1969 – Wyatt (Peter Fonda) and Billy (Dennis Hopper), bedecked in copious leather and questionable facial hair, deliver an outrageously large consignment of cocaine across the Mexican border via their souped-up chopper motorcycles, the cash stashed in the fuel tank. As the Californian sun rises over Route 66, Steppenwolf’s Born To be Wild blasts onto the soundtrack, and the two bikers roar into cinematic legend.
So begins Easy Rider, a film which captures a time, place, mood, and lifestyle quite unlike any other. The ultimate counterculture movie, it electrified Hollywood and announced a new generation of filmmakers looking to leave a more radical stamp on celluloid. Its potent mix of strange psychedelia, colourful road trip encounters, unsimulated drug-taking and a stonking soundtrack makes it one of the most iconic films of the 1960s.
This screening is presented by Criterion Collection – one of three to be hosted by the cinephile’s favourite.
Cert: 18