Easy Rider without the Rose Colored Glasses

One thing about Easy Rider is it gave a glimpse into the days when southern rednecks lashed out at hippies. The south was the last part of America to embrace long hair on men, and in 1969 a long haired male traveling through there, much less living there, was risking attack. In 1970 I myself came out of a road trip to the south & back with a black eye.

A couple years after Easy Rider came out, southern rock bands like the Allman Brothers and Lynyrd Skynyrd hit it big, and long hair started becoming accepted in the south. Easy Rider shows us a time when sweeping changes were coming over the south, but there were still plenty of southerners who fought the changes tooth and nail.

 

Some sold drugs,some sold love,some sold out. Like regular society- only with more freedom.

 

Every path that is taken lends to knowledge. Being raised in the South in the 50s and then moving to SoCali when I was 8. I experienced a severe culture shock. Dallas was about 20 yrs behind progressive California and LA, GA, MIS, ect were even further behind.

It wasnt as bad for Hippie Women as it was on the Hippie Male. Hippie Chicks were always getting the Free Love = Free Sex, misconception and a lot of times getting raped. Hippie Males had all kinds of flack to wade through. Some lost their lives.

Media Hype and writers that were not, shall we call Hip, painting pictures for the public to sell at high prices.. ppl lives. Most Hippies were out to change the concept of what is important in life and not the slave mentality of yesteryear.

The movie did not show the whole movement, or any of it for that matter. It was reflecting a bad image on Hippie culture which Easy Rider was not, as to say it was not a true likeness of Hippies it did not capture their soul.

To Me it was about a biker dude selling drugs and he was mislabled as Hippie bc of his clothers and hair. It was about a time when nonconformity got you killed and bigotry and racisum was a rule and not the exception. It showed how ppl feared change and and what ever threatened their way of life they destroyed it for GOD and Country. I saw it as a Hate Film.

It was shallow. ppl that did not experience the 50s and all that lead up to today can not fully understand or appreciate the changes that have occured over a half century or so. The changes that Hippies made in the 60s/70s, it was not the Bikers. They were a culture of their own. They were very opposit from Hippie values.

The Biker use to like to beat the Hippie Males up and take their women.. they were barbarians if they didnt know you. I lived with some Angels in Daily City when I was pregnant with my boy. Me n hubby stayed with them a while. They were not like the Hippies I was use to in The Haight but they did treat me with respect and were very acomodaiting bc of my condition. But they were robbers, rapests and drug hounds to everyone else. The only 'Code Of Ethics' they had was with their 'Club' members, their Brothers.

I have yet to see a movie that truely captures the essence of that era.

sh

 

Talking about stereotypes?

 

I aint no stereotype, I am the real thing. I went through it, without Rose Colored anything. It was hard core, up close and personal. I'm just stating MHO as someone who was involved.

 

I mean the view you portrayed on the bikers seems stereotypical. It shows not really a connection with the bikers in Easy rider. Which has nothing to do with rose colored perception of course 'cause not every guy on a motorcycle was the same. I guess the characters of the two drugsmugglers in Easy rider can be actually viewed as pretty realistic.

 

SH has it right on the Hell's Angels. If you draw their attention in the wrong way,they'll pile on you and hurt you badly. None of that schoolyard squaring off to punch around a bit one on one. I've seen it happen and the Mongols are as bad or worse. The Easy Rider drug sellers were just that--drug sellers taking advantage of the times, the jargon ,the "look"and the casual acceptance of those who were trying to live a "new" more free lifestyle. They were called hippies by Herb Caan in his newspaper column in one of the SF newspapers he worked for. It is said that he also coined the term Beatnik ,in a wordplay on the Sputnik satellite Russia sent up. It was an interesting,fascinating time to be alive, but those guys in ER were just a couple of guys trying to make a score that happened to ride bikes. I enjoyed the movie for what it was,but it wasn't too hard to identify with them as they were against the "man" like the rest of us.

 

Difference is this movie has nothing to do with Hell's angels, these guys didn't seem to be affiliated with any bikergroup, just 2 individuals hitting the road for adventure and let their money roll. That these bikers were just that doesn't make it stray away from the essence of that era in my opinion, just because it doesn't focus on obvious hippies nor typical bikers. That they did visit a commune, smoked pot, took lsd, slept in the woods, got shunned by rednecks can make people think they were hippies without seeing it too rose colored but yeah a hell's angel could experience all those things as well I guess.

Which could have been just what a hippie could have done indeed. Or a hell's angel, yes.

Same here

 

I agree, let's not compare the two bikers in Easy Rider to the bikers in the Hell's Angels, the Outlaws or other gangs. Wyatt (Peter Fonda) impresses me as a hippie biker, he has the mellow philosophy. Billy (Dennis Hopper) not so much, he's quite a bit grittier. But I don't picture them joining a gang, they're rebels but they're not out to hurt anyone.

 

I guess the Hell's Angels weren't mentioned,but when SH talked about bikers beating people up--it damn sure wasn't Elk's club members she referred to. You're right-a couple a' rebels trying to score.

 

I love this scene:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3C1ox2UGyM0"]YouTube - Flashback - bar scene

It may be funnier in context but anyway I loved the line about, "It takes more than going down to your local video store and renting Easy Rider to be a rebel."

Stay Brown,
Rev J

 

What movie?

 

Flashback with Keefer Sutherland.

Stay Brown,
Rev J

 

But look at their post Easy Rider Careers. Hopper has always been the grittier actor. And Fonda is a pitchman for Sixties Greatest Hits anthologies.

Stay Brown,
Rev J

 

you left out the part where they actually meet REAL hippies at the commune ... thats the hippie part.

thats why peter says
"We blew it"

They could have made a home there.

 

I don't agree. It's never really made clear why he says, "We blew it.", it's left for us to speculate. As for joining the commune, the hippie they picked up hitch-hiking, played by Luke Askew, was acting like an ingrate, and it became clear they had to move on.