Easy Rider - Special Edition [DVD]

The film which was the reason I wanted to start riding a motorcycle all those years ago, now in glorious 4K.

For many this is a classic nostalgic hippy-fest with some great music, but a recent re-viewing convinced me that this is a far more complex film than has been previously credited. No need to go over the plot again, because it's all in the other reviews: two bikers "in search of America" on a picaresque journey through the South to New Orleans and Mardi Gras. The journey of discovery is a self-conscious "State of the Nation" odyssey, with the impassive Peter Fonda as Captain America decked out in the Stars and Stripes, on his bike and on his helmet. What they find, however, is not simply stated. Towards the end of the movie, Dennis Hopper as the ebullient Billy (not really a hippy at all, just a simple guy out for a good time) exults, "Hey man! We made it!" "We blew it," replies Fonda. And it's this ambiguity, and just how and why they "blew it" (if they did) which makes the movie endlessly fascinating.One quality which permeates the whole film is a sense of the past, and with it an aching nostalgia. "This used to be one helluva country," opines George (Jack Nicholson). "What happened to it?" Everywhere there are the prints of those who have gone before. Not for nothing does the famous "tripping" scene take place in a graveyard.Talking of tripping, unlike the simplistic "coloured lights and lava lamp" trips of other films of the period, this one is a Big Bad Trip, in which all the insecurities of the characters come up - Fonda hating his mother, the prostitute who thinks she's so ugly. It's not sensational, it's revealing character.Other ambiguities: the hippy colony, where city boys and girls are struggling to survive at almost starvation level until the crop they have so inexpertly planted may - or may not - come out. The quiet desperation of these people, movingly expressed in a prayer by Robert Walker Jnr, and the deep unease it creates in the volatile Billy. There is a beautiful shot early in the movie of a farmer in the foreground shoeing a horse, while in the background Fonda and Hopper repair a puncture on one of their bikes. Is the farmer showing what the boys have lost, or is it a comment on the continuity of America? Probably both.Sure, there are villains, and the Southern rednecks with their casual violence supply them. But that doesn't make "our heroes" into Heroes.The film is shot through with subtle character observation even of minor characters, like the group of schoolgirls who are drawn to and tease the bikers; the understated love of a farmer for his wife in the barest of glances. All the characters are beautifully drawn, the interaction between Fonda and Hopper is precisely conceived and executed, and the film has the best, the funniest and sharpest "stoned" dialogue ever committed to film. The one thing which throws the film off-balance is the scene-stealing performance of Nicholson. I'm sure he couldn't help it, he's simply a great actor, but the film takes some time to recover its direction after his death.Everyone knows the sound-track, of course, and it's rightly revered, but it's worth noting how much it drives the movie, giving a carefully-chosen dynamic to what might otherwise be mere travelogue. Only one music edit seems abrupt, but it may be deliberate in the move from country to city. Hopper really hasn't had enough credit as a director for this film, because the pacing, the editing, the placing of the camera are all superb. Shame he hasn't directed more.It's great to be able to report that a movie you saw 40 years ago stands up so well, and reveals greater riches with repeated viewings. An American classic.

Most of the negative reviews here criticise this movie as being dated and for idolising the waster culture - possibly related criticisms - but it's difficult to see how you could justify either except on a very cursory consideration of the film.Easy Rider absolutely refuses to idolise the sixties ideal, and it is not to my eyes even vaguely dated (I say this having seen it for the first time last night, thirty three years late).The golden thread running through this film is that THE PARTY'S OVER, DUDES.Fonda states this explicitly ("we blew it...") and it's firmly implied in a devastatingly funny caricature of a dead beat hippy commune (as the city dropouts joyously commune with nature, scattering their seed on the barren land of the New Mexico desert, Fonda asks wryly, "do you, ah, get much rain up here?")And (without wishing to spoil the ending) by the time the credits roll, our heroes haven't exactly profited from their wild lives. The ending of the film is profoundly pessimistic about the prospects for freedom and independence.The film is certainly critical of the intolerant "establishment" (which nevertheless prevails), but if there is one character who does smell of roses, it is the farmer who takes the boys in for the night and who, says Fonda, should be proud simply for living off the land.For my money this makes Easy Rider ahead, rather than behind its times. It's also rooted in a number of great cinematic traditions, aside from the Road Movie genre which it helped to invent. I like the idea (expressed in a review below) that this is a latter day western, even down to the character's names, Wyatt and Billy. Also, were you to draw a line between Butch Cassidy & The Sundance Kid and Thelma & Louise, it would intersect Easy Rider.The performances of the cast are delightful - Nicholson's is rightly feted, and Hopper's is very Dennis Hopper - fans of Apocalypse Now will recognise this style in which Hopper doesn't really act so much as simply looning around - here in total contrast to Fonda's studied coolness, which holds the film together, reinforced with a cracking soundtrack (in this regard also, Easy Rider was well ahead of its time).If you fancy a dash of counterpoint, try watching Easy Rider back to back with David Lynch's stunning recent work The Straight Story - as a compare and contrast job, I think they'd make a fascinating study.

Tv

Not a review of film which is a classic as everyone knows. This review is for the 4K version of the film compared to the blu ray and whether the upgrade is worth it. I had the Criterion release and I compared the 4k to both it and the Sony disc which comes with 50th anniversary edition. I only have a budget LG 43 inch LED 4k tv but even on that it is very easy to see the difference. Not so much in detail or the soundtrack but with regards to HDR which is the main reason you would buy this. You only need to watch the first few minutes of film to see the benefits. For example things that I noticed were the sky looking so much brighter and a much deeper blue, colours like reds, oranges -e.g. on the child - looking so much more vivid, skin tones looking deeper. Another example that sticks out in my mind is when Billy and Wyatt go to ranch to get their bike tyre repaired. The blue of the denim of the rancher against the blue of the sky just looks incredible.There is a video on YouTube which shows a comparison between the 4k 50th Anniversary and Sony edition which gives lots more examples. I will say that if you already have the on blu ray but love the movie then the upgrade is most definitely worthwhile. On a large premium OLED or QLED - which I can't wait to view it on in future - I'm sure it will look absolutely amazing.