[[imdb:0064276 Easy Rider]] is an indie film from 1969 that explores the hippie counter-culture movement of drugs, sex, and motorcycles. The movie was directed by Dennis Hoppper and produced by Peter Fonda, both of whom act in the lead roles.

It is hard to watch a 30+ year old movie and try to appreciate it as it was percevied when it premiered. This movie was influential enough that it would have affected movies since, some of which I have probably seen. Bearing that in mind, this movie didn’t really do all that much for me. I wasn’t able to relate to the characters all that well, so their actions never had much of a meaning to me.

I did find it a fascinating record of _hippie_ life, communes, acid trips, and such. It must have been an exciting time, experimenting with _alternative_ styles of living, against the status quo. On the other hand, a lot of those experiments failed, and probably many lives were ruined.

This movie seems to have had major impacts on movie making, so I wouldn’t discourage watching it. But, its edge and shock have been quite dulled, so don’t expect all that much.

An irritation was the Mardi Gras street scenes, which were obviously shot on different film. The DVD extras informed me that this was their test footage — upon successful completion of these scenes, the production was allowed to procesed.