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93-545: Greenlit after the success of Hopper's previous film Easy Rider , Universal Pictures gave the director/star complete creative control over the project, which was budgeted at $ 1 million and was shot in Peru . Hopper only loosely followed the script by Stern, filming hours upon hours of footage built around friends whom he invited to the set, including several of his collaborators Fonda and Basil. The film's elongated post-production came from Hopper's constant editing and re-editing of

186-454: A "square" , George is reluctant to try it due to his fear of becoming " hooked " and it leading to worse drugs but quickly relents. Stopping to eat at a small-town Louisiana diner, the trio attracts the attention of the locals. The girls in the restaurant think they are exciting, but the local men and a police officer make denigrating comments and taunts. Wyatt, Billy, and George decide to leave without any fuss. They make camp outside town. In

279-523: A Western film production at Paramount, Heritage of the Desert (1932). Based on a Zane Grey novel, Hathaway gave Randolph Scott his first starring role in the film leading to his lengthy career in cowboy roles. It began a series of Hathaway-directed Scott Westerns from Grey novels, Wild Horse Mesa (1932), The Thundering Herd (1933), Sunset Pass (1933), To the Last Man (1933), Man of

372-512: A Bengal Lancer (1935). Encouraged by director Paul Bern , Hathaway traveled to India for nine months in the 1920s to collect documentary footage on Hindu religious pilgrimages. The project was never completed, but Hathaway’s experience with the Far East earned him an offer to direct The Lives of a Bengal Lancer . Hathaway got the job because the film changed directors and Cooper, who had director approval, admired Hathaway's films. The movie

465-509: A Blu-ray SteelBook was released. On May 3, 2016, Criterion re-released Easy Rider as a 2-disc collection. In 2012, a sequel to the movie was released, titled Easy Rider: The Ride Back and directed by Dustin Rikert. The film is about the family of Wyatt "Captain America" Williams from the 1940s to the present day. No members of the original cast or crew were involved with the film, which

558-527: A Blu-ray release on October 20, 2009. In November 2010, the film was digitally remastered and released by The Criterion Collection as part of the box set America Lost and Found: The BBS Story . It included features from previous DVD releases; the documentary Born to Be Wild (1995); television excerpts showing Hopper and Fonda at the Cannes Film Festival; and a new video interview with BBS co-founder Stephen Blauner . On November 23, 2014,

651-494: A Captain America chopper displayed there as a rebuilt original movie prop. Many replicas have been made since the film's release, including examples at the Deutsches Zweirad- und NSU-Museum (Germany), National Motorcycle Museum (Iowa), Barber Vintage Motorsports Museum (Alabama), and Harley-Davidson Museum (Milwaukee). Hopper and Fonda hosted a wrap party for the movie and then realized they had not yet shot

744-549: A Cause (1955) and Giant (1956), Hopper forced Hathaway to shoot more than 80 takes of a scene before he acquiesced to Hathaway's demands. After the shoot, Hathaway reportedly told the young actor that his career in Hollywood was over. Hopper later admitted he was wrong to have disrespected Hathaway as a youth and called him "the finest director I have ever worked with," working again with Hathaway on The Sons of Katie Elder (1965) and True Grit (1969). Hathaway then made

837-493: A Western, and Diplomatic Courier (1952). Hathaway directed the film noir Niagara (1953) which was Marilyn Monroe 's breakthrough role and White Witch Doctor (1953) with Susan Hayward and Robert Mitchum . He was reunited with Cooper on Garden of Evil (1954), a Western, then did the swashbuckler Prince Valiant (1954). After The Racers (1955), with Zanuck's mistress Bella Darvi , Hathaway left Fox. He made two thrillers with Van Johnson : The Bottom of

930-582: A child actor with the American Film Company under the mentorship of director Allan Dwan . Dwan’s prolific output of one and two-reels shorts, filmed near the U.S.-Mexico border between 1908-1912, influenced Hathaway’s later interest in Western-themed movies productions. Hathaway left school in 1912 at the age of fourteen to become an assistant property master at Universal Pictures , and began playing adolescent roles in 1917. With

1023-470: A cinematic translation of the psychedelic experience . Peter Biskind , author of Easy Riders, Raging Bulls wrote: "LSD did create a frame of mind that fractured experience and that LSD experience had an effect on films like Easy Rider ." While Easy Rider is famous for the Harley-Davidson choppers, the movie actually begins with the characters riding two European-made dirt bikes , Fonda on

