Sunday, May 30, 2010



Riding Easy

As someone who is a fan of Jack Kerouac, and a fan of all the crazy souls who love and live to be on the road, Easy Rider (1969) is a film that is affecting. Today, on the day of Dennis Hopper's death, I decided to sit and watch the film, his debut as a director. Hopper won for Best debut at Cannes in that year for the film.



Prepare for a real trip (drugs included) with Dennis Hopper, Peter Fonda and Jack Nicholson across America from L.A to New Orleans, through mountains, down rivers, meeting freedom-loving hippies trying to live off the land to the other extreme of conservative white Americans who could hate you for growing your hair.

What is freedom? What is it today - to be free...?

"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."

I'm amazed to read online, that Hopper made a film that was almost 5 hours long, and it was edited for over a year and brought to its current size. I enjoyed the way the acid trip sequence was edited, to be able to translate the experience of a trip onto film, is usually a work of art.

The music is great! Good ol' Steppenwolf, The Byrds, Hendrix and whole lot of others I must listen to. It's the music that really adds to its cult status. The opening credits cut to Born to be Wild...I don't think anyone can re-create that magic of Fonda and Hopper on their bikes riding out onto the great U.S Highway...looking for their America. Like a true nature's child, we were born to be wild, we have climbed so high, no never gonna die....

No, you are never gonna die.

Dennis Hopper (1936-2010)

1 comment:

the latin sardar said...

One of the original angry young men of that generation. He will be missed...