SPEEDtv.com DVD Review: Easy Rider
Written by: Gregg Leary Charlotte, NC – 3/22/2007

When was the last time you saw “Easy Rider?” If the answer is never --or that you caught parts of it years ago on television—or that you tried to see it at the drive-in but partied in your car right along with Dennis Hopper and Peter Fonda on the silver screen and don’t remember much of it—you MUST purchase “Easy Rider: The 35th Anniversary Deluxe Edition.”

It’s a triple bonus that includes the DVD of the film with lots of special features including interviews with Fonda and Hopper, the CD soundtrack that is superbly remastered and has an amazing mix that will utilize all your surround-sound speakers AND a meticulously researched book, “Easy Rider” by Lee Hill that contains 80 pages of facts about the film that debunk much of the folklore and fakelore about the movie.

The “Easy Riders” were probably doomed from the start. Instead of following Horace Greeley’s advice of “Go West, young man,” the protagonists leave Los Angeles, go South to Mexico to transact a lucrative cocaine deal, then proceed East towards Mardi Gras in New Orleans with the ultimate goal of retiring in the South of Florida. Many call it a modern western with Hopper and Fonda riding bikes instead of horses. The ‘western’ theme holds as the main characters ARE named for western icons. Dennis Hopper is named “Billy” for Billy the Kid and Hopper’s hometown of Dodge City, Kansas was the town where his partner’s character, Wyatt (Earp) was a lawman. Wyatt’s name is only mentioned ONCE in the film—he goes by the alias “Captain America.” The “Gunfight at the O.K. Corral” at the end of the film is extremely one-sided.

Why is “Easy Rider” the perfect title? An “Easy Rider” is a guy who lives off the earnings of a prostitute—the girls at Madame Tinkertoy’s in New Orleans would have known the term well. The film begins at La Contenta bar in Mexico where a band of Hispanic three stooges watch Billy and Wyatt test a line of coke on a motorcycle mirror. (Scoring junk in a junkyard.) The duo approves the quality and carry the drugs across the border in two motorcycle batteries. They meet their “connection,” Phil Spector (who is again in the headlines in 2007) at LAX and are well paid for their efforts. Watch for a continuity error as Wyatt loads the money into a plastic tube that he hides in his chopper’s gas tank. He is wearing a Rolex watch. You’ll see it transform itself into a Timex that he intentionally leaves behind at a Stonehenge-like ruin when they begin their eastward journey.

The soundtrack is fabulous! Hopper originally intended Crosby, Stills and Nash to write the soundtrack, but decided to use a “found music” soundtrack of contemporary hits from various artists instead. Thank goodness. I’d suggest running the subtitles during the film to pick up the real lyrics of songs we may have THOUGHT we knew The soundtrack includes:

“Born to be Wild,” Steppenwolf.
“The Weight,” Smith.
“Wasn’t Born to Follow,” The Byrds.
“San Francisco Nights,” Eric Burdon & The Animals.
“The Pusher,” Steppenwolf.
“It’s Alright Ma (I’m Only Bleeding,)” Roger McGuinn.
“Nights In White Satin,” The Moody Blues.
“Get Together,” The Youngbloods.

Dennis Hopper should receive kudos, not only as actor and director, but for his uncanny knack for casting just the right person for the role. Jack Nicholson is superb as George Hanson. His Venusian speech delivered by the campfire is one of the highlights of the film. Hopper’s genius for “finding” actors among the local townspeople is legendary. Hayward Roubillard as the “Cat Man” in the Morganza, Louisiana café who predicts, “I don’t think they’ll make the parish line,” is perfect. The Pick-Up truck occupants at the end of the film are also locals, one of which gave literal meaning to the western term, “riding shotgun.” (The dual assassinations at the end of the film may be symbolic of the deaths of Robert Kennedy and Martin Luther King which actually happened during the filming of “Easy Rider.” Hopper had marched to Montgomery, Alabama with King.)

The shotgun killings of Billy and Wyatt at the end of “Easy Rider” are depressing to be sure, but even more so after the exchange between the two “outlaws” in their final campfire scene.

Billy: We’re rich, Wyatt. We’re rich, man. We’re retired in Florida now, Mister!

Wyatt: No, Billy. We blew it

“Easy Rider” earns five out of five lug nuts—or spokes as the case may be. Purchase it on SPEEDtvbooks.com now.

Gregg Leary is a Researcher/Writer for “Wind Tunnel with Dave Despain” and
Book Reviewer for SPEEDtv.com.

Leary was track announcer for Hooter’s IHRA Drag Racing at National Events in the USA and Canada and entertained event crowds during “down time” by conducting “crowd participation” and product giveaways with the Hooter’s Girls. He was Marketing and PR Director and track announcer at Lake Erie Speedway.

As Photo Editor, feature writer, columnist and swimsuit calendar chief photographer for “Sports Jam Magazine,” Leary covered Auto Racing, Major League Baseball, the National Football League, and the National Basketball Association. He has photographed dozens of celebrities from A-Z…including Mario Andretti, Jim Brown, AJ Foyt, Ken Griffey Jr., Michael Jordan, Jay Leno, David Letterman, Mark McGwire, Paul Newman, Walter Payton, Alex Zanardi and Presidents Gerald Ford, George Bush and Bill Clinton. Gregg’s wife, Lynn and daughter, Caitlynn live in Jefferson, Ohio and his son, Sean is a student at Appalachian State University in Boone, NC.

Leary has conducted motivational seminars and performed stand up comedy around the country. He is a graduate of Wittenberg University in Springfield, Ohio and Exeter University in England. Gregg has hitchhiked 40,000 miles through 36 states and 10 European countries and is a licensed pilot and skydiver. Leary is available for motorsports consulting on a limited basis. Contact him via email at gleary@speedtv.com .