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Easy Rider Overview:

Easy Rider (1969) was a Crime - Drama Film directed by Dennis Hopper and produced by Peter Fonda, Bob Rafelson, Bert Schneider and William Hayward.

SYNOPSIS

Two motorcyclists embark on a coast-to-coast odyssey in search of real America, encountering the many faces of its big cities and small towns, a hippie commune, drugs, and sex in a New Orleans bawdy house. This often-imitated road movie defined a generation and has a memorable soundtrack. Written by the leads and Southern, the subject of later dispute.

(Source: available at Amazon AMC Classic Movie Companion).

Easy Rider was inducted into the National Film Registry in 1998.

Academy Awards 1969 --- Ceremony Number 42 (source: AMPAS)

AwardRecipientResult
Best Supporting ActorJack NicholsonNominated
Best WritingPeter Fonda, Dennis Hopper, Terry SouthernNominated
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Easy Rider BlogHub Articles:

Easy Rider (1969): An Emblem of The ’60s

By 4 Star Film Fan on Mar 24, 2022 From 4 Star Films

“If God did not exist, it would be necessary to invent him.” There’s no beating around the bush when it comes to Easy Rider. It remains a cultural landmark not only of the counterculture of the ’60s, but it also stands tall as one of the Great American Road movies, albeit fro... Read full article

Easy Rider (1969)

By 4 Star Film Fan on Aug 8, 2013 From 4 Star Films

Starring Peter Fonda and Dennis Hopper, this road film follows the two young men traveling across country from L.A. after a drug deal. Along the way they meet a Hippie colony, experimenting with drugs, and simply live life as they please. Much of the movie comprises of the many pit stops they ta... Read full article

Easy Rider (1969)

By 4 Star Film Fan on Aug 8, 2013 From 4 Star Films

Starring Peter Fonda and Dennis Hopper, this road film follows the two young men traveling across country from L.A. after a drug deal. Along the way they meet a Hippie colony, experimenting with drugs, and simply live life as they please. Much of the movie comprises of the many pit stops they ta... Read full article

Easy Rider (1)

By Alyson on Nov 5, 2011 From The Best Picture Project

Easy Rider follows two young men of the 1960’s counter culture as they travel on custom motorcycles from Los Angeles to New Orleans, for Mardi Gras.  Their trip is funded by a cocaine deal at the beginning of the film.  Along the way, we are shown images and a variety of people that make up the ... Read full article

Easy Rider

By Michael on May 3, 2011 From Le Mot du Cinephiliaque

Easy Rider (Dennis Hopper, 1969) A man is looking for America but couldn’t find it anywhere... What a plot line! Dennis Hopper’s directorial debut, Easy Rider was a big commercial success at the box office but also at Cannes. Made with only 40 000$ it grossed 60 million dollars. The film... Read full article

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Easy Rider Quotes:

Billy: Where ya from man?
Stranger on the Highway: Hard to say.
George Hanson: You know, this used to be a helluva good country. I can't understand what's gone wrong with it.
Billy: Man, everybody got chicken, that's what happened. Hey, we can't even get into like, a second-rate hotel, I mean, a second-rate motel, you dig? They think we're gonna cut their throat or somethin'. They're scared, man.
George Hanson: They're not scared of you. They're scared of what you represent to 'em.
Billy: Hey, man. All we represent to them, man, is somebody who needs a haircut.
George Hanson: Oh, no. What you represent to them is freedom.
Billy: What the hell is wrong with freedom? That's what it's all about.
George Hanson: Oh, yeah, that's right. That's what's it's all about, all right. But talkin' about it and bein' it, that's two different things. I mean, it's real hard to be free when you are bought and sold in the marketplace. Of course, don't ever tell anybody that they're not free, 'cause then they're gonna get real busy killin' and maimin' to prove to you that they are. Oh, yeah, they're gonna talk to you, and talk to you, and talk to you about individual freedom. But they see a free individual, it's gonna scare 'em.
Billy: Well, it don't make 'em runnin' scared.
George Hanson: No, it makes 'em dangerous. Buh, neh! Neh! Neh! Neh! Swamp!
George Hanson: [holding up a business card] The governor of Louisiana gave me this. Madame Tinkertoy's House of Blue Lights, corner of Bourbon and Toulouse, New Orleans, Louisiana. Now, this is supposed to be the finest whorehouse in the south. These ain't no pork chops! These are U.S. PRIME!
George Hanson: [Seeing his first marijuana cigarette] Lord have mercy! Is that what that is?
Billy: [after being flaked off by a motel manager] You asshole!
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Easy Rider Facts
Samuel Z. Arkoff at American-International Pictures turned down the picture. He later said that not doing this film and Night of the Living Dead were his two biggest regrets.
Rip Torn was originally cast in the role of George Hanson. According to Torn, Dennis Hopper pulled a knife on him during a pre-production meeting. On The Tonight Show with Jay Leno, Hopper claimed it was Torn who pulled the knife. Torn sued Hopper for defamation and won.
The final campfire scene was left out of the original shooting schedule and was shot after both motorcycles had been stolen.
Some of the film was shot on 16mm film instead of 35mm. This was demo footage shot a year before production began.
Peter Fonda, Dennis Hopper, and Jack Nicholson were actually smoking marijuana on camera. LSD, however, was not actually used during the acid scene, as Fonda has stated.
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