Get your motor runnin'
Easy Rider
Landmark film Easy Rider revs up at ACMI in a newly restored print.
Drawn with visions of the American landscape (captured by now legendary Hollywood cinematographer Laszlo Kovacs) and evoking a sense of freedom, Easy Rider is the ultimate road movie, fittingly punctuated with a pulsating rock and roll soundtrack, including Jimi Hendrix, Bob Dylan and Steppenwolf's Born To Be Wild.
It's the adventure of Billy (played by Dennis Hopper, named after Billy the Kid) and Wyatt (played by Peter Fonda, inspired by Captain America), two modern-day cowboys; hippie drug dealers rocketing across America on Harley Davidsons. Along the way, they pick up lawyer George Hanson (Jack Nicholson in the role that propelled him to fame) and meet with a 'connection' (eccentric, disgraced record mogul Phil Spector).
Now regarded as a document of the counter-culture movement and a landmark Hollywood film, Easy Rider is "a film that should be seen" (New York Magazine).
As historical record it is a near-perfect reflection of the sex, drugs and rock and roll spirit of the age. Ain't It Cool News notes: "This is the sort of film you can smell pot smoke reek from the celluloid. You can feel your hair being tangled by the wind. You can feel the 80 degree water they bathe and skinny dip in. The film makes me feel like leaving the keyboard and just roaming the earth..."
For Hollywood, it signalled a breakthrough for independent film, being made without the restraints of the dominant film studios of the time. Shot for only US$340,000, Easy Rider went on to make an astonishing US$19 million at the box office, making it the highest-grossing independent film of all time.
The making of the film was a tumultuous affair; stories of the production process are now embedded in film folklore. Even the motorbikes proved problematic as they were never designed for long-distance travel.
In this, the 40th year since Easy Rider premiered at Cannes and garnered two Oscar nominations, the film is acquiring a new generation of fans at festivals around the world, and is formally recognised as 'a film of great cultural and historical significance' by the United States National Film Registry.
The brainchild of its stars Dennis Hopper (also his directorial debut) and Peter Fonda, Easy Rider is not to be missed in its spectacular restored celluloid glory.
The season coincides with the exhibition Dennis Hopper and the New Hollywood, on now at ACMI.
Easy Rider screens at ACMI cinemas from Boxing Day to 10 January. More information here.
Published Friday, 18 December 2009
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