Rating: 
Summary: The Most Overated Film in History
Review: I first saw this film when it was released in 1969 and thought the critics of the day had gone collectively mad. Everyone in the entire film, whether it's "heroes" Peter Fonda and Dennis Hopper or their antagonists, are annoying. Jack Nicholson is the only one that attempts to create a character out of his role. There is no story and theneverending vignettes are pointless and/or pretentious. The script, if there was one, consists of Dennis Hopper saying "man" every fifteen seconds.This film was dated when it was released. Today, it's laughable.
Rating: 
Summary: Two for the road
Review: Revolutionary in its time but appearing somewhat dated now, "Easy Rider" was the ultimate road trip: two bikers on a cross-country ride from the west coast to Mardi Gras in New Orleans after scoring big in a drug deal. Produced and directed by, and starring Dennis Hopper and Peter Fonda, and almost stolen by a then-unknown named Jack Nicholson playing a hippie lawyer, "Easy Rider" follows its two heroes across some of the most stunning scenery in the Southwest as they head towards Louisiana in search of "freedom", whatever that means. "Easy Rider" not only brings us two (or three, counting Nicholson) of society's dropouts, we also meet a community of hippies, some narrow-minded small-town lawmen, and some rednecks in Louisiana who seem to have a more-than-passing relationship to Neanderthals. We wonder if the film's perhaps unwitting message is that the search for meaningless "freedom" results in meaningless and wanton death and destruction. More than any film of its time, "Easy Rider" caught the mood of the late 1960s in America and the fear of the "establishment" for society's rebels. It may be of its own time, but its timeless rejection of mindless conformity echoes down to us.
Rating:
Summary: The best portrait of a hopeless generation!
Review: Dennis Hopper made a cathartic movie. I 've always recognized his talent as actor and film maker . He's an outsider artist , in all the sense of the expression.
This picture, is reflect of his own character. The tale about two renegades , every one of them trying of seeking his destiny, decide to make a journey (the mythical approach) to New Orleans Mardi Grass (evasion once more) , in his powerful motocycles .
This journey will allow Hopper to express the alienated existence of these guys and the people who surrounds in every point they decide to rest. The violence is free ; and you watch in the visual language of the people who simply don't accept their way of living , the way they dress ; they establish a spiritual rapport with that hippie community in the middle of the road, where the psichodelia images suggest you what's going on.
This film was a low budget . 394.000 bucks , but the script depicted as any other american film of its age the sense of going to nowhere abaout a generation tired of waiting for a change.
The increase dark shadows will cover the landscape and will carry to that magnificent and poetic ending.
I still have the original vynil soundtrack of this picture. If six was nine of Hendrix, Born to be wild and the Pusher of Steppenwolf , or the weight were emblemeatic songs of its age which reflected wise and sincerely , the expecatations of a generation just in the year in which the man reached a superb scientific and technological triumph in Jul 29 1969 .
In a certain way this outlaw couple behaves in similar terms that Butch Cassidy (Western) , Scarecrow (existential mood city) , Midnight cowboy (outsiders in New York).
May be the film age a bit but its descriptive script from its release became in a cult movie.!
Rating: 
Summary: Easy Rider is easy to forget
Review: This is considered the classic 60's counterculture film. Released in 1969, the American Film Institute (AFI) ranks it the 88th best film ever made, Time Magazine called it "...one of the ten most important pictures of the decade," and the LA Times said it remains "...an astonishing work of art and an overpowering motion picture experience." It is the movie that rocketed Jack Nicholson to stardom. All that said, it has not aged well! The plot is; Let's buy drugs, then sell the drugs and use the money to go to Mardi Gras on our motorcycles. Along the way, we'll stop at a hippy commune, we'll have small-town girls sitting in a soda parlor think we're cute and we'll have sex with prostitutes in a New Orleans house of ill repute. All individuals in 'straight society' (in that term's original sense) are portrayed as cretins. No storyline, no character development, no nuance, no maturation or lessons learned by the characters. No tension, either based on time running out or options running out. Only obvious metaphors, the editing doesn't come close to meeting the standards of the time, there's no backstory, no flashbacks, no richness, no depth, NO WAY. I am writing this review because I was gullible enough to BUY this movie on DVD, based on the AFI ranking and my eagerness to accept it as the de facto standard drug culture movie of the sixties. I erred. There are only two redeeming elements in this film. One is great Rock music from, among others, Jimi Hendrixx and the Byrds. The other is Jack Nicholson, who has the role of a factoid spouting young, alcoholic lawyer. In effect, he is playing himself and he does so magnificently. But, in spite of this performance, the rest of variables that constitute a good movie or a good story are either missing or misused. Miss it!
