Easy Rider (1969)
82%RT Audience Score: 82%
Awards & Nominations: Nominated for 2 Oscars
8 wins & 14 nominations total
Edgy and seminal, Easy Rider encapsulates the dreams, hopes, and hopelessness of 1960s counterculture
Easy Rider is a movie that’s all about the journey, man. It’s got motorcycles, drugs, and a killer soundtrack that’ll make you feel like you’re right there with Peter Fonda and Dennis Hopper. Sure, the story might be a little slow, but it’s all worth it for the beautiful shots of America and the sense of rebellion that still crackles off the screen. Plus, who doesn’t love a good road trip movie? Just don’t watch it if you’re feeling too nostalgic for the good old days, man.
Production Company(ies)
Lurker
Distributor
RCA/Columbia, Columbia Pictures
Release Type
Theatrical
Filming Location(s)
Las Vegas, New Mexico, USA
MPAA / Certificate
R
Year of Release
1969
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Color:Color
Black and White -
Sound mix:Mono Dolby Atmos Dolby Digital
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Aspect ratio:1.85 : 1
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Runtime:1h 34m
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Language(s):English, Spanish, Greek, ,, Ancient, (to, 1453)
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Country of origin:United States
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Release date:Release Date (Theaters): Jul 14, 1969 Original
Release Date (Streaming): Mar 16, 2004
Genre(s)
Drama
Keyword(s)
starring Peter Fonda, Dennis Hopper, Jack Nicholson, directed by Dennis Hopper, written by Peter Fonda, Dennis Hopper, Terry Southern, drama, box office performance, budget, reviewed by Penelope Gilliatt, Joe Morgenstern, Ed Potton, Tom Milne, John Mahoney, Charles Champlin, Mike Massie, Jacob Brackman, Paul Schrader, Ellen Willis, MPAA rating R, counterculture, Harley-riding hippies, drug deal, cross-country journey, bigotry, hatred, alternative lifestyles, drug experience, New Orleans, spiritual truth, anti-establishment, soundtrack, Jimi Hendrix, the Byrds, Steppenwolf, RCA/Columbia, Columbia Pictures, mono, 35mm, 16mm, flat (1.85:1), Wyatt, Billy, George Hanson, Jesus, Connection, Bodyguard
Worldwide gross: $123,276
Worldwide gross (inflation-adjusted): $1,122,624
Worldwide gross ranking (inflation-adjusted): 2,575
Worldwide tickets sold (est.): 122,424
US/Canada gross: $123,276
US/Canada gross (inflation-adjusted): $1,122,624
US/Canada gross ranking (inflation-adjusted): 2,159
US/Canada opening weekend: $74,448
US/Canada opening weekend (inflation-adjusted): $677,967
US/Canada opening weekend ranking (inflation-adjusted): 1,329
Budget and Earnings Details
Production budget (est.): $360,000
Production budget (inflation-adjusted): $3,278,373
Production budget ranking: 1,968
Marketing and distribution budget (inflation-adjusted est.): $1,765,404
Box office net earnings to date (inflation-adjusted est.): -$3,921,152
ROI to date (est.): -78%
ROI ranking: 1,863
Dennis Hopper – Billy
Jack Nicholson – George Hanson
Antonio Mendoza – Jesus
Phil Spector – Connection
Mac Mashourian – Bodyguard
Director(s)
Dennis Hopper
Writer(s)
Peter Fonda, Dennis Hopper, Terry Southern
Producer(s)
Peter Fonda, Bob Rafelson
Film Festivals
Awards & Nominations
Nominated for 2 Oscars
8 wins & 14 nominations total
Academy Awards
All Critics (55) | Top Critics (16) | Fresh (46) | Rotten (9)
Ninety-four minutes of what it is to swing, to watch, to be fond, to hold opinions, and to get killed in America at this moment.
July 6, 2022
Penelope Gilliatt
New Yorker
TOP CRITIC
Easy Rider is not consistently well made, but it’s purposefully made, and the purpose pays off.
June 21, 2022
Joe Morgenstern
Newsweek
TOP CRITIC
That it still crackles with countercultural energy is down mainly to a soundtrack featuring Jimi Hendrix, the Byrds and Steppenwolf and a cast stuffed with anti-establishment icons.
July 30, 2021 | Rating: 4/5
Ed Potton
Times (UK)
TOP CRITIC
It succeeds where it matters most, in communicating a yearning vision of a different way of life, in an America seen as a vast, unexplored repository of beauty, optimism and adventure.
March 18, 2020
Tom Milne
Sight & Sound
TOP CRITIC
Easy Rider is very likely the clearest and most disturbing presentation of the angry estrangement of American youth to be brought to the screen.
July 16, 2019
John Mahoney
Hollywood Reporter
TOP CRITIC
Fonda and Hopper, it should by this time go without saying, give immense performances.
March 4, 2013 | Rating: 4/5
Charles Champlin
Los Angeles Times
TOP CRITIC
Despite the engaging look, themes, and editing, the story is largely lacking and drastically unhurried.
August 24, 2020 | Rating: 4/10
Mike Massie
Gone With The Twins
Easy Rider’s honesty, its beautiful, honest simplemindedness, could make it one of the surprise hits of the year.
August 13, 2020
Jacob Brackman
Esquire Magazine
Easy Rider deals with the most important issues facing America — and for that reason its superficiality is the more deplorable.
July 1, 2020
Paul Schrader
Los Angeles Free Press
Easy Rider, a sparsely written cross-country movie with a Don Quixote and Sancho Panza on extravagant motorcycles, is marred by draggy, romantic material.
June 18, 2019
Manny Farber
Artforum
Beyond the melodrama of groovy kids vs. rednecks is an emotion that more and more of us, young and old alike, are experiencing, the overpowering sense of loss, the anguish of What went wrong? We blew it — how?
March 28, 2017
Ellen Willis
The New York Review of Books
“Easy Rider,” even for those uninterested in the legacy of 1960s counterculture, punches the viewer in the gut with its hopelessness and emptiness.
June 3, 2016
Witney Seibold
CraveOnline…
Plot
Netting a hefty profit from their latest drug deal, hippies Wyatt and Billy decide to outfit themselves with among other things motorbikes – Wyatt complete in what they call his Captain America gear and similar motif on the bike – and chucking any structure in their lives beyond the want to get there for the event, cycle from their home base of Los Angeles to New Orleans for Mardi Gras in just over a week. They don’t plan to spend their proceeds on this trip – they saving that for a more carefree life in Florida after the fact – they sleeping in the great outdoors along the way. While Wyatt is more easy going, believing in the karmic nature and practicality of helping others when they can and in turn asking for help when they need it, Billy is a little more suspicious of the people they encounter, especially in hiding their wad of cash that is stuffed into the gas tank of Wyatt’s bike, that money their future. They will find that not all counter-culturalists have the exact same mindset, while they will also find the spiritual and practical connections to others in perhaps the most unlikely of places and people. But they will also ruffle some feathers just for being hippies, arguably in the fear not of them as people but what they represent. Through it all, Wyatt in particular evaluates if the trip ends up being what he expects or wants for his life.
Trivia
Goofs / Tidbits
Easy Rider features a memorable performance from Jack Nicholson.
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