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1116-466: A critical reappraisal and has become a cult classic . Kansas (Hopper) is a stunt coordinator in charge of horses on a western being shot in a small Peruvian village. Following a tragic incident on the set where an actor is killed while doing a stunt, he decides to quit the movie business and stay in Peru with a local woman. He thinks he has found paradise, but is soon called in to help in a bizarre incident:

1209-422: A cut by the end of 1970. He was in a period of severe alcohol and drug abuse, as shown in an extremely rare and barely released documentary titled The American Dreamer , directed by Lawrence Schiller and L.M. Kit Carson , but managed to put together a fairly straightforward cut in terms of conventional storytelling. He was mocked over it by his friend, cult director Alejandro Jodorowsky , who urged him to edit

1302-428: A decade. Nonetheless, by 1978, Hopper announced he was very proud of the film, and hosted many screenings. While he had disparaged the film in the past, Hopper said it was ahead of its time, and only now had audiences and critics started to understand his artistic vision. In 2006, Hopper told Playboy that he had re-acquired the rights to the film and was planning a DVD release. The magazine said that Hopper had held

1395-445: A dozen lines and six of them survive the cutting room floor he'll put in for screenplay credit. Now it would be almost impossible to exaggerate his contribution to the film—but, by George, he manages to do it every time." According to Southern, Fonda was under contract to produce a motorcycle film with A.I.P., which Fonda had agreed to allow Hopper to direct. According to Southern, Fonda and Hopper didn't seek screenplay credit until after

1488-535: A great gaffer ." Besides the camera car, the production used two five-ton trucks , one for the equipment and pulling an 750 Amp generator trailer, and one for the up to four motorcycles, with the cast and crew in a motor home. One of the locations was Monument Valley . The restaurant scenes with Fonda, Hopper, and Nicholson were shot in Morganza, Louisiana . The men and girls in that scene were all Morganza locals. In order to inspire more vitriolic commentary from

1581-409: A knife on him during the altercation when it was actually the other way around. This infuriated Torn, so he sued Hopper for defamation seeking punitive damages. Torn ultimately prevailed against Hopper on all counts. The filming budget of Easy Rider was $ 360,000 to $ 400,000. Peter Fonda said that on top of this, he personally paid for the costs of travel and lodging for the crew, saying, "Everybody

1674-590: A lot of good ones too," he said. He returned to Paramount to direct John Wayne in The Shepherd of the Hills (1941). For Walter Wanger , he made another Imperial action film, Sundown (1941). Back at Fox he made Ten Gentlemen from West Point (1942), China Girl (1942), Wing and a Prayer (1944), Home in Indiana (1944) and Nob Hill (1945). During the 1940s, Hathaway began making films in

1767-677: A melodrama Woman Obsessed (1959) and thriller Seven Thieves (1960). He was reunited with Wayne on the comedy-action "northern," North to Alaska (1960). Hathaway was one of three directors on the Cinerama Western, How the West Was Won (1962), directing the bulk of the film, including the river, prairie and train robbery sequences. He was meant to direct McLintock but the producers would not meet his salary. He visited Spain to work with Wayne again on Circus World (1964). Wayne asked Hathaway to cast John Smith in

1860-538: A movie, with little to no intervention from the studio, as had been done on Easy Rider . The other four were The Hired Hand , Taking Off , Silent Running , and American Graffiti , directed by Peter Fonda, Miloš Forman, Douglas Trumbull, and George Lucas, respectively. In October 1969 Universal announced Hopper would make the film for his Alta Light Production Company. (Hopper wanted to follow The Last Movie with another film called Second Chance about him and Fonda trying to raise money to make Easy Rider . This

1953-433: A red Bultaco Pursang, Hopper on Norton P11 Ranger. In total, two dirt bikes , and four former police bikes were used in the film. The 1949, 1950 and 1952 Harley-Davidson FL Hydra-Glide bikes were purchased at an auction for $ 500, equivalent to about $ 4600 in 2024. Each bike had a backup to make sure that shooting could continue in case one of the old machines failed or got wrecked accidentally. The main motorcycles for

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2046-627: A screening of the film at the Playboy Mansion for Hugh Hefner and several Playmates . The film was not released on DVD before Hopper's death in May 2010. On August 16, 2018, Arbelos Films, Vidiots & American Cinematheque hosted the Los Angeles 4K restoration premiere at Sid Grauman's Egyptian Theater in Hollywood, California. A Blu-ray of the film was announced for release on November 13, 2018. Easy Rider Easy Rider

2139-474: A two-lane country road by two local men in an older pickup truck, the passenger in the truck reaches for a shotgun, saying he will scare them. As they pass Billy, the passenger fires, and Billy has a lowside crash . The truck passes Wyatt who has stopped, and Wyatt rides back to Billy, finding him lying flat on the side of the road and covered in blood. Wyatt tells Billy he's going to get help and covers Billy's wound with his own leather jacket. Wyatt then rides down