Rating: 
Summary: Easy Rider.
Review: This movie may not appeal to everyone, but it definitely lives up to the title. It doesnt reach out and grab you and force you to pay attention, but it's not boring either. It is pretty relaxing to watch. There really isn't much of a story, but overall, the movie is interesting.
Rating:
Summary: OVERRATED!
Review: Can somebody please explain to me how this awful movie became one of the signature movies of a generation? Did this movie come out during a lull in full-length film productions? Were there no other movies that had a decent story or camera work? The cameraman appears to have seveal seizures during the filming, and apparently, Dennis Hopper was too strung out on coke to realize this during the editing process. Also there appears to be a huge gap in the plot line--a lack of decent ideas and dialogue that doesn't make me laugh at it's pathetic attempt to be hip and/or serious. There are only two things good about this movie: the soundtrack and the fact that this movie propelled Jack Nickolson's career. Other than that, this movie should be burnt, or at least end up like the main characters do.
Hippie Pete
Rating:
Summary: The Death of The '60s
Review: The Plot: Dennis Hopper and Peter Fonda are two drug dealers from L.A. who get rich selling coke to Phil Spector(imagine that...). They celebrate by hitting the road on their choppers towards Mardi Gras. Among many of the kind Americans they run into along the way is the one and only Jack Nicholson, an alcoholic ACLU attorney who helps them out of jail. In return, they decide to take him to New Orleans with them and get him stoned in the process (the funniest scene in the movie--Nicholson offers an inspiring monologue concerning extraterrestrial intelligence). Enduring harassment and abuse from the rural locals, they arrive at Mardi Gras. Tony Basil(!) is one of the hookers they drop acid with in the graveyard (an unsettling psychedelic sequence only surpassed by the climax of "2001: A Space Odyssey"). Sounds great, doesn't it? It is. Despite its flaws and shortcomings, this is an American classic not to be missed.
Any fan of independent films will adore this movie (check out "Midnight Cowboy", too, if you like this one). The acting is amateurish but the script is inspired, and the cinematography and soundtrack are terrific.
This movie is a symbolic snuff film, and the American Dream is the victim in the spotlight. It foreshadows the paranoia and hostility that would later precipitate the War On Drugs and, now, the War On Terror. Ironically, the alcoholic lawyer played by Jack Nicholson is the only person that has a clear and sober idea of what is going on, and he is quickly silenced by the barbaric locals. The two main characters themselves have a vague idea of it, but are too caught up in their own hedonism to see it clearly. Near the end of the film, Peter Fonda grimly concludes: "We blew it." Ouch--the truth hurts; I wasn't even alive in the '60s and I'm still feeling it today.
Rating:
Summary: This used to be a helluva good country.
Review: I was utterly surprised by this film. I was expecting nothing more than some short scenes of our now-infamous actors smoking marijuana followed by trippy Willy Wonka scenes . Oddly, this did occur, but this film was much more than that. This film should be shown in every American History class in the United States. It not only showed the beauty of the country of which we reside, but it also spoke about the people that reside in it. You know the old saying, "Guns don`t kill people, people kill people", well after watching this film, it is a very true statement. We are afraid of what is different. We are a culture that is afraid of change, yet seek it so badly. We are a society of hypocrites, androids, and ignorants. We thrive on the fact that we are the best country in the world, yet somebody shows any disassociation of routine, we are the first to question and get angry. I would dare say that we have moved so far from the 60s that I cannot see why our parents do not cry everyday. Their generations was a free-spirited, mind challenging culture that explored all possibilities no matter the cost. The experience was all they needed as a reward. Now, we are more concerned about money and the family-plan that we sometimes place ourselves on the backburner to life. Wake, eat, and pay the bills. What a sad daily structure that we have. When was the last time you considered the possibility of just jumping on your bike and riding until you hit water? Probably not for a long time ... why? It is called "bills" and "responsibilities". These are the choices that we chose to make, and for anyone to say that they cannot do it, I would have to challenge. You CAN do anything, it is whether you chose to do it is another question. I wonder what it will be like in another 30 years. Where will we be, and will the idea of individualism be lost? I can't wait to see ...
