Quentin Tarantino on Easy Rider

Quentin Tarantino reacts to Dennis Hopper's landmark 1969 film Easy Rider.
Source: Movie Mad Matt

[@andrewcornell9415]

Tarantino has to be easiest podcast guest ever. Press record, ask him one question about Easy Rider, press stop three and a half hours later.

[@WillN2Go1]

I love Taratino's comment at about 3 minutes that in the 80's Easy Rider looked dated, but in the 90s not so. Really insightful.

[@jamesball5743]

It’s an inane comment, Easy Rider has been dates since the Sex Pistols worse now than ever

[@tuanjim799]

I wish he would have expanded a little on what he meant or why he thinks that, because in some vague, murky, groping way I feel like I kinda feel what he was getting at, but it's hard to pin down. I remember watching Easy Rider when I was a teenager in the early 2000s, and it did look and feel very dated to me then. But when I watch it nowadays it somehow doesn't as much, and I can't quite work out why that is. I'm thinking it was just my narrow teenage outlook associating any pre-1990s movie with being old or something. But now that I've expanded my tastes and experiences through the years, and have come to enjoy much older movies than Easy Rider, it doesn't feel so dated. It's like my historical perspective broadened, so that the 1960s really doesn't feel like it was all that long ago in the grand scheme of things.

[@WillN2Go1]

Maybe you guys are younger than me. I was there then. I've even met Dennis Hopper, been in his house. Not much is really new, often just repeated. Fashion is evil. It wants to convince you that if you don't buy and wear a certain thing a certain way you are a loser, and in a year it wants to convince you that if you're still wearing that thing you're a loser. Huge difference from style and culture. I remember my students telling me my jeans were too tight, then they were just right and now I guess the same jeans are too tight again... When I was a glam rocker in the 1970s old ladies would come up to my girlfriend and I and say they used to dress like that, platform shoes, etc... in the 1920s. I would say our culture at the end of the 60s and through most of the 70s was laid bad, relaxed , a bit scruffy. People would call us 'hippies' (when we weren't glam rocking) and we thought of hippies as primarily stoners, which most of us weren't. Just pay attention, keep a journal, remember everything you can and you will discover that the world you live in is absolutely amazing. I was living in Montreal wondering where were the places Leonard Cohen was singing about. Some one who'd known him said, "Here, Old Montreal," right where I was living. Oh.... Most people don't pay enough attention.

[@ryanjacobson2508]

Everything is dated. By definition. Whether something is still appealing to you is a matter of personal taste.

[@jeshkam]

​@@jamesball5743OK.

[@JingleJangleJam]

Tarantino's enthusiasm for film is like an infectious disease, he's the one example where the video store clerk reached it to the top and turned the video store clerk's fantasy into a moving and shaking of studio institutions' conception of what the limits and potentials of the strange and the esoteric surrealism of genre style could be.

[@ct6852]

The Jack Nicholson speech by the campfire is what I always remember most from the film. Continues to pop into my consciousness at the most random times. Classic movie.

[@jeshkam]

Was this in the script btw?

[@ct6852]

@@jeshkam Not sure. Definitely sounds like it was written down first. Sounds pretty literary. Would be really impressed if it was a Nicholson ad lib.

[@jeshkam]

@@ct6852 I would be too. That monologue is incredible. 🙂

[@m_recordz]

Has there ever been a fan of cinema who knows so much about so many movies? Every time I hear Tarrantino talk about movies, he recalls not only the directors and producers, but movie company relationships, the history of how the movie was made, and even the actors who played the most minor characters!

[@kevinsnazz]

Probably not. Quentin is like an autistic cinephile. I love his movies and listening to him talk about things I love.

[@MintyFreshTurds]

I am very excited not only for his last movie but for his plans after he retires directing. Him alone would revitalize podcasting, he would be the go to place to hear discussion about movies. He would be a monopoly on the subject.

[@kevinsnazz]

@@MintyFreshTurds he already has a podcast with Roger Avary - the Video Archives Podcast. It’s great. Listened to them all.

