Easy Rider
Two counterculture bikers travel from Los Angeles to New Orleans in search of America.
- Director: Dennis Hopper
- Genre:Adventure / Crime / Drama
- Runtime:96 minutes
Cast
Peter Fonda : Wyatt
Dennis Hopper : Billy
Antonio Mendoza : Jesus
Phil Spector : Connection
Mac Mashourian : Bodyguard
The protagonists are two bike-riding drug dealers: Wyatt, nicknamed ‘Captain America’ (Fonda), and Billy (Hopper). Fonda and Hopper have said that these characters’ names refer to Wyatt Earp and Billy the Kid.[citation needed] Wyatt dresses in American flag-adorned leather, while Billy dresses in Native American-style buckskin pants and shirts and a bushman hat.
After smuggling cocaine from Mexico to Los Angeles, Wyatt and Billy sell their contraband to “Connection,” a man (played by Phil Spector) in a Rolls-Royce. With the money from the sale stuffed into a plastic tube hidden inside the Stars & Stripes-adorned fuel tank of Wyatt’s California-style chopper, they ride eastward in an attempt to reach New Orleans, Louisiana, in time for Mardi Gras.
During their trip, Wyatt and Billy meet and have a meal with a rancher, whom Wyatt compliments for his ability to provide for his large family. Later, the duo pick up a hitch-hiker (Luke Askew) and agree to take him to his commune, where they stay for a day. Life in the commune appears to be hard, with hippies from the city finding it difficult to grow their own crops in a dry climate with poor soil. (One of the children seen in the commune is played by Fonda’s four-year-old daughter Bridget.) At one point, the bikers witness a prayer for blessing of the new crop, as put by a communard: A chance “to make a stand,” and to plant “simple food, for our simple taste.” The commune is also host to a traveling theater group that “sings for its supper” (performs for food). The notion of “free love” appears to be practiced, with two women seemingly sharing the affections of the hitch-hiking communard, and who then turn their attention to Wyatt and Billy. As the bikers leave, the hitch-hiker (known only as “Stranger on highway” in the credits) gives Wyatt some LSD for him to share with “the right people.” Read more
