![]() ![]() First they stumble upon a ‘Switch-off, Tune-in and Drop-out’ hippie commune, then a native American reservation, before gatecrashing the annual Mardi Gras parade. On the way to Miami they encounter the culture clash of a divided America. Having successfully acquired their contraband, they travel to LA and sell their stash for a hefty profit, then, head out West for adventure towards the East Coast. Introduced to the strains of Steppenwolf’s psychedelic rock anthem ‘Born to Be Wild’, the two renegades mount chopper bikes, speeding over the winding bridges and highways of Mexico en route to scoring drugs. Riding in tandem is Dennis Hopper, (his co-star from The Trip), as the buckskinned Billy (The Kid) a paranoid, long-haired cowboy. Fonda’s Wyatt, is the mellow ‘Captain America’, resplendent in tight black leather with the American flag emblazoned upon his jacket, helmet and Harley Davidson. “Well, that’s what happened to America – Liberty became a whore and the whole country took an easy ride.”Īdopting the style of a John Ford western, Easy Rider charts the (mis)adventures of two outlaws riding roughshod across the vast tracks and terrain of the US in their quest for a quick profit and spiritual enlightenment. “Easy Rider is a term for a whore’s old man not a pimp, but a dude who lives with a chick,” he explained. Securing a budget of $400,000, Fonda decided to produce a new type of road movie. ![]() He didn’t believe that Doris Day’s Pillow Talk reflected a society marred by civil unrest, political assassinations, segregation, recreational drugs and sexual permissiveness. “We need to make more movies like Dr Doolittle!” Having experienced success with low-budget biker movie The Wild Angels, which earned $16 million, Valenti’s comments infuriated Fonda. “It’s time we stop making movies about motorcycles, sex and drugs,” said Valenti. It was in September 1967, during the publicity tour of The Trip in Toronto, that Peter Fonda first encountered Jack Valenti, the President of MPAA. ![]()
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