[@MintyFreshTurds]

@@kevinsnazz omg OMG. I live in box.

[@HarrisonHollers]

I love hearing QT’s passion for films! He is taking the baton from Scorsese as the best film expert to hear review and analyze movies.

[@sprezzatura8755]

I was a little kid when I first saw this movie. Then and there I wanted a motorcycle and Steppenwolf album.

[@Unfunny_Username_389]

did you get a bike and if so what

[@tysonfoutz7606]

My father knew cinema as an art form. Just a working man that could really appreciate that it belongs in fine arts schools. If Tarantino says something about cinema, I listen.

[@roberthevern6169]

Yeah, like the old TV commercial, when Merrill Lynch speaks, I listen!

[@jessehaskell1397]

I am your father

[@WeGachaMetal]

… and the soundtrack is insanely great, especially for it’s time!

[@MotorcycleMayhem595]

Dennis Hopper turned out to be one of the biggest coke dealers in Hollywood. Him and Larry Hagman used to hang out and party all day!

[@JeffreyGlover65]

Cocaine is a helluva drug!! 😎❄️❄️❄️

[@JasonWingate-nl7jd]

Easy Rider is definitely an epic classic, love Quinton’s taste in cinema. 🎬

[@chrisjherman]

Just want to say that I really appreciate your videos! It's great hearing these filmmakers, writers and actors discuss these movies in detail. Great clip choice as well. Thanks again!

[@DistantLights]

Easy Rider is a beautiful movie, even if seemingly by accident. All about freedom

[@scottwolff6946]

Couldn't agree more. I think it's the best film of the 1960's by a mile.

[@DistantLights]

@@scottwolff6946 i wouldn't go that far, there's some strong contenders like tgtb&tu, psycho,Lawrence of Arabia, 2001, just off the top of my head

[@DistantLights]

@@orlandopockets6372 idk, you see various degrees of "freedom" in the form of having your own place (that guy with the family that feeds em) and the hippie place, and the freedom George experiences when with them, but also shows how they sold themselves and their dreams out.

[@DistantLights]

@@orlandopockets6372 they had a chance for freedom, but as wyatt observes, they "blew it"

[@charlesbishop4000]

Whoa. Great editing. Creatively spliced. Saw Easy Rider in 1970 at the Capitol Drive-In, Tallahassee, Florida, with the help of some quality Panama Red. Good Times.

[@abraxasjinx5207]

Mind blowing that your primo grass of that era would be seen as ditch weed these days.

[@roberthevern6169]

​@@abraxasjinx5207hey, we all had to start somewhere....

[@TheVinylRecordMission]

This is one of my all time favorite movies. Dennis Hopper is one of my favorite actors to watch especially in Easy Rider. Dennis lived it. Hopper adopted Taos New Mexico (where the opening scene drug deal goes down at La Contenta bar) as his heart home. Dennis was smitten by the spiritual and magical powers Taos has over individuals it chooses to seduce. Dennis loved Taos so much he bought the historic 12 acre Mable Dodge Lujan property in 1971 or 72. This was where he felt the most loved, inspired and free. Taos does that to those who are meant to call it home. QT is absolutely on point about the greatness and importance of the film Easy Rider. Great podcast!

[@brilliantgrass878]

Taos/Northern NM is still a special place.

[@howardb.6205]

"I want to know!" -love this flick, love this dude

[@howardb.6205]

skateboard movies are WAY GUILTY of this too, mad love QT

[@archcunningham5579]

Incredible to see the shacks that people were living in when Captain America rides through the slums of New Orleans ! That’s real footage of America in 1969 ! How far we’ve come, not sure if there was running water in those shacks !!!

[@mr.moonmouth4404]

It’s interesting he mentions the dating of easy rider lessening as time passes. I had that experience of it when I saw it a couple of years ago and I felt it was less dated and more relevant than when I first saw it. I’m not sure when I saw it, definitely after the 80’s where he says it felt dated, , but although I liked it it did seem of an era, but watching it a couple summers ago it felt very alive & vital to me

[@normanby100]

The eighties saw materialism reassert itself but, in recent times, we've seen the system fail bigtime in so many ways.

