Easy Rider
A landmark counterculture film that captured the national imagination.
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The film "Easy Rider" is considered a pivotal counterculture film that delves into 1960s youth culture, encompassing the hippie movement, drug use, and communal living, and was described as a "touchstone for a generation" that "captured the national imagination."[1] Scenes depicting marijuana and other substance use involved the actors consuming actual drugs.[1]
Making and release
Peter Fonda conceived the idea of a modern Western involving two bikers traveling after a drug sale when seeing a still of himself in The Wild Angels.[2] The filming budget was $360,000 to $400,000.[3] Peter Fonda's idea for a modern Western featuring two bikers on a cross-country trip after a drug sale led him to contact Dennis Hopper; together they planned a movie titled "The Loners," with Hopper as director, Fonda as producer, and both as stars and writers.[2] Production began with only a basic outline and the protagonists' names, and most of the film was made without a formal screenplay, relying on improvised dialogue.[4]
Cinematographer Laszlo Kovacs stated that the cost for licensed music tracks added during post-production was an extra $1 million.[5] Columbia Pictures distributed the film on July 14, 1969, and it went on to earn $60 million globally.[6]
What the cited sources add
The same source notes that Henry Jaglom was brought in to edit the film into its current form while Hopper was sent to Taos to avoid interference.[4][7] According to the book "Legendary Motorcycles" by Wasef, published by Motorbooks in 2007, the main motorcycles were designed and built by African American chopper builders Cliff Vaughs and Ben Hardy, who were not mentioned in the movie credits.[8][9] The source "The builder you never heard about" states that Benny never managed to profit what he deserved from the fame that Easy Rider should have brought him.[10] The Routledge & CRC Press publication "Music and Sound in the Films of Dennis Hopper" traces Hopper's innovative use of popular rock, pop, and folk in Easy Rider.[11]
References
- Wikipedia, "Easy Rider" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Kael, "The Age of Movies: Selected Writings of Pauline Kael: A Library of America Special Publication", Library of America, 2011-10-27, p. 245; Pescovitz, "Peter Fonda's Easy Rider auction", Boing Boing, 2007-09-16; "Born to be a classic: "Easy Rider" was a touchstone for a generation and for American filmmaking", St. Louis Post-Dispatch, 2001-07-29; Kiselyak, "Shaking the Cage", Columbia Tristar Pictures, 1999 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
- Wikipedia, "Easy Rider" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: 'Mississippi Summer Project: Running Summary of Incidents'(1964), SNCC; d'Orléans, Paul (Nov.10, 2014). 'The Chopper: the Real Story' Gestalten. ISBN 978-3899555240; 'Cliff Vaughs Filmmaker', Choppers Magazine, Jan 1969 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
- Wikipedia, "Easy Rider" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Osgerby, "Biker: Truth and Myth: How the Original Cowboy of the Road Became the Easy Rider of the Silver Screen", Box Office Mojo, July 10, 1994, p. 62}} * $400,000, {{IMDb title; Kiselyak, "Shaking the Cage", Columbia Tristar Pictures, 1999 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
- Wikipedia, "Easy Rider" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Biskind, "Easy Riders, Raging Bulls", Simon & Schuster, 1998 (we also read that source) en.wikipedia.org
- Wikipedia, "Easy Rider" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Berra, "Declarations of Independence: American Cinema and the Partiality of Independent Production", Intellect Books, 2008, p. 37; Kiselyak, "Shaking the Cage", Columbia Tristar Pictures, 1999; Fisher, "Easy Rider: 35 Years Later; László Kovács on the 35th anniversary of Easy Rider", June 22, 2004 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
- Wikipedia, "Easy Rider" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Gage, "The Top 10 Indie Movies of All Time: A Cinefix Movie List", IGN, June 26, 2022; "Great U.S. Indie Films: 'Texas Chainsaw Massacre' to 'Pulp Fiction'", July 3, 2014; Osgerby, "Biker: Truth and Myth: How the Original Cowboy of the Road Became the Easy Rider of the Silver Screen", Box Office Mojo, July 10, 1994, p. 62}} * $400,000, {{IMDb title; "Easy Rider, Worldwide Box Office Gross", Worldwide Box Office (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
- Open Library record, ISBN 9780684809960 ("Easy riders, raging bulls"). CC0 (metadata); book content not read. openlibrary.org
- Wikipedia, "Easy Rider" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Wasef, "Legendary Motorcycles: The Stories and Bikes Made Famous by Elvis, Peter Fonda, Kenny Roberts and Other Motorcycling Greats", MotorBooks International, 2007, p. 47–52; "The builder you never heard about", June 15, 2020 (we also read that source) en.wikipedia.org
- Open Library record, ISBN 9780760330708 ("Legendary Motorcycles"). CC0 (metadata); book content not read. openlibrary.org
- "The builder you never heard about", June 15, 2020. facts only, no text reused. brothermoto.com
- "Music and Sound in the Films of Dennis Hopper", Routledge & CRC Press. facts only, no text reused. routledge.com
Each numbered sentence above was checked against the source it cites before publication. Sentences citing Wikipedia adapt text from the English Wikipedia article Easy Rider (contributors), used under CC BY-SA 4.0; this entry is available under the same licence. Other sources were used for facts only; no text or images are copied from them.
More in Notable Films
Sources
Compiled from Wikipedia and the sources listed below. Text from Wikipedia is available under CC BY-SA 4.0; this entry is adapted from it.
- Wikipedia: Easy Rider (CC BY-SA 4.0).
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