Outside of the deeply rooted themes of this film, I felt that Hopper (who also directed) knew exactly what he was doing behind the camera. He kept the talking short, the music loud and symbolic, and allowed the background to do the explaining. I loved the fact that we really knew nothing about Fonda or Hopper's characters. It allowed us to relate to them. You could easily add your story into their characters and have the life that you lead and wish to escape. Hopper was able to transform this film from a drug movie to a film about humanity. Fonda, who also helped write the film with Hopper, did a superb job of adding Nicholson's character into the mix.
Nicholson represented us, the American public and our love of liquor, football, and lies. I viewed Nicholson as the average American. He drank too much, was the product of a wealthy upbringing, but did not know much about the world. He was sheltered. He never smoked weed (in fact didn't even know what it was when presented to him), never left the state line, and never lived life. He constantly used the expression, "I have always wanted to ...". How many times do you hear this a day from either a family member or a co-worker? If you always wanted to do it, why haven't you? So, here we have Hanson, dreaming a dream but never following through, who is traveling with two guys that live the ultimate life and live by their own rules. They are complete opposites, but Hanson's words seemed to remain in my mind for a long time. He reminded me of one of my wife's students today that spoke about freedom. He knew exactly what it was, but never practiced it. Hopper and Fonda were walking (driving most of the time) representations of the word "freedom". It is tragic what happens to Harmon, because he (unfortunately) experienced the negative side of freedom ... hatred and fear of the unknown.
There was one scene that just jumped out at me. It occurs in the diner before the incident later that night where our travelers experience hatred in the country they admire so much. They go from peace and love to fear and hate. It is as if they witnessed night and day. It was frightening to hear the words coming from people in that restaurant. It was not only scary to wonder what was going to happen to our narrators, but mainly that people were speaking that way to fellow citizens. I know that it still occurs today, and it is surprising to me. We bomb a country because they do not follow the same principles that we do, but we need to start asking ourselves this question ... do we need another United States?
Grade: ***** out of *****
Rating:
Summary: Is This Film Still Relevant?
Review: I can recall the first time I saw this film. Since I was only 6 years old in 1969 I didn't see it on it's original theatrical release. I saw it on commercial television circa 1980 in the days before video stores and cable TV. The movie was slotted in a two hour block and they started the film at the "Born to be Wild" opening credits segment. When I saw it on video a few years later I was shocked that Fonda and Hopper made a drug deal prior to their trek to Mardi Gras. There were other excisions, usually relating to drug use. Why is this an important film? Our heroes(?) aren't exactly noble individuals. There is no real discernible plot. The direction is haphazard at best(legend has it that director Dennis Hopper was probably stoned to the gills while making this film). Well, this holds up as a picture of America at a time when social mores were changing. The cinematography is beautiful. Most impotantly, this film heralded the entrance of a new force in films, Jack Nicholson. When Jack comes into the picture as the alcoholic ACLU lawyer the screen just lights up and maintains this aura in every scene he's in. The scene where he smokes pot and explains the Venutian plot is classic. The energy of this film deflates once he departs from the film. I wonder though what relevance this picture has to a more youthful audience whose reference point to Jack is "The Joker". To a younger audience Vietnam and the civil rights movement are things that may or may not have been taught in civics class. I recommend watching this DVD (If you've seen it before) with Hopper's commentary on because it's a good one. And the documentary on the disc isn't bad either.
Rating:
Summary: The End of a Decade
Review: Easy Rider is definitely a movie for its period. There's no doubt that the film was a free-wheeling, pot-smoking, and other illicit drug type of movie that reflects the period that was - the counter-culture, anti-Vietnam War, and anti-establishment 1960s that came from the age of baby boomers. Peter Fonda's "everything goes" production was effective in producing a spontaneous film that has allowed continued analysis by scholars and anyone interested in the tumultuous period that was.
The behind the scene commentary was interesting and insightful. Both Dennis Hopper and Fonda offered much discussion about the making of the film that reveals how difficult and how real the actors experienced what was happening in the southern part of the United States during the late '60s, which was much more intense -- bigotry and animosity towards the hippie or "long-haired" culture.
The cinematography was excellent. The road scenes were just gorgeous, and the motorcycle drive through New Mexico was quite impressive. The most chilling scene was the ending with the panning out of the camera that gave a somewhat dark feeling that might depict a scene from war torn Vietnam. Or maybe a false sense of hope of a generation that fought for freedom.
Besides the film's look, one cannot forget the soundtrack of the movie. It included a diverse selection of artists, and who can forget the Steppenwolf's overplayed Born To Be Wild, which opens the movie? Other than that, music of The Byrds, Jimi Hendrix, and Bob Dylan captured the film.
The is a film that has survived the times and should be viewed.
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