[@ravecrab]

When something is 20 years old it's dated. When it's 30 years old it's classic.

[@ryanjacobson2508]

​@@normanby100Income inequality is far greater now than it was in the 80's. We are far more decadent nowadays.

[@mr.moonmouth4404]

​@@normanby100 I saw it far after the 80’s so I don’t think 80’s materialism perse is a factor(maybe post 80’s) but the decline of American society/economy could play a part. I think much of it it’s in the style of the film: It’s not structured tightly, much more free flowing in the story and the acting than movies today; the actors look like people not a Hollywood casting call; it’s not using grand cinematic tricks to manipulate you like swelling music or slick cgi swooping shots or crisp “poignant” dialogue. It feels very alive and within the world compared to films today which seem more produced, counterfeit & mechanical. That it’s shot on film as opposed to hard shiny postcard-like images digital produces I think also plays a factor. It just seems very much an artistic statement rendered from a living, breathing world not a shiny product or a prepackaged message to “educate”. It just has life in it and most films are doa

[@juniorjames7076]

@@mr.moonmouth4404 Everything you just described...will we ever have that again?

[@pacoval4577]

One of my favorite movies of all time.

[@knownpleasures]

The ending was totally shocking 😮 and left of field. No 4 most popular movie of 1969.

[@mcplainview8376]

Interesting how he said if you saw Easy Rider in the 80s it looked dated, but if you saw it in the 90s it didn’t

[@pyrostooge78]

Peter Fonda gives a heck of a weird performance in this one. The extras are so real - especially the guys in the diner - you really get the impression that they'd like to take them out back and beat the F out of them. They just seethe contempt. Jack Nicholson steals every scene he's in.

[@athuldas4959]

In order to inspire more vitriolic commentary from the local men in the restaurant, Hopper told them the characters of Billy, Wyatt, and George had raped and killed a girl outside of town

[@fernandomaron87]

Fonda's believable as a hippie biker in a soul search journey imo. I think his performance defines the film's theme, that sometimes even when we made it, we feel disconnected and not happy at all, they realize by the end they couldn't buy the freedom. Jack Nicholson's speech on the bonfire also mentions this. The hippie community were free but they were suffering from hunger and cursed with a dry land, improper for grow food. The acid makes you free, but they ended up having a bad trip. Fonda's face throughout the film is very believable of someone dealing with all this.

[@mypalfootfoot9591]

In terms of how they represented an image of the counterculture, Hopper was more genuine, relatable as a freak but Fonda was a caricature, someone who acted the way he thought hippies were like.

[@yippeeyokai5750]

I read the hicks in the diner were the real deal. They were not actors.

[@roberthevern6169]

Can you imagine just being a 'Fonda'? After Dad sets an unreachably high mark, for Jane and Peter to not fail was expected! IMHO All three Fondas are amazing! With Henry standing behind, caressing the shoulder of his two prolific children! On Golden Pond was sooo good, people seem to forget about that fantastic movie! Damn, I am so old....

[@tomlewis4748]

"The Ballad of Easy Rider", written by Bob Dylan and Roger McGuinn, which I believe ended the movie, still might be my favorite song ever. It makes me cry every time I hear it. Two minutes and 21 seconds of pure genius.

[@Sheba386]

Tarantino is a damn genius no matter what.

[@999titu]

What a beautiful, gem of a movie

[@JOEBOWERY]

Great clip, thank you for sharing, Easy Rider is ‘the first music video’

[@VereinPlatzhirschamHirschenpla]

I would say Reservoir Dogs is also an American Outlaw Movie.

[@brianvail9212]

He seemingly spent a decade on the set of Apocalypse Now driving everyone crazy, especially Brando.

[@OttoVonBizmarkie]

I could listen to Tarantino autisticly ramble about movies all day.

