I pulled into Nazareth just a feelin’ ’bout a half past dead...
It’s becoming a theme for these reviews that the late 1960s and the early 1970s were a very transitory period in American culture. Gone are the days of suits and ties and screwball comedies and in come the more rugged and druggy counter-cultural rebel stories as a frontward-facing rejection of values of the creators’ parents.
And with that, in rolls Easy Rider in 1969. Starring, co-written, and produced by Peter Fonda and Dennis Hopper (with Hopper directing), we take off on a druggy road trip across the country from California to New Orleans interacting with various counter-cultural types (hippies, bikers, and a weirdo lawyer) sharply paired with popular rock-and-roll music of the era.
The film is peppered with shots reminiscent of John Ford’s The Searchers (specifically Monument Valley in Arizona) but with a much different feel. Instead of a world to be conquered by Westward Expansion, we are on a trip the other direction on a trip across the country looking to escape the bustle of American life.
The film begins in Los Angeles where Wyatt (Fonda) and Billy (Hopper) sell off their cocaine they smuggled in from Mexico and begin to head east on Route 66 (I don’t know if this is said, but I can read a map) towards New Orleans.
Each transition from one location to another is paired with a needle-drop from a popular song and miles of highway taking us from one place to the other. From Los Angeles, Wyatt and Billy head west and pick up a drifter hitch-hiker who asks for a ride to a commune in Arizona where Wyatt and Billy share some “free love” with the girls. They wash and partake in the new aged hippy-dippyism of the times before getting on the road again. The depiction of this group is one of peace and love. These people are refugees from the grind of post-war industrialism. They choose not to partake in a commodified life and instead want to experience life for what it is. On the way out, the hitch-hiker gives Wyatt and Billy some acid for a rainy day and they continue on their bikes heading East.
Every time the film changes locations, we get a new needle drop. Truth be told, by the end of the film i had lost count of all the licensed music. This isn’t really a criticism, but it does stand out. In the parlance of our times, this film is just vibes. There’s a liberation (sexually, socially, and ideologically) that is palpable throughout.
Wyatt and Billy arrive in the next city in New Mexico (presumably Santa Fe) where they sneak into a parade with their motorcycles. The police do not find this stunt nearly as cute as they do and throw them in jail for the night. In the pen, they befriend a drunken chaotic lawyer George Hansen (Jack Nicholson) who was thrown in the drunk tank for the night for (unsurprisingly) public intoxication.
Nicholson explodes off the screen. Every second he’s onscreen, he overpowers the other two. His delivery, his mannerisms, everything is elevated. It’s clear that he’s the new generation the moment he arrives. It was clear from the minute he arrived in this movie that he was going to be at the forefront of pop culture for a long time. I won’t spoil too much of his performance. If you’re looking for any reason to watch this movie, this is the reason right here. Very seldom do you see a career blossom in this way. If you look up “Break-Out Performance” in the encyclopedia, this will be the example. Plain as that.
Now that we’ve talked about what is great about the movie (Jack Nicholson), we can talk spoilers…
Billy and Wyatt let George tag along with them to New Orleans for Mardi Gras. George, being a man of the people, suggest they hit the best brothel in the French Quarter. Upon arrival in New Orleans, the crew enters a diner for some food. After making eyes with some girls, George is skeeved out by some rednecks and convinces the crew to leave without eating.
The rednecks follow the crew back to their camp outside of town and lynch them in the dead of night (specifically suspecting George is gay). Billy and Wyatt are beaten badly, George is killed. This film is not scared to present hateful violence against LGBTQ people and lynching culture in the South at the time. This is in contrast to In the Heat of the Night (1967) which insinuates the police force in the community would actually care about the lynching of an innocent non-cis/het/white in the South. I woudl attribute this more to the film being more countercultural in nature as opposed to a mainstream film. I’m not saying In the Heat of the Night is dishonest in this kind of violence, but it’s a more mainstream movie and would need to sanitize a bit to be more palatable to a broader audience.
After recovering from their wounds, Billy and Wyatt pull the card for the brothel (and some cash) from George’s wallet. They want to hang out, but Billy’s heart just isn’t in it. He convinces Wyatt and of the working girls to go with him into the Quarter for some partying on Bourbon St.
And this is about the part of the movie where I have some moral issues with some choices… I get the irony of my saying this.
The entire film is about a generation pushing the limits of of the social norm, it takes me over 75 minutes to get there. The boys convince the girls to go with them to a cemetery in New Orleans (not sure which one). Cemetery tours in the city have been around for decades. The raised sarcophagi in the swamps are incredibly creepy and foreboding. Inside the cemetery, the four take some acid and have an experience. Nudity and all that. I appreciate the filmmaking, but you will never catch me partying or doing anything remotely irreverent in a cemetery. It’s a place of mourning and disrespectful no only to the memory of the interned, but certainly to those occupying the space to say goodbye to their loved ones or reunite in some way with their spirit(s). I just find the whole thing in poor taste. I always have and always will.
There’s an epilogue that I won’t totally spoil. I think I’ve done enough of that already. On the whole, this film is interesting in parts. It is a nice snapshot of the subculture that is more often characterized by crazy cults like the Mason Family or edgy psychopaths like Hell’s Angels. These people are not that. They are laid back, cool people looking to escape. They are clearly Easy Riders.
I give this a 6/10. Jack Nicholson parts are a 13/10.
96 mins
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