Motorcycle Message Board - Motorcycle USA

Motorcycle USA Forums : Join the Revolution

Motorcycle Message Board - Motorcycle USA > MotorcycleUSA.com! > General Motorcycle Chat > Finally Caught Easy Rider

Forum Quick Jump

57 posts in this thread.
Viewing Page : 1 2 3

[ << Previous Thread | Next Thread >> | Show Newest Post First ]

jclax01
The world is ruled by Damned Dirty Apes

Date Joined Jan 2008
Total Posts : 2555

Posted 10/31/2009 3:20 PM (GMT -8)

After years of seeing bits and pieces of the movie easy rider (the rider icon movie according to some) I finally saw the whole movie. I have yet to figure it out. I mean it was an OK movie, but its basically about hippies getting high and riding some cool bikes. other than that, I just don't get all the hype about the movie. Near the end of the thing when toni basil (of hey micky you so fine hey micky fame) and Karen black showed up as hookers in New Orleans. I was in full WTF mode.

Jack Nicholson was his usuall best (man can that guy act)....neek neek neek.

Ride Hard or Stay home

1994 Kaw Vulcan 88

2007 Piago (my wifes punk ass 50cc scooter)

1986 kaw Vulcan 750(rebooted and reloaded)

louemc
Registered Member

Date Joined Mar 2003
Total Posts : 15451

Posted 10/31/2009 3:44 PM (GMT -8)

It was a powerful movie then. We are different now. A movie of Woodstock, seen now, isn't exactly moving either.

Focus the forces, Be The Force

Longshot
Registered Member

Date Joined Sep 2007
Total Posts : 89

Posted 10/31/2009 3:47 PM (GMT -8)

If you get a chance, watch "Shaking the Cage" a documentary about the making of the film. Gives you a really great perspective on what the film is about and what Hopper was trying to accomplish.

Ride, shoot straight, and speak the truth!

9539 mi. on Newb-dometer

thesoapster
Registered Member

Date Joined Sep 2007
Total Posts : 470

Posted 10/31/2009 3:51 PM (GMT -8)

We watched parts from Easy Rider in film class as an example of what to not do in terms of editing. There were a number of parts in that movie that had me scratching my head. One in particular around the beginning looked like the frame advanced, switched back, then advanced back...? I have no idea.

RedDog
Retired SportBike Bum

Date Joined Mar 2003
Total Posts : 11268

Posted 10/31/2009 3:53 PM (GMT -8)

I thought it was a great movie then, freedom, MC riding and great music. The most real thingie with the whole movie was the pot, quite amazing.

RedDog

Think Ahead! Travel Light & Leave Your Fears Behind You!

Normal People Scare me! Travel Light and Leave Your Fears Behind You!

MichaelD
Registered Member

Date Joined Nov 2006
Total Posts : 154

Posted 10/31/2009 4:16 PM (GMT -8)

Pot? Them weren't Camel non filters

In God We Trust,All Others Must Submit Objective Evidence

South Central Kansas

RedDog
Retired SportBike Bum

Date Joined Mar 2003
Total Posts : 11268

Posted 10/31/2009 4:46 PM (GMT -8)

Nope.

RedDog

Think Ahead! Travel Light & Leave Your Fears Behind You!

Normal People Scare me! Travel Light and Leave Your Fears Behind You!

jclax01
The world is ruled by Damned Dirty Apes

Date Joined Jan 2008
Total Posts : 2555

Posted 10/31/2009 5:09 PM (GMT -8)

Ok I get the iconic status of the movie. I saw a lot of the stuff that is in the "biker bible" of today. But strictly looking at the plot, it was not all of that.

I kept saying, I bet peter fondas butt is killing him on that hard tail he was riding. Would never want to ride a hard tail more than 30 miles.

Ride Hard or Stay home

1994 Kaw Vulcan 88

2007 Piago (my wifes punk ass 50cc scooter)

1986 kaw Vulcan 750(rebooted and reloaded)

RedDog
Retired SportBike Bum

Date Joined Mar 2003
Total Posts : 11268

Posted 10/31/2009 5:21 PM (GMT -8)

Imagine, he still rides.

RedDog

Think Ahead! Travel Light & Leave Your Fears Behind You!

Normal People Scare me! Travel Light and Leave Your Fears Behind You!

MichaelD
Registered Member

Date Joined Nov 2006
Total Posts : 154

Posted 10/31/2009 5:43 PM (GMT -8)

I actually have the movie on DVD. I watch it once a year. Its just a movie that takes me back in time to how things were. Of course I was only seven when it was made I remember my older cousins on there choppers doing alot of what the movie represents. Then came the Billy Jack movies that I couldnt get enough of.

