Easy Rider was my
#6. Here's what I wrote about it a year ago. I'd only been a member here for about 2-3 weeks at the time and I used a three popcorn rating from Lucas as a catalyst to randomly talk about why I love the film:
"They're not scared of you. They're scared of what you represent to 'em." 
I love movies that are time capsules of the past--- movies that so perfectly capture the era in which they were made that it's like stepping into a time machine.
Easy Rider could not have been made during any other time in history--- not without losing its authenticity, at least. The 60's is in its DNA. It lives and breathes and bleeds the 60's. I get a contact high just from watching the film.
(Hey, Mr. Nicholson, don't bogart that joint!) I've often wished that I could've been a teenager during the 60's (as long as I don't have to worry about being drafted to 'Nam or anything like that). I've always loved everything about the decade: the movies, the music, the fashion, the hairstyles, the rampant drug use, the ideals, the winds of change blowing in the air. When I put on
Easy Rider, I'm transported to a time period that I wasn't alive to experience. I get to hop on the back of a bike with Dennis Hopper and Peter Fonda and drive across the country. Like
Gravity allowed me to visit space,
Easy Rider allows me to visit the age of peace and love and flower power--- which, as the movie illustrates, isn't as full of peace and love as one might expect.
Besides being the greatest road movie in history,
Easy Rider is also one of the most important and revolutionary films ever made. It opened the door to a new breed of independent film-makers, something for which everyone on this forum can be grateful. Since it's deemed an all-time classic, I think many watch it expecting a movie that's much more polished, so they're a bit taken aback by how rough around the edges it is. But that roughness is part of what makes
Easy Rider so brilliant, in my opinion. This is a landmark counter-culture film made by people who were actually part of the counter-culture movement. When characters drop acid in a graveyard, they're
actually dropping acid in a graveyard! Hopper, Fonda and Nicholson weren't acting so much as just embodying who they already were. The rebellious, free-spirited attitude that serves as the movie's soul was already present in each of them.
No, there isn't much of a plot, but for me this is a "hang-out" movie. The soundtrack is phenomenal. Jack Nicholson turned himself into a star with his show-stealing performance. The editing, still to this day, feels inventive, as if even the camera has an acid blotter under its tongue. It's a great film, an important film, and one of my top twenty favorite films of all time. I love everything about it, warts and all.
Everything I wrote still stands.
Easy Rider may not be be the best movie of the 60's, but I don't think there's any other film that more perfectly encapsulates the decade. I'm disappointed that it isn't higher on the countdown, but I'm not really surprised given the tepid reactions from a lot of people who seem to respect its profound influence on the industry but don't particularly enjoy watching it. Personally, this is a film that I never grow tired of re-watching. It appeals to my sensibilities in a lot of ways. My dad and a couple of my uncles were in motorcycle gangs before I was born. I never even learned how to properly ride a bicycle without training wheels, so there's no way in hell I'm ever going to own a motorcycle, but through being around Harley's some as a youth and hearing stories from my family and viewing old sepia-tinged photos of my father and uncles during their biker days, I've always been fascinated by that culture. The bikes, the long hair, the tattoos, the rock n' roll and heavy metal music, the partying, the drugs, the anti-establishment attitude -- all of that appeals to me.
As someone who grew up in the American South and always chose to dress differently and wear my hair long, I can relate very strongly to the restaurant scene in
Easy Rider. I've often received those same judgmental looks and nasty remarks. The ideals of the characters also appeal to me. Just about four or five years ago I gave serious consideration to joining a commune. (Quite a few still exist, believe it or not, although nowadays they're often referred to as "intentional communities.") I didn't have anything else going on in my life at the time and I was starting to get in trouble a lot due to too much stored up anger and resentment, so I thought it'd be good to get away from everyone and everything and join up with a group of more similar-minded individuals. I'm still very drawn to that lifestyle. I'd love to say f**k you to The Man, drop out of society and live a self-sufficient life. I think that's a difficult, but much more rewarding way of life. Unfortunately, I don't have the skills or self-discipline to ever accomplish it. So
Easy Rider is wish fulfillment for me in a lot of ways. I watch the film and I think, "I want to
be those guys! I want to drive my bike across the country! I want to drop acid in a graveyard! I want to smoke weed with Jack Nicholson! I want to get naked with a bunch of hairy hippy chicks!" As long as I don't suffer the same fate as the characters, sign me up! Since that isn't possible, though, I just watch
Easy Rider and live vicariously through Peter Fonda and Dennis Hopper.
My List So Far: #6)
Easy Rider #12)
Fail-Safe #14)
The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance #15)
Repulsion #16)
Knife in the Water
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I just didn't like her in there.
- I have a tendency to watch that entire movie just so I can look at him. 
from me, but it was never in serious contention for my list, which still has five of them to appear so far.
