SummaryAn alcoholic attorney (Nicholson) hooks up with two part-time, drug-dealing motorcyclists (Fonda and Hopper) in search of their "American Dream." Heading from California to New Orleans, they sample the highs and lows of America the beautiful in a stoned-out quest for life's true meaning. (Sony Pictures)
Directed By:Dennis Hopper
Written By:Peter Fonda, Dennis Hopper, Terry Southern
Easy Rider
Metascore
Universal Acclaim
85
User score
Generally Favorable
7.4
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Top Cast
Metascore
Universal Acclaim
85
89% Positive
16 Reviews
16 Reviews
11% Mixed
2 Reviews
2 Reviews
0% Negative
0 Reviews
0 Reviews
100
Many of the movies made in the wake of Easy Rider were more accomplished, more sophisticated, and more aesthetically mature. But Easy Rider itself still feels vital, because it was made by people who’d spent years learning what couldn’t be done, before deciding to do it anyway.
100
Someday it was inevitable that a great film would come along, utilizing the motorcycle genre, the same way the great Westerns suddenly made everyone realize they were a legitimate American art form, Easy Rider is the picture.
User score
Generally Favorable
7.4
80% Positive
91 Ratings
91 Ratings
11% Mixed
13 Ratings
13 Ratings
9% Negative
10 Ratings
10 Ratings
May 25, 2022
10
Easy Rider is a classic of the world cinema of the late 60's, with only 340 thousand dollars, the film has grossed over 400 million dollars. It is a pioneer of the Road-Movie and Acid-Western genre. It was directed by Dennis Hopper, who was young at the time, and also invited such actors as: Peter Fonda, Dennis Hopper, Jack Nicholson, Karen Black, Tony Basil, Luke Askew, Phil Spector. The very concept of a plot is not present here. 2 hippie guys Wyatt (nicknamed Mr. America) and Billy trade a shipment of drugs for 2 choppers and head from Mexico first to Los Angeles and then to New Orleans for the Mardi Gras Festival, in search of "Real America" under "real" is suspected government abandonment with the war in Vietnam, with free love, acid trip, etc. The whole film is saturated with issues and tensions about the youth of the '60s, such as the heyday of the hippie movement, the communal way of life. One of the strongest pluses of this picture is the soundtrack. It's got all the gold in folk-rock and psychedelic music from the '60s. From the Jimi Hendrix Experience, The Byrds to Steppenwolf and Bob Dylan. Also on the plus side is the acting (front and background), what is only Hopper or The Advocate. The movie really wasn't made to order, which is nice. However, I want to note that not everyone will understand this film, because, as I have already said, there is no plot, but at the same time, this picture has a lot of meanings, thoughts. And one of the thoughts for me: "To be a hippie means to be a free man, to escape from the democratic ideas of the capitalist world. To reconnect with nature, to become nature, as Jim Morrison sang in one of the songs. I definitely recommend the film.
Sep 12, 2020
10
Easy Rider I guess is a thinking man's film. Some don't understand it and I don't fully understand it because whether it's about freedom, accomplishing some goal, the American dream or something else it's rather confusing but it's beautifully acted, entertaining and well made and directed. There's some scenes of drugs, violence, possibly sex and nudity and some bizarre moments but that doesn't ruin the film. Easy Rider is a 1969 classic of a movie with excellent performances by Peter Fonda, Dennis Hopper and Jack Nicholson and the motorbikes are cool too. Great film and anybody who hates on it obviously doesn't appreciate a great film and Easy Rider has everything a film has to offer such as good characters, good acting, some violence, some sad parts, nice pace and beautiful music among other things and the motorbikes on the road being ridden with the landscape showing and the music is really refreshing and beautiful and that's what makes Easy Rider a winner of a film plus the excellent acting. If you don't appreciate Easy Rider which is one of the greatest films of it's era then go watch some blood and guts brainless horror movie.
90
This is about as opposite of 1956's big-budget Around the World in 80 Days as you can get.
90
The film has refurbished the classic romantic gospel of the outcast wanderer.
88
This legendary tale of a motorcycle odyssey gone wrong remains timeless for its diagnosing of the early stages of a social ennui that has now fully bloomed.
70
With the exception of Nicholson, its good things are familiar things - the rock score, the lovely, sometimes impressionistic photography by Laszlo Kovacs, the faces of small-town America.
50
Looked at from the vantage point of more than three decades later, the movie is frequently incoherent; the dialogue sounds like it was being made up on the spot; and the acting is spotty in many cases. [01 May 2004, p.70]
Jun 3, 2018
10
An essential of late 60s that established a new mode of stories: the road movie. Outstanding and young Fonda, Hooper and Nicholson as the outcasts, half-heroes in a road to nowhere. Somewise is a reflexion of the prejudice and intolerance that prevails at South of USA. Ride your Harley Davidson and enjoy.
Mar 30, 2022
9
Easy Rider is not quite a classic, but what it is is a great movie. It does start off slowly, but when it picks up the film has very few problems if any. The production values are excellent, the soundtrack is inspired, the script is very effective and Dennis Hopper's direction shows perfectly that he was as good a director as he was an actor. The story is also very compelling with a purposefully depressing ending(certainly a refreshing change from the somewhat clichéd riding into the sunset ending) and although the start is slow the pace is solid on the whole. The acting is faultless, the three leads Peter Fonda, Dennis Hopper and Jack Nicholson are superb and work wonderfully together. All in all, Easy Rider is a fine movie, while just missing out on masterpiece status. What's for sure though, it is one of the best road movies there is. 9/10 Bethany Cox
Jan 25, 2023
4
At least Jack saved this from being one of the most boring and unfulfilling things I've seen. The soundtrack is good but its only staged over some motorcycles driving. The ending was shocking.
Feb 28, 2019
4
The first seventy minutes - eight out of ten
The last twenty minutes - zero out of ten.
Jan 16, 2011
1
This has gotta be the worst movie ever made, nothing appealing except Jack Nicholson, Two guys riding throughout the movie which is very tedious to enjoy.