In God We Trust,All Others Must Submit Objective Evidence

South Central Kansas

Desmolicious
Registered Member

Date Joined Aug 2004
Total Posts : 4618

Posted 10/31/2009 11:17 PM (GMT -8)

I'm hip about time, I just gotta go.

Børk! Børk! Børk!

Richard47
Registered Member

Date Joined Sep 2004
Total Posts : 3953

Posted 11/1/2009 2:09 AM (GMT -8)

I still have the vinyl LP I bought when the film was released, there are some great tracks on it. I suppose that makes me rather ancient. sad

Toilet Brush Dog Owner

PowerG
Registered Member

Date Joined Mar 2006
Total Posts : 728

Posted 11/1/2009 6:53 AM (GMT -8)

A lot of stuff from that era just isn't the same without the drugs. A good movie in its time.

GAJ
Registered Member

Date Joined Jul 2007
Total Posts : 4763

Posted 11/1/2009 7:31 AM (GMT -8)

I've only seen bits and pieces over the years of "On Any Sunday."

Wonder if that'll come off as quaint and amateurish too.

GeoffG
Harley Ninja!

Date Joined Jun 2003
Total Posts : 9196

Posted 11/1/2009 7:59 AM (GMT -8)

Seems to me that a lot of things that seemed so great tend to lose their luster over time. Maybe it's just me getting old and jaded...

louemc
Registered Member

Date Joined Mar 2003
Total Posts : 15451

Posted 11/1/2009 9:48 AM (GMT -8)

jclax01 said...
I kept saying, I bet peter fondas butt is killing him on that hard tail he was riding. Would never want to ride a hard tail more than 30 miles.

They were making a Movie....I doubt very much If he rode that bike more than Three miles (that's being generous) at any one segment.

There are hard core types with their hard tail Pan Heads, that ride across country (say to Sturgis) though.

Focus the forces, Be The Force

Bman
Resident Redneck

Date Joined Jan 2005
Total Posts : 3419

Posted 11/1/2009 10:02 AM (GMT -8)

I think in order to understand the movie, you need to have been around in those times. Hippies were trying to "find themselves", wanted to stand against the "establisment, the man". Much like Marlon Brando in " The Wild Ones", the "Easy Rider" movie is the same thng. The movies were made to appeal to the youth of the time and generat money, and at the same time be somewhat of a documentery of what was happening in this country. Easy Rider is a classic, and very demonstrative of the time. Those who are younger need to keep an open mind and just enjoy the great bikes and awesome music.

Improvise, Adapt, Overcome

1999 Vulcan 800 Classic, "Hank"

Bonifay, Florida

jclax01
The world is ruled by Damned Dirty Apes

Date Joined Jan 2008
Total Posts : 2555

Posted 11/1/2009 11:35 AM (GMT -8)

Maybe thats the thing. I was a grand 4 years old in 1969. I know not of these hippies since there were none of them around me when I grew up.

I do remember in the 1970's a lot of guys had choppers. Most of the old heads had full dressers back in the day. Pork chop sideburns and dressers. I may have to look at it again. I watched it kind of late and probably the movie watched me for 20 or so minutes as I was knocked out.

Ride Hard or Stay home

1994 Kaw Vulcan 88

2007 Piago (my wifes punk ass 50cc scooter)

1986 kaw Vulcan 750(rebooted and reloaded)

Smitty
Registered Member

Date Joined Mar 2003
Total Posts : 18448

Posted 11/1/2009 2:35 PM (GMT -8)

That chopper movie with hippies on drugs & whatever simply does not stand up to ON ANY SUNDAY for sure. For there most of the riders were some of the better American competition riders & NOT actors acting their part.

Also it was Steve McQueen that put up most of the money to the filming which was remarkable.

Remember all the others on the road are crazy & out to kill you.

RedDog
Retired SportBike Bum

Date Joined Mar 2003
Total Posts : 11268

Posted 11/1/2009 6:33 PM (GMT -8)

When Easy Rider came out, I was 18 with a sweet spanking new Triumph Bonneville. Like Bman mentioned, that was a purrfect movie for those great times. The drugs was the nasty, all else pretty darn good, for the times.

RedDog

Think Ahead! Travel Light & Leave Your Fears Behind You!

Normal People Scare me! Travel Light and Leave Your Fears Behind You!

Well Enuff
--- Regaining my sanity --- one ride at time

Date Joined Jul 2006
Total Posts : 1252

Posted 11/1/2009 8:38 PM (GMT -8)

GeoffG said...
Seems to me that a lot of things that seemed so great tend to lose their luster over time. Maybe it's just me getting old and jaded...

I spent many months in what was essentially a help-desk. As the users became more experienced and the software matured there were many hours of nothing happening. My friend who shared many of my shifts also shared my interest in movie and TV trivia. We loved to have a tape of an old movie running on the TV stand-by monitor in the background.

We actually developed a name for the shows that had that lack of luster you mention.

