I just watched the movie "Easy Rider". For those who know me, yeah - it's amazing that I even watched a movie and I'm sure you're cringing that I chose THIS one to watch, out of all the good cinema and television you've tried to get me to check out.
Well, I love motorcycling and I wanted to see a motorcycle movie. After watching Wild Hogs, which was certainly okay (had its ups and downs) I grew curious because of one of the end scenes with Peter Fonda "the original Easy Rider". It only took me about 18 months to finally watch Easy Rider (as mentioned, I just don't think of movies or television when I think of entertainment, so it wasn't high on my to-do).
I wasn't really "prepared" for it, I only knew that it was a motorcycle movie, and I didn't know a good list of others (I have since started to compile some, but honestly if anyone reads this and can suggest a really good motorcycle movie, please do so in comment!)
So. Easy Rider. I thought there was a great portrayal of motorcycling, and that was what I was really looking for. Several great shots of the road, of riders just enjoying time with each other, that was what I hoped for. I had no idea how much the sixties drug scene was mixed into the movie, but honestly that didn't bother me that much. The portrayal, I would hope, is accurate and interesting as a period piece. I liked the "lead hippie", and like to think a hippie colony and a hippie leader would be much like that was portrayed (though honestly I wouldn't know). I thought the interplay between the two main characters was really good - could have been any two friends who are riders (though obviously riders are all unique and finding *exactly* these two isn't the point). I thought Peter Fonda's laid back easy going nature was wonderfully balanced against Dennis Hopper's more concerned, stressed, occasionally high strung character. Jack Nicholson (predictably) stole the show for all the scenes he was in. I had not expected to see him (really didn't do my research, just watched the film on a whim) and it was a treat. Wow he was young. His character got to say all the intricate, interesting stuff. Some of it absolutely wild and bizarre, but some of it keenly insightful.
What bothered me is the stereotypical portrayal of Southern small towns. Well, I guess not all of them - the two scenes that basically wreck this movie are both supposed to be in Louisiana. I can't speak for small-town Louisiana in the early 70s, late 60s, but I can speak to it now and for the past 10 or so years and it's so different from what was portrayed. I have ridden through small towns like those, stopped at diners and cafes like the ones portrayed, and driven past pickups that look exactly like the final truck in the movie. I had long hair, a scruffy beard, and clothing that could have been in any biker shot for Easy Rider. I didn't know anyone, I was just on a bike. I have done this "more than twice". I have never met friendlier, more outgoing, helpful people. In fact, the *only* problem I have had with them is they want to talk *forever*. You'd better have a lot of time if you stop in a small southern town. They love to visit. Build in time to learn all kinds of trivia. And eat lots of good food. Again, I will admit I am talking about post 2000, not pre-1975, so perhaps that's where my problem lies, but a lot of people today left comments on the movie (at you-tube) that suggested they hate red-neck hicks. Hollywood is providing them with a false impression and image.
More's the pity because my understanding is that the theme of the deaths in the movie is tied to social unrest and the Vietnam War. The idea was to suggest that "typical sixties men" were going about the business of living their lives (chemically augmented or not) and were suddenly and for no apparent reason dying due to "the establishment". Instead of choosing an actual parallel, the film depicts hicks and rednecks as having an automatic grudge against scruffy bikers and for senseless reasons beating or shooting them to death. If you were to pick a segment of society "also likely" to be in rebellion against the establishment, I think you'd not go far wrong to choose the South (then or now). Rebellion. Reb. Rebel. What flag do they often use? I'm not trying to say Rebs or the Confederacy were right, but I would submit the more likely place to find violence against freedom loving riders would be northward than southward. Where is Kent State? Not Louisiana, I'll tell you that much. Not in a small town either. Now, I'm not trying to say Kent, Ohio is like that now, or that I support or don't support any region more than another, but I have to shake my head at the actual victims of this film. Victims of the FILM not the plot. After watching it, are you incensed at the bikers or the aggressors? Another thing that is somewhat out of place is that the whole reason Louisiana comes up is Mardi Gras. So suddenly the state that bring us Mardi Gras is the one that also senselessly beats and shoots the kinds of people who go to Mardi Gras.
I think the bottom line is that I'm bothered by the influence a movie like this might have over people who can't see the inconsistencies, see beyond the selected antagonists to the themes behind it, and try to keep alive a scapegoat that doesn't exist (if it ever existed, again I wouldn't know).
I think this movie would have been better with a barroom brawl and injuries. The biking, the hippies, the culture, even the drugs and sex, and most certainly the rock and roll were in their own way awesome. They did a great job of portraying their own culture in a positive light. Portraying the antagonists (and I'm not sure there even had to be any in this film) was a total bomb.
Of course, the bottom line at this point is: who really cares? I mean, much as I liked the vast majority of this movie and am strangely drawn to watch it again (perhaps even to edit parts and make my own endings) it's not exactly mainstream, it's not what you'd call a mega-movie, it's more in the nature of a (very small) cult classic seen mostly by people who probably don't vote, don't have much voice outside a small circle of already convinced friends, or those who (hopefully) are also bothered by the awkward bits and realize which areas of the country are actually freedom loving and bike friendly (which, honestly, is MOST of the country).
