“Easy Rider” was released in theatres during the summer of 1969 and while it’s a movie that I’ve heard a lot about over the years, I’d never seen it, that is, until yesterday when I watched it for the first time.
Considered a “counterculture classic,” this movie is on a lot of “best-of” lists. The American Film Institute ranked it No. 88 on its “100 Years, 100 Movies” list, and “Easy Rider” was added to the U.S. National Film Registry in 1998 for its cultural and historical significance. I added “Easy Rider” to my “life list” last year after ShortList.com included it on its list of the “30 Coolest Films Ever Made.”
For those of you who aren’t familiar with this movie, it’s about two bikers named Wyatt and Billy. At the start of the movie, they smuggle a significant amount of cocaine out of Mexico and sell their stash for a small fortune to a drug dealer in Los Angeles. Flush with cash, which they hide in one of their gas tanks, they decide to ride to New Orleans for Mardi Gras.
On the way, they pick up a hitchhiker and agree to take him to the commune where he lives. Before leaving, they’re given LSD, which they put up for later. Their adventures continue further down the road in a small town, where they’re arrested for the misdemeanor of "parading without a license."
The police toss them in jail, where they befriend the town drunk, who turns out to be a young lawyer named George Hanson. The lawyer helps get them out of jail and then agrees to travel with them to New Orleans. Things go bad though in another small town when they run into some unsavory locals, who attack them in the middle of the night at their campsite. Hanson is killed, and the bikers, who are only slightly injured, leave his corpse behind wrapped in his sleeping bag.
Wyatt and Billy eventually arrive in New Orleans, where they have a big time at Mardi Gras. They befriend two ladies of the night and proceed to drop acid in St. Louis Cemetery No. 1, which results in a very bad trip. (I’ve actually been on a tour of this cemetery before and have seen where the film was shot, which is another reason I added this movie to my “life list.”)
Mardi Gras winds down, and the two bikers hit the road once more. Their adventures come to an end though when they’re both shot by two random strangers in a pickup who are armed with a shotgun. I honestly didn’t know anything about how this movie's ending, so I was very shocked by its abrupt end.
Directed by Dennis Hopper and produced by Peter Fonda, the movie’s cast included Fonda (Wyatt), Hopper (Billy) and Jack Nicholson (Hanson). Fair warning, "Easy Rider" is probably not for everyone as it does contain more than a little objectionable content. If you think you wouldn’t enjoy it, you probably won’t. The movie is rated R and is 95 minutes long.
In the end, I enjoyed watching this famous movie, which allowed me to scratch another item off my “life list.” How many of you out there have seen this movie? What did you think about it? Let us know in the comments section below.
2013 LIFE LIST ITEM “CONFIRMED KILLS” TO DATE:
1. Ate a funnel cake
2. Ate a peach from Chilton County, Alabama
3. Ate at Big Daddy’s Grill in Fairhope
4. Ate at Callaghan’s Irish Social Club in Mobile
5. Ate catfish at the Stage Coach Café in Stockton
6. Ate octopus
7. Attended a Beulah Campground service
8. Drank a fresh lemonade at Toomer’s Drugs in Auburn
9. Drank Cognac
10. Drank goat’s milk
11. Hiked the Grand Canyon
12. Joined the H.P. Lovecraft Historical Society
13. Joined the Sons of Confederate Veterans
14. Made an origami animal
15. Listened to Pink Floyd’s “The Wall” without interruption
16. Listened to The Beatles’ “White Album” without interruption
17. Planted a vegetable garden
18. Ran the Alligator Trot 5K in Florala, Alabama
19. Ran the Battle of Mobile Bay 5K on Dauphin Island
20. Ran through the Bankhead Tunnel in Mobile
21. Read all the Hellboy graphic novels
22. Read “And Then There Were None” by Agatha Christie
23. Read “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory” by Roald Dahl
24. Read MLK’s “I Have a Dream” speech
25. Read “Savage Wilderness” by Barry Ralph
26. Read the entire Bible
27. Read “Who Goes There?” by John W. Campbell Jr.
28. Saw the Ginkgo tree in Evergreen
29. Took the downtown Selma walking tour
30. Tried 100 different types of beer
31. Visited Ellicott’s Stone
32. Visited Packer’s Bend
33. Visited the Grand Canyon
34. Visited the grave of Lewis Lavon Peacock
35. Watched “A Streetcar Named Desire”
36. Watched “Brazil” (1985)
37. Watched “Cat on a Hot Tin Roof" (1958)
38. Watched “Dracula” (1931)
39. Watched “Easy Rider” (1969)
40. Watched “Nosferatu” (1922)
41. Watched “This Is Spinal Tap”
(AUTHOR’S NOTE: The whole point of these life list updates is NOT to draw attention to myself or to anything that I’ve done. Instead, I hope to encourage others to accomplish their own bucket list goals. I’m just a regular guy, and if I can do these things, so can you.)
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