Back about 1960 there was a TV show called Home Run Derby which had 2 baseball star compete with interviews shuffled in. We both remembered seeing greats like Mantle, Mays, Maris, and others share their thoughts and skills in that great show. Then in the late '90s some oldies channel started showing these old clips. We were really eager to see those moments that were so great when we were in our teens.

Well, there were pretty bland to put it politely. We watched several episodes and tried to grab the original feeling of seeing them the first time. No go.

From then on any old show that fell flat was referred to as a "Home Run Derby."

martinjmpr
08 Triumph Scrambler

Date Joined Jun 2003
Total Posts : 4196

Posted 11/2/2009 7:26 AM (GMT -8)

Kind of reminds me of a headline I saw on "The Onion." Something like "Fond memories of childhood favorite TV show ruined by recent DVD release."

The point being that sometimes things are "better" if we leave them in the past than if we drag them into the present.

Sometimes works of art achieve iconic status based on word-of-mouth alone and the hype that surrounds the icon inflates it so much that the real thing can't possibly live up to the hype.

I saw ER for the first time in 1993. It was OK but it was not really "about" motorcycles or motorcycling any more than Apocalypse Now was "about" the Vietnam War.

I think Easy Rider maintains its iconic status for two reasons: First of all, it's about the only "motorcycle movie" that most non-motorcyclists have heard of (ask any non-rider if he/she has ever heard of "on any sunday.") So it's a common cultural reference or touchstone.

Second, I think it maintains its status because, quite honestly, more people have heard of the movie than have actually seen it.

Martin

Englewood, CO (Denver suburb)

UJM (Universal Japanese Motorcycle) Fanatic

Vintage Rice, a tribute to the UJM

Budoka
Registered Member

Date Joined Feb 2009
Total Posts : 263

Posted 11/2/2009 10:38 AM (GMT -8)

I was too young to see it in the theatres when it came out; "R" rated movies were not accessible to those under 18 in the day. We did manage to get a boot leg film through our highschool movie club that we showed in the gym for anyone over 14 with parental consent (see how hip we were back then?). I found the movie very time period accurate for the way we acted and thought then, and we thought it was terrific. But what we couldn't identify with the animosity and distrust (bigotry) towards the longhair/biker set; at least in the movie anyway. I mean WE were the longhairs and our Canadian (middle-age adult)conformist population weren't as fiesty as our American counterparts (we were way more Liberal I guess LOL). As for the drugs of the day, they couldn't condone or understand someone wanting to 'turn-on' as it were.

I watched it a couple years ago and it didn't have near the appeal as it did when I was 16. The bad editing, camera work, and weakness in the film's structure took away from the overall impact, but that's the differernce 35 years makes in one's viewpoint. Taken as a study in the political and emotional turmoil of the era, it is definitely a classic work, if not a theatrical triumph.

Same road, same wind in your face!

Casper
The teddy bear of doom,,,

Date Joined Sep 2006
Total Posts : 2635

Posted 11/2/2009 11:31 AM (GMT -8)

Like "World's fastest Indian",,, ER is a motorcycle movie that isn't really about motorcycles. It's about the story, about the times, about the people. The prejudice in the diner, the shotgun out the window of the pickup truck... they rang true to me. I grew up in the south just a few years after integration in the schools, living my weekday life in the city and my weekend life in a more rural area. I don't know if any of my uncles ever blew a hippie off of a motorcycle with a 12 gage, but I do know that they would've liked to.

Very good very flawed movie IMHO, part of it's time.

I loved Billy Jack at the time too - but for me it hasn't held up as well. Sappy sentimentality and dimestore romance has a short shelf life apparently. <<Plus, the fight scenes look really REALLY awful by today's standards>>. Still get "One tin soldier" stuck in me head once in a while.

I have a copy of On any sunday BTW, I watch it once in a while. It's a little quaint because of the clothes, but it holds up very well.

Proving the skeptics right since 1967.

Post Edited (Casper) : 11/2/2009 8:01:00 PM GMT

Casper
The teddy bear of doom,,,

Date Joined Sep 2006
Total Posts : 2635

Posted 11/2/2009 11:34 AM (GMT -8)

Well Enuff said...

GeoffG said...
<<snip>>

<<snip>>

Well, there were pretty bland to put it politely. We watched several episodes and tried to grab the original feeling of seeing them the first time. No go.

<<snip>>

So Mr. Wolfe was right. You really can't go home again. ;-)

Home run derby hadn't changed,,, we changed.

Proving the skeptics right since 1967.

57 posts in this thread.
Viewing Page : 1 2 3

Forum Information

Currently it is Sunday, November 22, 2009 12:39 AM (GMT -8)
There are a total of 447,406 posts in 35,241 threads.
In the last 3 days there were 13 new threads and 230 reply posts. View Active Threads