Easy Rider

"A man went looking for America and couldn’t find it anywhere..."

1969 1h 36m EN

👍

7.0

SOLID

🍅

84%

FRESH

💯

METACRITIC

⭐

7.2

IMDB

★7.0TMDB · 2,237🍅84%Rotten Tomatoes●85Metacritic★7.2IMDB · 122,458

AdventureDrama

Synopsis

Spoiler shield

Wyatt and Billy, two Harley-riding hippies, complete a drug deal in Southern California and decide to travel cross-country in search of spiritual truth.

“A man went looking for America and couldn’t find it anywhere...”

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Where to watch · US

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Cast

Peter Fonda
Wyatt
Dennis Hopper
Billy
Jack Nicholson
George Hanson
Antonio Mendoza
Jesus
Phil Spector
Connection
Mac Mashourian
Bodyguard
Warren Finnerty
Rancher
Tita Colorado
Rancher's Wife

Credits

Behind the camera

Director: Dennis Hopper
Writers: Peter Fonda, Dennis Hopper, Terry Southern
Languages: English
Countries: United States of America

Want more? Switch to Cinephile mode in the header for DP, composer, budget, box office, production companies, keywords, and release history.

Did you know?

Fun facts 🍿

1 / 8

MONEY

Did you know

Shot for just $0.4M — micro-budget by Hollywood standards.

MoodPlayr · trivia#01

2 / 8

MONEY

Did you know

Grossed $60M — a 150.0× return. The kind of profit studios chase for a decade.

MoodPlayr · trivia#02

3 / 8

ERA

Did you know

57 years old — a genuine piece of film history.

MoodPlayr · trivia#03

4 / 8

CINEMA

Did you know

Part of the "Easy Rider Collection" — so the characters or world continue elsewhere.

MoodPlayr · trivia#04

5 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Directed by Dennis Hopper, shot by László Kovács. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.

MoodPlayr · trivia#05

6 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Editor Donn Cambern shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.

MoodPlayr · trivia#06

7 / 8

CAST

Did you know

Peter Fonda and Dennis Hopper and Jack Nicholson carry the top of the cast.

MoodPlayr · trivia#07

8 / 8

FACT

Did you know

Marketing tagline: "A man went looking for America and couldn’t find it anywhere...".

MoodPlayr · trivia#08

Cinephile deep dive

The take

Dennis Hopper directs. László Kovács behind the camera. Donn Cambern cuts. Runs lean at under 100 minutes. Made its budget back several times over at the box office. Produced in United States of America. Dialogue in English.

Trivia

Things worth knowing

1Shot for just $0.4M — micro-budget by Hollywood standards.
2Grossed $60M — a 150.0× return. The kind of profit studios chase for a decade.
357 years old — a genuine piece of film history.
4Part of the "Easy Rider Collection" — so the characters or world continue elsewhere.
5Directed by Dennis Hopper, shot by László Kovács. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.
6Editor Donn Cambern shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.
7Peter Fonda and Dennis Hopper and Jack Nicholson carry the top of the cast.
8Marketing tagline: "A man went looking for America and couldn’t find it anywhere...".
9IMDB entry: tt0064276 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.
10Classified under 12 themes, including "adolescence", "rock 'n' roll", "rebel", "drug trafficking".
11Released under 16 different titles around the world.

The technical file

Cinematography: László Kovács
Editing: Donn Cambern
Makeup / hair: Virgil Frye
Runtime: 96 min · 1h 36m
Aspect ratio (typical): 1.37:1 (Academy)
Status: Released
Budget: $400,000
Box office: $60,000,000
Return: 15000% of budget
Original language: EN
Certification (US): R
IMDB: Easy Rider (1969)
Rotten Tomatoes: 84% 🍅 Fresh
Metacritic: 85/100
IMDB rating: 7.2/10 · 122,458 votes
MPAA: R

Awards

Nominated for 2 Oscars. 11 wins & 14 nominations total

Part of

Easy Rider Collection

This film series explores familial strife and the quest for personal identity through motorcycle riding. The first film follows two hippie bikers seeking spiritual meaning. The second film, through family history, reveals a character's legacy from the first film, showing connections through a shared love of motorcycles. The third film portrays a young man passionate about motorcycle repair, rebelling against his conservative father to find his identity. The fourth film features a young woman striving to prove herself as a motorcycle racer in a male-dominated sport, facing gender discrimination.

Also by

Dennis Hopper

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Trailers & featurettes

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Community reviews

What people are saying

Wuchak2023-01-13
★ 9/10
Quest for freedom If you can't handle the counterculture movement of the late 60s and early 70s and all that went with it (hippies, drugs, skinny dipping, free sex and communes) I suggest staying away from "Easy Rider." For everyone else, this is an excellent period piece of the late 60s (shot in 1968) that explores the nature of freedom and the quest thereof. Peter Fonda and Dennis Hopper star as Wyatt and Billy, two hippies who travel by choppers from Los Angeles to New Orleans to attend the Mardi Gras. Along the way they experience gorgeous landscapes, a commune, jail, new friends, unexpected enemies, drugs galore and a brothel when they arrive. Jack Nicholson stands out as one of the friends they meet; while the beautiful Karen black & Toni Basil star as two prostitutes in New Orleans. What makes "Easy Rider" great is that it's more than just a road adventure with a modern Western garnish (i.e. Cowboys on motorized "horses"). The film has depth that separates it from the typical biker flicks of that era. It's really about freedom or the lack thereof. Wyatt and Billy certainly have some grasp of freedom - and they desperately pursue it - but they're ironically so shackled by their OWN carnal desires and growing addictions that the most they attain is a piece of it. Wyatt laments near the end of the film: "We blew it; we really blew it" as he realizes freedom has slipped through their fingers like water. Nicholson's character, George, has more of handle on what's going on, but he obviously has his own issues. The hippies at the commune seem to have escaped society's shackles but to what end? There's a reason communes never really caught on in America, and the film shows why. In an interview with Rolling Stone in the early 70s, Fonda pointed out that Wyatt represented everybody who feels that freedom can be bought, that you can find freedom through other things, like riding motorcycles across the country or smoking pot. He confessed that "Easy Rider" is actually about the LACK of freedom in modern Western Civilization. Wyatt and Billy are not right, they're wrong. So the most fitting thing the writers (Fonda & Hopper) could do in the end was... (I can't give away the climax). In a sense, they were committing self-destruction, which Fonda claimed America was doing. He said viewers often respond to the end by lamenting, "Look at those terrible rednecks, blah, blah, blah." But "Easy Rider," he pointed out, is a Southern term for a prostitute's man, not a pimp, but the dude who lives with her. He's got the easy ride. And that's what he claims happened to America - liberty's become a prostitute, and we're all taking the easy ride. So what's the answer? The answer's there and it's pretty clear, but I won't hand-feed it to anyone. Seek and you will find. This might give you some food for thought the next time you catch the film. Some modern viewers with ADHD criticize the film as boring, but I find it strangely engrossing from beginning to end. The climax is equal parts sudden, powerful, shocking and unforgettable. The film runs 1 hour, 35 minutes, and was shot in California, Arizona, New Mexico, Utah (Monument Valley) and Louisiana. GRADE: A

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