2232-467: A version performed by Byrds frontman Roger McGuinn was used instead. Also, instead of writing an entirely new song for the film, Dylan simply wrote out the first verse of " Ballad of Easy Rider " and told the filmmakers, "Give this to McGuinn, he'll know what to do with it." McGuinn completed the song and performed it in the film. Originally, Peter Fonda had intended the band Crosby, Stills, Nash, & Young to write an entirely original soundtrack for

2325-475: A week. He also worked on the troubled I Loved a Soldier (1936) which was never finished, and did a Mae West movie, Go West, Young Man (1936). Hathaway was back with Cooper for the anti-slaving adventure story, Souls at Sea (1937), co-starring George Raft . With Raft and Henry Fonda he made Spawn of the North (1938). The Real Glory (1939), with Cooper, was a reprise of Bengal Lancers set in

2418-677: A worldwide gross of $ 60 million, including $ 41.7 million domestically in the U.S. and Canada. In 1998, Easy Rider was added to the United States National Film Registry , having been deemed "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant." In April 2019, a restored version of the film was selected to be shown in the Cannes Classics section at the 2019 Cannes Film Festival . American Film Institute Lists Along with Bonnie and Clyde and The Graduate , Easy Rider helped kick-start

2511-475: Is a 1969 American road drama film written by Peter Fonda , Dennis Hopper , and Terry Southern , produced by Fonda, and directed by Hopper. Fonda and Hopper play two bikers who travel through the American Southwest and South , carrying the proceeds from a cocaine deal. Other actors in the film include Jack Nicholson , Karen Black and Toni Basil . The success of Easy Rider helped spark

2604-496: Is best known as a director of Westerns , especially starring Randolph Scott and John Wayne . He directed Gary Cooper in seven films. Henry Hathaway was born Henri Léopold de Fiennes, in Sacramento, California. Hathaway’s father, Rhody Hathaway , carried the title of nobility. Rhody became a theatrical manager and married Hathaway’s mother, a Hungarian, who acted under the name Jean Hathaway (some citations claim Hathaway

2697-544: The New Hollywood era during the late 1960s and 1970s. The major studios realized that money could be made from low-budget films made by avant-garde directors. Heavily influenced by the French New Wave , the films of the so-called "post-classical Hollywood" came to represent a counterculture generation increasingly disillusioned with its government as well as the government's effects on the world at large and

2790-488: The New Hollywood era of filmmaking during the early 1970s. A landmark counterculture film, and a "touchstone for a generation" that "captured the national imagination," Easy Rider explores the societal landscape, issues, and tensions towards adolescents in the United States during the 1960s, such as the rise of the hippie movement, drug use , and communal lifestyle. Real drugs were used in scenes showing

2883-540: The semidocumentary genre, often using the film noir style. These included The House on 92nd Street (1945), for which he was nominated for a Best Director award by the New York Film Critics Circle , The Dark Corner (1946), 13 Rue Madeleine (1947), Kiss of Death (1947) and Call Northside 777 (1948), in which Hathaway presented one of the first on-screen uses of a Fax machine . Hathaway returned to adventure films with Down to

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2976-510: The " flash-forward " narrative device, wherein scenes from later in the movie are inserted into the current scene. Only one flash-forward survives in the final edit: when Wyatt in the New Orleans brothel has a premonition of the final scene. At the request of Bob Rafelson and Bert Schneider , Henry Jaglom was brought in to edit the film into its current form, while Schneider purchased a trip to Taos for Hopper so he wouldn't interfere with

3069-456: The "formulaic biker" persona and critiquing "commodity-oriented filmmakers appropriating avant-garde film techniques." It was also a step in the transition from independent film into Hollywood 's mainstream, and while The Trip was criticized as a faux, popularized underground film made by Hollywood insiders, Easy Rider "interrogates" the attitude that underground film must "remain strictly segregated from Hollywood." Mills also wrote that

3162-457: The 1960s counterculture. The film's success, and the new era of Hollywood that it helped usher in, gave Hopper the chance to direct again with complete artistic control. The result was 1971's The Last Movie , which was a notable box office and critical failure, effectively ending Hopper's career as a director for well over a decade. It also gave Fonda the chance to direct with The Hired Hand , although he rarely produced again. The movie

