Two hippies, Wyatt and Billy, drive cross country on their motorcycles in order to blow a lot of money at Mardi gras. In the process they meet a slew of strange yet vital characters in their eventual understanding of their own existence.
The problem I have with `Easy Rider' is that it doesn't go anywhere for nearly half the film. I usually adore this freelance style of filmmaking, but `Easy Rider' does not sit well with me at all. In fact, the film is one gigantic fail for me until Jack Nicholson enters the story. His performance is outstanding, but I'll get to that in a minute. The film seems to just hang there, serving as a longwinded music video for some great classic rock tunes and some stunning (yet unrefined) cinematography. The `profound' statement that this film is trying to make gets lost along the way, only unveiling itself in small doses (like when Nicholson gets preachy in a sleeping bag).
`Easy Rider' is sort of boring.
Dennis Hooper's direction can be distracting at times (the way he splices his scenes together is creative yet unnecessary) and the tonal shift of his film towards the end is rather questionable. In fact, the whole Mardi gras sequence (that psychedelic cemetery trip scene) is staggeringly brilliant yet completely mind-numbing in that it is so out of place it becomes a deterrent to the film, not an aid. The eventual ending, while wholly prolific and steeped in profound insight, is more of a head-scratcher than anything else. I think that is my biggest complaint with the films second half (which is far better than the droned out first half). It is entirely inconsistent and winds up lacking any cohesive feeling.
But, there is always Jack Nicholson. His performance is one of the best supporting performances of all time. It is slick with wit, intelligence, bravado and profound sentiment. He ties together a lot of loose ends about the `meaning' here, without ever feeling out of place or forced. His charisma is in tact and his humor is just what this film needed. I won't demean him by using the phrase `comic relief', but I will say that he spices up a film in dire need of some `spice'.
Jack playing Jack to perfection.
In the end, I have to say that I am NOT impressed with this one. I was really excited about seeing this, but halfway through I was aching to turn it off. The only reason I watched it through to completion was the fact that I wanted to see what Nicholson did here, and I'm glad I witnessed that performance. So, if you are a fan of Jack then see this, for it is one of his best turns (he should have won the Oscar for this), but the film as a whole is not only outdated but uninspired, clumsy and boring.
This is the definition of a missed opportunity.
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