Die, Hippie! Die!
Fading Away Into America.
A Film Review by Greg McLean
Easy Rider :: 1969 :: directed by Dennis Hopper
Starring: Peter Fonda, Dennis Hopper, Jack Nicholson and Karen Black
Grade: A
‘Easy Rider’ is an occasionally uneven effort from first time director Dennis Hopper who also has a major acting role in the film. The film acts as both a manual for the “American road trip” and a demoralizing farewell to the hippie ideals. The film generates sympathy for the protagonists, particularly Wyatt, through whom we see the action, and portrays them as outcasts who are rejected and assaulted at every turn; easily relatable for the young, disaffected audience it was created for. The editing style Hopper uses is interesting, and communicates a loose sense of time. While the acting of the major players is remarkable, particularly the genial George character portrayed brilliantly by Jack Nicholson, the flow of the film is distracted by the director’s choice to cast non-actors in some of the crucial minor characters’ roles.
The movie revolves around two friends, Billy and Wyatt, who are established as ‘alien’ at the outset of the movie as we watch them buying a quantity of cocaine in Mexico; their clothes are clearly counterculture and the dialogue is entirely in Spanish. This disorienting opening scene emphasizes the main theme of the film, which is alienation and persecution of people who are not members of the dominant order. Another theme, the death of the hippie ideal, is initiated here as well. The two primary characters “sell out” by transporting cocaine, a hard drug compared to the hippie staple, pot, across the border where they unload it for a big profit to a glitzy Hollywood big shot. After they stash their fortune inside of Wyatt’s motorcycle, they set off on the road heading east to celebrate Mardi Gras before “retiring in Florida”.
Along the way they encounter George, a lawyer who works for civil liberties, but is hobbled by his own alcoholism and the “good ol’ boy” network in his community that enables him. Jack Nicholson brings this character to life in a remarkable performance that deservedly establishes a foundation for an entire career. Peter Fonda also shines as the deep, Christ-like Wyatt or “Captain America”; all three identities are fundamental to the American mythology. Dennis Hopper counterpoints Fonda as Billy, a manic stoner and embodiment of the “fake” hippie – worried about time and possessions and always sounding more stoned than he really is.
Cinematography, mise-en-scene, and editing all contribute to the sense of timelessness and freedom established literally and figuratively early in the action; in a scene that could have been handled with a bit more subtlety, Wyatt throws his watch away into the dirt at the outset of the road trip. Hopper then begins to demonstrate this timelessness with his editing, particularly with cuts. His use of jump cuts as the rule rather than the exception gives us the sense that we are moving forward, but in a loose, non-specific way. As the movie progresses and events spin out of control, the editing itself changes; from blinking between scenes, to jump cuts that occur at logical moments, to abrupt jumps at awkward, sometimes nonsensical places in the action.
This film gets an “A” for the experience. The weaker aspects of the film are supported by beautiful visuals, a memorable and relevant soundtrack, and colorful characters that make the film a classic. The revolutionary, art-driven approach to the making of this movie has resonated through the creative process of many major films since. and continues to be a touchstone for new ideas and approaches to movie making.