[@mikeFolco]

Autistism = knowledge?

[@OttoVonBizmarkie]

@@mikeFolco sure man if that’s what you want to take away from this

[@roberthevern6169]

Oh wow man!

[@matthewmaguire3554]

Same with Orsen Welles.

[@RegisWilkins]

@@matthewmaguire3554Don't even mention a genius like Orson with that crank headed ripoff artist.

[@user-pb7bt9nf9i]

Tarantino likes Easy Rider because, like Tarantino movies, it builds the plot around likeable relatable characters then kills them all at the end 😄

[@thegamersfaction6343]

I want an entire series of Quentin talking in depth about films

[@roberthevern6169]

Dennis Hopper (RIP) and Peter(RIP) were more prolific than most people know!

[@barrycuda3769]

I'd like to hear him talk about one of his other favorite movies " Big Wednesday " .

[@roberthevern6169]

Yes, a bake sale brings back many fond, and some crazy memories!

[@davidkornblatt851]

Guys what about Midnight Cowboy? Same Year!

[@steve_bal4]

A far superior film, imo!

[@davidkornblatt851]

@@steve_bal4 i feel the way to look at movies is as wild terrestrial plane with peaks and valleys in other words, there are no great movies and no crummy ones. Just a series of “chapters “ in a very very long movie.

[@steve_bal4]

@davidkornblatt851 Oh, there are definitely some crummy movies out there, but I like your philosophy. Or whatever you've been smoking to get it. 😄

[@dan_evilrobot]

I finally got to watch Easy Rider for the first time and it's one of the most beautifully shot looking film in 1969.

[@fmellish71]

Dennis Hopper was the Orson Welles of the counterculture and Easy Rider is his Citizen Kane

[@andrews527]

One of my favorite things in ER is the flash-forwards that connect scenes. Should be explored and updated as a technique.

[@eddieobrien1411]

I was around ten years old when I saw this.the scene at the beginning when Peter Fonda threw away his watch,always stuck with me,After seeing that,I understood exactly what he’s doing and I never wore a watch..a symbol of slavery!

[@GroundbreakGames]

Ngl, this movie changed my life back in the day.

[@Woozlewuzzleable]

He always sounds like he's on coke but that's why I like him, he's so passionate about movies.

[@richardrobbins387]

That's when you know he REALLY likes something. Made me wanna watch "Easy Rider" right now!

[@mantistoboggan5171]

Didn't Brad Pitt say he's the only guy to have coke to slow him down?

[@MintyFreshTurds]

Cinema excites him.

[@thatssomething1]

Haven't watched this movie in years..from the clips here I still like the looks of the cute girls 😊

[@stonephilips9361]

What is this podcast from🤔

[@nedmerrill6228]

Great great movie.

[@littleghostfilms3012]

Easy Rider is not a product for the counter culture made by old men with money. It's a counter culture film made by the counter culture about the counter culture, in all it's messy, violent, tripped out way.

[@billdoe8919]

This made no sense!

[@littleghostfilms3012]

@@billdoe8919 Apparently you didn't watch the video, or it went in one ear and out the other. What I said is reflected in what Tarantino said.

[@normanby100]

For a bad film about getting down withe the kids made by middle-aged men, watch DRACULA AD 72.

[@ryanjacobson2508]

Boomers are delusional. The roots of the so called counter culture rest in both the pre-Boomer generation as well as in (certain) quarters of the establishment. They didn't "change" the world... At least not in the sense they think they did.

[@steveconn]

Dennis Hopper tried to one-up Easy Rider the next year with The Last Movie (then basically vanished into a drug haze for a decade).

[@TheApexPredatorRKO]

4 years. Hopper Did Wenders' American Friend pretty soon after in '75

[@steveconn]

​@@TheApexPredatorRKOBut he was wrecked on coke in Apocalypse Now which filmed from '75 to '79.