3255-580: The Bottle (1956) and 23 Paces to Baker Street (1956). John Wayne hired him to make Legend of the Lost (1957) for Wayne's company. Back at Fox he made the Western, From Hell to Texas (1958). During the movie, Dennis Hopper attempted to assert himself artistically on the set. Perhaps influenced by his recent experience with fellow actor James Dean 's rebellious attitude on the sets of Rebel Without

3348-524: The Forest (1933) and The Last Round-Up (1934). Hathaway directed an action film set in the Philippines, Come On Marines! (1934) starring Richard Arlen and Ida Lupino , followed by a drama The Witching Hour (1934), and an early Shirley Temple film, Now and Forever (1934). The latter also starred Carole Lombard and Gary Cooper Hathaway's next film was with Cooper, The Lives of

3441-575: The Lumberjack Café — remains in Flagstaff, but now stands inside the J. Lawrence Walkup Skydome on the campus of Northern Arizona University . A second, very similar statue was also moved from the Lumberjack Café to the exterior of the Skydome. Most of the film is shot outside with natural lighting. Hopper said all the outdoor shooting was an intentional choice on his part, because "God is

3534-625: The New Buffalo commune in Arroyo Hondo near Taos, New Mexico , did not permit shooting there. Among the extras who appear in the sequence are actors Dan Haggerty and Carrie Snodgress , musician Jim Sullivan , and Fonda's daughter Bridget . A short clip near the beginning of the film shows Wyatt and Billy on Route 66 in Flagstaff, Arizona , passing a large figure of a lumberjack. That lumberjack statue — once situated in front of

3627-543: The Peruvian natives are "filming" their own movie with "cameras" made of sticks, and acting out real western movie violence, as they do not understand movie fakery. The film touches on the ideas of fiction versus reality, especially in regards to cinema. The movie is presented in a way that challenges the viewer's traditional cinematic understanding of storytelling, by presenting the story in a non-chronological fashion, and by including several devices typically only seen behind

3720-511: The Philippines. After this he had a fight with Paramount and left to join Fox. Hathaway worked for 20th Century Fox directing the studio's biggest male star, Tyrone Power , in Johnny Apollo (1940) and Brigham Young (1940). Hathaway adored working for Darryl Zanuck calling him the finest filmmaker in America. He says he never turned down a script Zanuck offered him. "Some dogs, yes, but

3813-590: The Sea in Ships (1949). He was reunited with Power for The Black Rose (1950). Hathaway had some time off for a cancer operation then returned to make The Desert Fox: The Story of Rommel (1951) was a biopic of General Rommel . It was followed by Fourteen Hours (1951), a noir about a man going to commit suicide, You're in the Navy Now (1951), a military comedy with Cooper, and two with Power: Rawhide (1951),

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3906-611: The Stars & Stripes-painted fuel tank of Wyatt's California-style chopper , they ride eastward aiming to reach New Orleans , Louisiana, in time for the Mardi Gras festival. During their trip, Wyatt and Billy stop to repair a flat tire on Wyatt's bike at a farmstead in Arizona and have a meal with the farmer and his family. Later, Wyatt picks up a hippie hitch-hiker , and he invites them to visit his commune , where they stay for

3999-480: The bonus DVD feature, "Shaking the Cage", Hopper was difficult on set. During test shooting on location in New Orleans, with documentary filmmaker Baird Bryant on camera, Hopper fought with the production's ad hoc crew for control. At one point, a paranoid Hopper demanded camera operator Barry Feinstein hand over the footage he shot that day so he could keep it safe with him in his hotel room. Enraged, Feinstein hurled

4092-438: The box-office and won John Wayne a Best Actor Oscar. He stepped in for George Seaton in directing some winter outdoor scenes for the all-star Airport (1970), which starred Burt Lancaster and Dean Martin . He did it as a favour for Seaton but took no money. Hathaway made a war movie with Richard Burton, Raid on Rommel (1971), then made another Western for Wallis, Shoot Out (1971). Hathaway's 65th and final film

4185-754: The counterculture" in The Wild Angels (1966), where he established "a persona he would develop further in The Trip and Easy Rider ." The Trip also popularized LSD, while Easy Rider went on to "celebrate '60s counterculture" but does so "stripped of its innocence." Author Katie Mills wrote that The Trip is a way point along the "metamorphosis of the rebel road story from a Beat relic into its hippie reincarnation as Easy Rider ", and connected Peter Fonda's characters in those two films, along with his character in The Wild Angels , deviating from

4278-549: The dreams, hopes, and hopelessness of 1960s counterculture." The film opened on July 14, 1969, at the Beekman theater in New York City, and grossed a house record of $ 40,422 in its first week. It grossed even more the following week with $ 46,609. In its fourteenth week of release, it was the number one film at the U.S. box office and remained there for three weeks. It was the fourth highest-grossing film of 1969 , with

