, the State Hermitage Museum in St. ![]() Alongside acting, Dennis Hopper was also passionate about photography, poems and painting, which he began working on in the 1960s. Apart from feature films, he was also active in television, documentaries and voice acting. His performances have earned him several awards at prominent platforms like the Cannes Film Festival and National Society of Film Critics Awards. His first major break in his career was ‘Easy Rider’ in which he was also the director and co-writer. Born in Kansas, he studied acting during childhood and went on to start his career with minor roles in films. Hopper was an American actor, director photographer and artist. After a terrifying drug experience in New Orleans, the two travelers wonder if they will ever find a way to live peacefully in America. On their journey, they experience bigotry and hatred from the inhabitants of small-town America and also meet with other travelers seeking alternative lifestyles. Wyatt (Peter Fonda) and Billy (Dennis Hopper), two Harley-riding hippies, complete a drug deal in Southern California and decide to travel cross-country in search of spiritual truth. Starring: Peter Fonda, Dennis Hopper, Jack Nicholson Written by Peter Fonda, Dennis Hopper, Terry Southern In the movie, Wyatt says about marijuana, “It gives you a whole new way of looking at the day.”Īvailable to stream on Crackle, and to rent on Amazon Prime, iTunes, YouTube, Vudu and Google Play. It has an iconic and groundbreaking soundtrack including music from Steppenwolf, Jimi Hendrix, The Band and The Byrds amongst others. It made a star out of Jack Nicholson who had been toiling in the sidelines. Written by Peter Fonda and Dennis Hopper and directed by Hopper – the film is a landmark in American cinema. But they see a free individual, it’s gonna scare ’em.” Oh, yeah, they’re gonna talk to you, and talk to you, and talk to you about individual freedom. Of course, don’t ever tell anybody that they’re not free, ’cause then they’re gonna get real busy killin’ and maimin’ to prove to you that they are. I mean, it’s real hard to be free when you are bought and sold in the marketplace. But talkin’ about it and bein’ it, that’s two different things. Listen to Jack Nicholson’s character speak about “individual freedom” – and then think about our current situation and how divided our country is. Yet wasn’t that what the American dream was all about – freedom? Pay attention to the campfire scene at the heart of the movie. Individualism – being different – is ultimately chastised. “Easy Rider” is exploring society’s landscape and its conflicts – and that is what merges all the different episodes of the film. The journey is symbolic – it spans the scope of our country. The film unfolds in episodes where they also meet prostitutes – and communes and experience an acid trip (all alternative lifestyles) and culminates in a powerful gut wrenching ending. What starts as a journey for freedom – both literal and figurative – is slowed down by encounters with intolerance and discrimination from inhabitants of small towns in America. Wyatt and Billy (note the tip of the hat to Wyatt Earp and Billy the Kid) travel through beautiful open spaces. ![]() The film is a modern western – but instead of horses we have bikes. After scoring cocaine in Mexico, then re-selling it in California, two bikers – Peter Fonda and Dennis Hopper – set off on a cross-country trek to New Orleans. In the film, there’s a questioning of what happened? Where did we go wrong? How did we get here? There’s a sense of grief. ![]() “Easy Rider” – captures the United States as it was in the late 60s – the counterculture post-Vietnam, post-civil rights, post-Summer of love – and most poignantly to me it captures how we’re feeling today. One film that I have been thinking a lot about has been “Easy Rider” – the 1969 road movie that led the way – with “Bonnie and Clyde” and other films – to the New Hollywood period and the birth of independent cinema. And of course, I have had the movies to lean on. The past few weeks have been marked by periods of hopelessness – yet I have also hung on to hope and been doing lots of dreaming and introspection.
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