[@notoriouspee2062]

@@steveconnApocalypse Now was shot entirely in 75 and edited over 5 years before releasing in 79

[@jamesshaffer3951]

where can I find more of QT doing this for other flicks?

[@robbo03]

'The Video Archives' podcast if you have access to Spotify or Apple. It's great 👍

[@mrt5201]

well said.

[@roberthevern6169]

QT is legendary! Analogous to Stanley something or other....

[@thunderhawk2376]

Watergate is jaywalking compared to what’s going on today

[@briandetweiler2864]

Rock hard ride free... And pack HEAVY!

[@Dagger-Deep]

Love the movie, the soundtrack is kick ass too.

[@deanrane1961]

It would be cool to watch Easy Rider with a commentary by Tarantino.

[@kevinhowes]

Anyone have "Quentin Tarantino on Out of the Blue"?

[@TranceMasterJack]

The guy buying coke in the beginning of the movie is producer Phil Spector.

[@joebarr725]

7:29 - "...wormy". Good Word.

[@kensilverstone1656]

Is this a top 10 all-time movie, or does some of the acting and writing detract?

[@user-lt4ru1pk8j]

Imho, Easy Rider is actually a Western

[@realneighborhoodP]

This interviewer, every couple of mins: "yea--Yes--Yup---Good" meanwhile Tarantino never stops talking or acknowledges her. You'd think she'd have got the hint at some point.

[@Oldmissmary]

He’s talking about something he’s very knowledgeable in to listeners who are interested in it. There’s nothing for her to interject

[@realneighborhoodP]

Yes@@Oldmissmary

[@Scotty2hotty-xc6gi]

We BLEW IT MAN!!!!!! End of story

[@wyattrussell7496]

This is where I was named

[@The1JesseArcherAzar]

Christopher Nolan with Emma Thomas met me but I'm faceblind, with 38 scripts and no money. I'm fkn dying. JES-🇺🇲⚡️like Quentin

[@bigiedieot]

I like when Tarantino almost said FUBU

[@autofocus4556]

He won’t let her get a thought in. I’m sure the cast had more of a role in how well the movie did.

[@mypalfootfoot9591]

The movie did well exactly for the reasons Tarantino stated.

[@autofocus4556]

@@mypalfootfoot9591 the cast had nothing to do with it? Right. Lol

[@harryfyhr4010]

Bike riders thinks it's boring,but they don't have the balls to admit it to their other bike brothers

[@stmn346]

The man’s at the window

[@OrangeCounty-zq1qs]

I'm hip about time, but I gotta split

[@andreadaleyutronebel5894]

Tarantino's confusing fatalism with nihilism.

[@johnorgan3]

first half of the movie was one of the best... then Jack got clubbed to death, and the whole movie from there on portrays every 60s bummer that's, at some points, just too hard to watch. But they stuck Carole Kings song, 'I Wasn't Born To Follow', in twice!! Done by the Byrd's of course. It was, actually, the first movie with songs (rock, folk, and blues) as the background.

[@NaumanKhan-oj4gs]

Tarintino movies remind me of mcdonald's. His movies are like junk food. But sometimes you need junk food.

[@kirksornberger]

How dated is Pulp Fiction ?

[@ThefetchNZ]

The ending of this movie traumatised me as a 15 year old. It’s stuck with me, I’m 48. It seems truely relevant now, if it ‘gangs’ or ‘hippies’ or ‘drag queens’ or ‘woke’

[@StruggleoftheOutsider]

must look deeper.

[@lib556]

Refreshing to hear Tarantino is capable of getting through 9 mins of conversation without expletives. One question I've always pondered about the film is ... helmets. Wyatt has one but never uses it (except for when George tags along). Billy doesn't have one. If they aren't necessary or legally required, why drag one along? If not needed, why does Wyatt insist that George have one? And, after forcing George to have one, Wyatt makes a show of suddenly wearing his... I always wondered.