4371-590: The ending of the picture." He then asked Hopper to shoot the scenes as written but that Hopper would not do it. "He acknowledges the value of the screenplay, but feels that that wasn't the picture that he had in mind then, and that he certainly isn't ashamed of having done what he did. I absolutely respect him for that." Despite these disagreements, Stern said he would be willing to collaborate with Hopper again. With hours and hours of footage, Hopper holed up in his home editing studio in Taos, New Mexico , but failed to deliver

4464-733: The entry of the United States into World War I , Hathaway served as a gunnery instructor at Fort Winfield Scott in San Francisco for the duration of the conflict. After his discharge from the U.S. Army in 1919, Hathaway made a brief but unsuccessful foray into high finance with the Morris Audit Company. He returned to Hollywood in 1921 as property man for producer/director Frank Lloyd , the latter notable for his adaptation of literary classics. In 1923, Hathaway began working in silent films as an assistant to directors such as Victor Fleming and Josef von Sternberg and made

4557-407: The establishment in general. Although Jack Nicholson appears only as a supporting actor and in the last half of the film, the standout performance signaled his arrival as a movie star, along with his subsequent film Five Easy Pieces in which he had the lead role. Vice President Spiro Agnew criticized Easy Rider , along with the band Jefferson Airplane , as examples of the permissiveness of

4650-489: The famous acid trip scene in Easy Rider "clearly derives from their first tentative explorations as filmmakers in The Trip ." The Trip and The Wild Angels had been low-budget films released by American International Pictures and were both successful. When Fonda took Easy Rider to AIP, however, as it was Hopper's first film as director, they wanted to be able to replace him if the film went overbudget, so Fonda took

4743-459: The film a staggered, limited release under multiple alternative titles. Its poor reception led to Hopper's self-imposed exile from Hollywood for several years, barely starring in any film until Francis Ford Coppola hired him for Apocalypse Now (1979), not directing another film until Out of the Blue (1980), and never writing another film again. In the decades since its release, it has undergone

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4836-413: The film cans at Hopper and the two got into a physical confrontation. After this turmoil, Hopper and Fonda decided to assemble a proper crew for the rest of the film. Consequently, the rest of the film was shot on 35mm film , while the New Orleans sequences were shot on 16mm film . The hippie commune was recreated from pictures and shot at a site overlooking Malibu Canyon on Piuma Canyon Road, since

4929-487: The film did play in other theaters across the country after its New York premiere, even playing at drive-ins under the name Chinchero . Hopper later said of the Universal films "None of these movies were distributed properly, none of them given a chance. I still believe that we were undermined because we didn't fit into the tax structure of Universal Pictures. Lew Wasserman (Universal's CEO) just killed them." Because of

5022-525: The film to Bert Schneider of Raybert Productions and Columbia Pictures instead. When seeing a still of himself and Bruce Dern in The Wild Angels , Peter Fonda had the idea of a modern Western , involving two bikers travelling around the country and eventually getting shot by hillbillies. He called Dennis Hopper, and the two decided to turn that into a movie, The Loners , with Hopper directing, Fonda producing, and both starring and writing. They brought in screenwriter Terry Southern , who came up with

5115-622: The film unconventionally and attempt to break new cinematic ground. Hopper destroyed his first cut and crafted the more disjointed narrative that is known today; he finally completed that final edit in the spring of 1971. The movie won the Critics Prize ( CIDALC Award ) at the Venice Film Festival . Despite that, it failed financially and critically after a four-week run at New York City 's East 59th Street Twins. Contrary to some sources, including statements by Hopper himself,

5208-568: The film was ruined by improvisation, saying "That script wasn't taken out of my hands so much as put aside. It's still perfectly serviceable." Stern did not go on location, but at Hopper's request, he went to look at a rough cut in Taos: "Mainly, what I felt was very disappointed, not only that he didn't use the scenes as they were written in the screenplay and that he chose to improvise with people who were not up to that kind of improvisation, but also that he hadn't shot scenes that were essential. Including

5301-455: The film was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant". Wyatt and Billy are freewheeling motorcyclists. After smuggling cocaine from Mexico to Los Angeles , they sell their haul and receive a large sum of money. With the cash stuffed into a plastic tube hidden inside

5394-414: The film while suffering from the effects of his drug habit, leading to allegations of self-sabotage and missing the film's initial deadline to deliver a final cut by nearly six months. Despite high expectations, including a well-received screening at the 1971 Venice International Film Festival , the film was a critical and financial disaster. Dissatisfied with the finished product, Universal Pictures gave

