Easy Rider
May. 31st, 2004 08:57 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
pasitheaBeen a long time since I watched this film. We bought it on DVD a week or two ago and I hadn't had time to watch it until last night. The cool night air and the smell of the smoker put me in the mood for it, I guess. Stacey hadn't ever seen it all the way through. It was close to home for me but even closer to home for her mom.
Anyhow, still a really good film and with the way things are today it may be even more timely now than it was when it was written. Particularly Nickelson's speech on being free versus talking about freedom. All in all, this is a wonderful and well-made film. Yes, at times it feels a bit like a well-made home movie but that's really the point of it and it keeps the mood and tone consistent throughout.
Like most DVDs of good films, this one contains extra goodies on it including interviews with the cast and crew about making the film... This is ALMOST as good as the film itself. Nickleson is notably absent but all the rest are crazy and unrepententant and talk freely about how they were stoned out of their MINDS when they made this movie and all the stuff they did to make it and make it work. You could never EVER get funding or distribution to make a film the way they made this one today. It was a really great piece of work.
Though one thing I did find particularly disturbing was one of the scenes which was unscripted. The scene in the cafe... So... The reason that scene always seemed particularly real and terrifying to me was because it was real. They had gone into the cafe as a potential place to shoot and the patrons had said stuff like that, death threats and all so... Hopper took a gamble that everyone wanted to be in movies and asked them to be on camera and told them they could say whatever they felt about them.. Hopper, Fonda, and Nickleson are scripted in that scene. The rest is genuine and unscripted. The hate in their eyes and hearts is real. These were people proud of their hate an intolerance. *shiver* Its so much like where I grew up. :/
In retrospect I can't believe I rode my motorcycle across the country ALONE. It really was a crazy and dangerous thing to do. I'm lucky my encounters in the small towns I stopped in were more benign, though I guess I was careful about where and when I stopped too. It really does take me back to that ride though. Heh. Especially the part where Hopper is standing on his bike. I can't believe I did that. I think you get a little crazy on a drive that long out in the desert sun.
Anyhow.. Good film.
Anyhow, still a really good film and with the way things are today it may be even more timely now than it was when it was written. Particularly Nickelson's speech on being free versus talking about freedom. All in all, this is a wonderful and well-made film. Yes, at times it feels a bit like a well-made home movie but that's really the point of it and it keeps the mood and tone consistent throughout.
Like most DVDs of good films, this one contains extra goodies on it including interviews with the cast and crew about making the film... This is ALMOST as good as the film itself. Nickleson is notably absent but all the rest are crazy and unrepententant and talk freely about how they were stoned out of their MINDS when they made this movie and all the stuff they did to make it and make it work. You could never EVER get funding or distribution to make a film the way they made this one today. It was a really great piece of work.
Though one thing I did find particularly disturbing was one of the scenes which was unscripted. The scene in the cafe... So... The reason that scene always seemed particularly real and terrifying to me was because it was real. They had gone into the cafe as a potential place to shoot and the patrons had said stuff like that, death threats and all so... Hopper took a gamble that everyone wanted to be in movies and asked them to be on camera and told them they could say whatever they felt about them.. Hopper, Fonda, and Nickleson are scripted in that scene. The rest is genuine and unscripted. The hate in their eyes and hearts is real. These were people proud of their hate an intolerance. *shiver* Its so much like where I grew up. :/
In retrospect I can't believe I rode my motorcycle across the country ALONE. It really was a crazy and dangerous thing to do. I'm lucky my encounters in the small towns I stopped in were more benign, though I guess I was careful about where and when I stopped too. It really does take me back to that ride though. Heh. Especially the part where Hopper is standing on his bike. I can't believe I did that. I think you get a little crazy on a drive that long out in the desert sun.
Anyhow.. Good film.