[@wilburross9709]

I can't remember if there was ever a federal helmet law in the US or if the Feds just pressured all of the states into making helmet laws, but it seems like most states had helmet laws by '68-'69. If I wanted to dance around and defend the movie, I could say not all states had helmet laws and some of the laws were worded poorly enough that with money and a good lawyer Dennis' hat could qualify as 'appropriate headgear' in a court of law, but considering the way they looked and the contraband and money they were carrying, it would have been easier to at least have a helmet along. So instead I'm going to claim they took 'artistic license,' I think it is called, when they realised Dennis' outfit doesn't look as good with a motorcycle helmet as it does with the Aussie hat, and decided they were just going to ignore the helmet laws and hope the audience doesn't notice. That hat would have never stayed on at real highway speeds anyway!

[@lib556]

@@wilburross9709 I get the impression that the Jack Nicholson character is the only levity injected into the film (that becomes tragedy) and that his goofy football helmet was part of that. Ergo, it had to be worked into the film somehow. Plus Fonda's paint scheme on his helmet was part of the overall artistic effect of his bike and jacket. It was an accessory in an artistic/fashion ensemble: Stars & Stripes bike, S&S jacket... S&S helmet.

[@Bodycountunknown]

Oh lord am I really here to dance?

[@juleswoodbury58]

that poor lady couldn't get a word in sideways xD. What's truly wonderful about people with autism though is they are so infectious with their obsessions. You can listen to them for hours on end on a subject that didn't interest you and or know very little about beforehand and adopt their obsessions.

[@joshbanks9261]

Its a represenation of the death of a generation of free thinkers and the end of an idea that you couldn't actually live free in a society that tries to mold you a certain way. Long hairs were looked as freaks they didn't want to follow the normal rules. Its a great rode movie beautifully shot as well so different and original for the time. It was more than just a film a piece of art very tragic as well. People need to realize the hippies were artists not just the burn outs they became later. Think Suburbia is also a great movie about the punk scene quite different though another tragic film that points at society in the 80s.

[@shinjiikari1989]

The only greetings I can find is with Robert Dinero unless it's something else

[@histubeness]

De Niro.

[@shinjiikari1989]

@@histubeness thanks

[@petebondurant58]

I love the ending...it's a laugh riot, but the rest of the film...I can do without.

[@UnityAgainstJewishEvil]

Hey, I feel the same. It’s just self-indulgent trash IMO.

[@petebondurant58]

@@UnityAgainstJewishEvil Yep. I was rootin for the rednecks.

[@mypalfootfoot9591]

There were guys like you in the 60's, girls wanted nothing to do with them then either.

[@chiefgonzo]

first

[@hollywooda111]

Ohhh Spoiler ALERT!!! hahaha,

[@Art-is-craft]

It was a cult classic but not a great movie.

[@gregorysgarrison]

Easy Rider is one of those movies that I just didn't get. I saw it when I was a kid, as a young adult, and as the old man I am now. Still, I don't get it. I've ridden motorcycles my whole life too. Nadda. Heh.

[@initialreactions411]

Lol it looks so bad

[@gypsydildopunks7083]

Did the director have Jack and Dennis be that obnoxious or did they improvise? I sorta wanted them to be eliminated. By hillbillies or hillbilly cops. Thanks

[@normanby100]

Dennis was the director. I don't imagine he arrived at that decision lightly.

[@BlastinRope]

never heard of it

[@ianbauer4703]

Best comment

[@Ryan88881]

I guess it depends how old you are. If you make it to age 23 - 25 and still haven't even "heard of it", well then that might be a little more disconcerting. Making it to age 30 though, still not having heard of it would be a red flag.

[@benclive4068]

A lot is written about this flick, so was a bit disappointed when I watched it. Very boring, very stagy and dated acting. But it is saved by a great soundtrack. The whole hippie drug thing can turn out good rock songs, but it's not so much for films. Cinema is too long and complicated to be made by stoned people.