5487-468: The film's failure, Hopper did not direct again until 1980's Out of the Blue . The book The Fifty Worst Films of All Time recounts the film's production in some detail, saying that the studio was so eager to cash in on the youth market following the success of Easy Rider that they gave Hopper carte blanche , and they were horrified with the results. The film's initial failure led to Hopper's virtual exile from Hollywood , one that lasted well over

5580-404: The film, based on hardtail frames and panhead engines , were designed and built by two African American chopper builders — Cliff Vaughs and Ben Hardy — reflecting chopper designs popular among Black motorcyclists at the time, and following ideas of Peter Fonda, and were handled by Tex Hall and Dan Haggerty during shooting. One "Captain America" was demolished in the final scene, while

5673-406: The film, but this failed to materialize for two reasons. For one, Cambern edited the footage much more closely to what were only meant as temporary tracks than was customary at the time, which led to everyone involved finding them much more suited to the material than they had originally thought. Also, upon watching a screening of the film with Cambern's edits, the group felt they could not improve on

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5766-539: The film. Taking prostitutes Karen and Mary with them, Wyatt and Billy wander the parade-filled streets of the Mardi Gras celebration. They end up in a French Quarter cemetery, where all four ingest the LSD the hitch-hiker had given to Wyatt. Later at their campsite, while Billy enthusiastically recounts their travels, Wyatt melancholically muses that they "blew it" in their quest. The next morning, as they are overtaken on

5859-415: The final campfire scene. Thus, it was shot after the bikes had already been stolen, which is why they are not visible in the background as in the other campfire scenes. The film received mostly positive reviews from critics. Vincent Canby of The New York Times called it "pretty but lower case cinema" despite the "upper case" "pious statement about our society which is sick". He was mildly impressed by

5952-492: The first half of 1968, roughly between Mardi Gras and the assassination of Robert F. Kennedy , with production starting on February 22, the film did not have a U.S. premiere until July 1969, after having won an award at the Cannes film festival in May. The delay was partially due to a protracted editing process. Inspired by 2001: A Space Odyssey , one of Hopper's proposed cuts was 220 minutes long, including extensive use of

6045-439: The first screenings of the film, which required Southern's agreement due to writers guild policies. Southern says he agreed out of a sense of camaraderie, and that Hopper later took credit for the entire script. According to Terry Southern's biographer, Lee Hill, the part of George Hanson had been written for Southern's friend, actor Rip Torn . When Torn met with Hopper and Fonda at a New York restaurant in early 1968 to discuss

6138-414: The local men, Hopper told them the characters of Billy, Wyatt, and George had raped and killed a girl outside of town. The scene in which Billy and Wyatt were shot was filmed on Louisiana Highway 105 North, just outside Krotz Springs , and the two men in the pickup truck—Johnny David and D.C. Billodeau—were Krotz Springs locals. While shooting the cemetery scene, Hopper tried to convince Fonda to talk to

6231-448: The middle of the night, a group of locals attack the sleeping trio, beating them with clubs. Billy screams and brandishes a knife, and the attackers leave. Wyatt and Billy suffer minor injuries, but George has been bludgeoned to death. Wyatt and Billy wrap George's body in his sleeping bag, gather his belongings, and vow to return the items to his family. They continue to New Orleans and find a brothel George had told them about earlier in

6324-628: The movie set fronts built on their existing adobe houses and church. ... I wanted to use film as film; I wanted to keep saying, you're really just watching a movie." Hopper tried for several years to secure financing for the film, intending it to be his directorial debut. In July 1966 the New York Times reported that record producer Phil Spector would help make the movie with Hopper. "It will be an art movie," said Spector. "I am an admirer of Truffaut, Stanley Kubrick, Fellini. It'll be in that tradition. Hollywood needs that kind of movie." Filming

6417-486: The movie was: four hours, four and a half hours, or five hours. In 1992, the film's producers, Schneider and Rafelson, sued Columbia Pictures over missing negatives, edit footage and damaged prints, holding them negligent concerning these assets. Some of the scenes which were in the original cut but were deleted are: Easy Rider' s style — the jump cuts, time shifts, flash forwards, flashbacks, jerky hand-held cameras, fractured narrative and improvised acting — can be seen as

6510-579: The movie, Hendrix later wrote a song " Ezy Ryder ", with lyrics reflecting the film's themes, while Iron Butterfly wrote " Easy Rider (Let the Wind Pay the Way) ". The film was first released to DVD on December 7, 1999 as a Special Edition from Columbia Pictures. Special features included an audio commentary track with Dennis Hopper; the documentary Easy Rider: Shaking the Cage (1999); production notes; and new interviews with Peter Fonda and Hopper. It received

6603-462: The music that was used. On the other hand, Hopper increasingly got control over every aspect over the course of the project and decided to throw CSNY out behind Fonda's back, telling the band as an excuse, "Look, you guys are really good musicians, but honestly, anybody who rides in a limo can't comprehend my movie, so I'm gonna have to say no to this, and if you guys try to get in the studio again, I may have to cause you some bodily harm." Inspired by

6696-631: The other three were stolen and probably taken apart before their significance as movie props became known. The demolished bike was rebuilt by Dan Haggerty and offered for auction in October 2014 by Profiles in History, a Calabasas, California -based auction house with an estimated value of $ 1–1.2 million. The provenance of existing Captain America motorcycles is unclear, and has been the subject of much litigation. The EMP Museum in Seattle identified

6789-503: The pair are arrested for "parading without a permit" and thrown in jail. There, they befriend lawyer George Hanson, who has spent the night in jail after overindulging in alcohol. After the mention of having done work for the ACLU along with other conversation, George helps them get out of jail and decides to travel with Wyatt and Billy to New Orleans. As they camp that night, Wyatt and Billy introduce George to marijuana . As an alcoholic and

6882-536: The photography, rock score and Nicholson's performance. Penelope Gilliatt in The New Yorker said that it "speaks tersely and aptly for this American age, that is both the best of times and the worst of times." Roger Ebert added Easy Rider to his "Great Movies" list in 2004. Easy Rider holds an 84% rating on Rotten Tomatoes based on 55 reviews, with an average rating of 7.70/10. The site's consensus states: "Edgy and seminal, Easy Rider encapsulates

6975-414: The recut. Upon seeing the final cut, Hopper was originally displeased, saying that his movie was "turned into a TV show," but he eventually accepted, claiming that Jaglom had crafted the film the way Hopper had originally intended. Despite the large part he played in shaping the film, Jaglom only received credit as an "Editorial Consultant." It is unclear what the exact running time of original rough cut of

7068-468: The rest of the day. The notion of " free love " appears to be practiced, with two of the women, Lisa and Sarah, seemingly sharing the affections of the hitch-hiking commune member before turning their attention to Wyatt and Billy. As the bikers leave, the hitch-hiker gives Wyatt some LSD for him to share with "the right people, at the right time". Later, while riding along with a parade in New Mexico,

7161-533: The road toward the pickup as it makes a U-turn. Passing in the opposite direction, the passenger fires the shotgun again, this time through the driver's-side window. Wyatt's riderless motorcycle flies through the air and comes apart before landing and becoming engulfed in flames. Hopper and Fonda's first collaboration was in The Trip (1967), written by Jack Nicholson, which had themes and characters similar to those of Easy Rider . Peter Fonda had become "an icon of

7254-425: The role of Steve McCabe in the film; from 1959 to 1963, Smith had played the part of rancher Slim Sherman on NBC 's Laramie series. According to Smith's Internet biography, Hathaway developed an intense dislike for Smith and stopped him from landing choice roles thereafter in Hollywood. Circus World was a box-office disappointment but Wayne and Hathaway's next movie together, The Sons of Katie Elder (1965),

7347-495: The role, Hopper began ranting about the " rednecks " he had encountered on his scouting trip to the South. Torn, a Texan, took exception to some of Hopper's remarks, and the two almost came to blows, as a result of which Torn withdrew from the project. Torn was replaced by Jack Nicholson. In 1994, Jay Leno interviewed Hopper about Easy Rider on The Tonight Show , and during the interview, Hopper falsely claimed that Torn had pulled

7440-524: The scenes of film-making (rough edits and "scene missing" cards), and the use of jarring jump cuts . Hopper later said he got the idea for the film when making The Sons of Katie Elder in Mexico. He says he came up with the story and got Stewart Stern to write the script; Stern had written Rebel Without a Cause , in which Hopper played a small role. Hopper said, "I had time to fantasise as to what would happen when we left this village, leaving behind all

7533-486: The statue of the Madonna as though it were Fonda's mother , who had committed suicide when he was 10 years old, and ask her why she left him. Although Fonda was reluctant, he eventually complied. Later Fonda used the inclusion of this scene, along with the concluding scene, as leverage to persuade Bob Dylan to allow the use of Roger McGuinn 's cover of " It's Alright, Ma (I'm Only Bleeding) ". Despite being filmed in

7626-486: The title Easy Rider . The film was mostly shot without a screenplay, with ad-libbed lines, and production started with only the outline and the names of the protagonists. Keeping the Western theme, Wyatt was named after Wyatt Earp and Billy after Billy the Kid . However, Southern disputed that Hopper wrote much of the script. In an interview published in 2016 [Southern died in 1995] he said, "You know if Den Hopper improvises

7719-429: The transition to sound with them. He was the assistant director to Fred Niblo in the 1925 version of Ben-Hur starring Francis X. Bushman and Ramon Novarro . During the remainder of the 1920s, Hathaway continued as an assistant, helping direct actors such as Gary Cooper, Marlene Dietrich , Adolphe Menjou , Fay Wray , Walter Huston , Clara Bow , and Noah Beery . Henry Hathaway made his directorial debut with

7812-440: The use of marijuana and other substances. An independent production, the film was released by Columbia Pictures on July 14, 1969, and earned $ 60 million worldwide compared to a modest filming budget of $ 400,000. Critics have praised the performances, directing, writing, soundtrack, and visuals. It received two Academy Awards nominations for Best Original Screenplay and Best Supporting Actor (Jack Nicholson). In 1998,

7905-631: Was a hit and received seven Academy Award nominations, including Best Picture and for which Hathaway won his only nomination for the Academy Award for Directing . Hathaway was now established as one of the main directors on the Paramount lot. He made another with Cooper, Peter Ibbetson (1935). This was followed by The Trail of the Lonesome Pine (1936), his first color movie, for which Walter Wanger borrowed him, paying him $ 1000

7998-408: Was a hit. So too was Nevada Smith (1966), a Western starring Steve McQueen that was extrapolated from a brief section of Harold Robbins ' novel The Carpetbaggers . He visited Africa to make The Last Safari (1967), then did the Western 5 Card Stud (1968) with Dean Martin and Robert Mitchum. It was a mild success, but True Grit (1969), produced by Hal B. Wallis , was a success at

8091-736: Was financed with money made from the Monkees , and features a cameo of record producer Phil Spector in the opening scenes, but neither provided any music. The "groundbreaking" soundtrack featured popular rock artists including the Band , the Byrds , the Jimi Hendrix Experience , and Steppenwolf . Editor and negative cutter Donn Cambern used various music from his own record collection to make watching up to 80 hours of bike footage more interesting during editing. Most of Cambern's music

8184-548: Was her maiden name). His title of Marquis was inherited from his paternal great grandfather J.B. de Fiennes, a Belgian nobleman and barrister in service to King Leopold I of Belgium . When his great grandfather failed in his commission to secure the Sandwich Islands (now Hawaii) for Belgium, the disgraced elder Marquis self-exiled to San Francisco in 1850. There he established a law practice and married. In 1908, at 10-years-of-age, Hathaway began appearing as

8277-420: Was never made.) The initial budget for the film was $ 800,000. Hopper wanted John Wayne and Henry Hathaway to appear in the movie, as a homage to Sons of Katie Elder . Hopper spent much of 1970 in Peru, bringing many of his actor and musician friends to that country, including singer Kris Kristofferson and director Samuel Fuller , and shooting the film under the working title Chinchero . Stern later said

8370-420: Was produced and written by amateur filmmaker Phil Pitzer, who had purchased the sequel rights to Easy Rider . Pitzer also pursued legal action against Bob Rafelson and Bert Schneider in order to block them from reclaiming the rights to the film. Bibliography Further reading Henry Hathaway Henry Hathaway (March 13, 1898 – February 11, 1985) was an American film director and producer. He

8463-582: Was taking my credit cards and would pay for all the hotels, the food, the gas, everything with Diner's Club". Cinematographer Laszlo Kovacs said that an additional $ 1 million, "about three times the budget for shooting the rest of the film" was spent on the licensed music tracks that were added during the editing. He already had made two outlaw biker films and suggested that a 1968 Chevy Impala convertible be purchased to carry his camera smoothly, with speeds not exceeding 25 mph. According to associate producer Bill Heyward in interviews included as part of

8556-421: Was to start in Mexico on 15 September with Haskell Wexler doing cinematography. However, due to the artistically-challenging nature of the film, no studios were interested until Hopper's actual first film as a director, Easy Rider , became a massive hit in 1969. Based on the success of Easy Rider, Universal launched a project to give five young film makers $ 1 million each, and give them free rein to create

8649-420: Was used, with licensing costs of $ 1 million, triple the film's budget. The film's extensive use of pop and rock music for the soundtrack was similar to what had recently been used for 1967's The Graduate , including songs been used more than once, or being adapted for the movie. Bob Dylan was asked to contribute music, but was reluctant to use his own recording of " It's Alright, Ma (I'm Only Bleeding) ", so

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