[@classiclife7204]

Right on everything, except ... Imma let you finish on what was "in" and what wasn't in the 80s, but "Easy Rider" was definitely IN. The 60s nostalgia was in full sway, and easy for us younguns to dive into because 80s (mainstream) culture was so lifeless and shiny, like a robot. We turned to the things our parents grew up with: certain books (Kerouac, Ginsberg, Burroughs, other Beat writers), Hunter S Thompson, music (especially music) like the Doors and Dylan and Hendrix and all things psychedelic. Movies too - "Easy Rider" was a favorite. Quentin's wrong about that movie being "out" in the 80s. That movie went out of style permanently after 9/11, as did anything adjacent to Left politics. He's also mistaken about this movie "feeling right" for today. Nah. The kids in their teens and early 20s today are the most conformist and authoritarian generation since I don't know when. The kids would laugh at this movie. Bikers riding free aren't their heroes, musicians aren't their heroes. Elon Musk is their hero. ChatGPT is their hero. Quentin's entitled to his opinion, but he's off on the subject of the times and generations for "outlaw" cinema. It ain't now. It was in the 80s, from a nostalgic view. We watched all our parent's movies. I saw Graduate, Easy Rider, Midnight Cowboy, among many others, before I even got to film school.

[@Ryan88881]

Pretty much completely disagree. Easy Rider seems even less dated now than it did just 5 years ago. Your point about young people in the 80s referring back to older movies and subcultural mores doesn't mean Easy Rider-type stuff was "in". It seems like "1980s mainstream culture", especially with respect to movies was actually fairly inline with how people generally felt or naturally expressed themselves during that time. You're correct about the music, but that's pretty common knowledge that 1960s and 70s music was the true 'golden' or classical era for that stuff and that the 80s saw a sharp decline in the quality of music that even many younger people did not jive with.

[@TheRealNormanBates]

"easy for us younguns to dive into because 80s (mainstream) culture was so lifeless and shiny, like a robot. " speak for yourself. The 80's had nothing but energy and life to it. Hell, you STILL have people trying to rip it off... you won't see anyone ape the 2010's or 2020's. "That movie went out of style permanently after 9/11, as did anything adjacent to Left politics." wow.. you are SO wrong! A place called "Wild and Woolly" in Louisville, KY. always had that thing rented out, and it was a fairly big deal to get *Taxi Driver* and *Easy Rider* out on blu-ray in crystal clear HD in the mid to late 2000's. There is a BIG difference in so called "left wing politics" in movies like the 2 mentioned, as well as *Goodbye, Uncle Tom, Soldier Blue, The Parallax View, Electra Glide in Blue* and *Vanishing Point,* and whatever Orwellian brain garbage the Neo Left has been putting out the past 20 years. The sad fact is: the Left has become the very thing their parents and grandparents were afraid of the conservatives doing. I do agree with you about the authoritarian conformity, but you even see the older leftists doing it to. I do not recall anyone from the Left questioning the things happening in 2020, much less now that we KNOW it was all bullsh-t.

[@wilburross9709]

I agree that the '80s were very much into the '60s. The '60s were so revolutionary that it was still reverberating in the '80s like ripples in a pool of water. Many of the pop music artists in the '80s had been kids, maybe with older brothers or sisters, that were brought up on all of that great pop music of the '60s, witnessed what the '70s became, and decided they wanted that hippie vibe. Plus, like every generation, kids in the '80s looked at the '60s, said "How do you top THAT?!" then went out and tried to out-party the stereotypes. And I think the movie has become very dated, like watching a movie from the '30s or the '50s. I squint hard to try to find something, anything, even in the background, but every trace of that world is almost completely gone. Kids today don't care about it and why should they? Nothing relative to their life in it. More of a documentary (or relic) of that time.

[@Ryan88881]

@@wilburross9709 Kids today don't care about it? If you're talking about adolescents or early 20 somethings that would obviously be incorrect.

[@marcblum5348]

To me, Easy Rider is massively overrated. Maybe in the context of the 60ies in US of A it makes sense to some movie sociologists. But taken as a film without historical context, it is crap.

[@richardbalducci4490]

That’s NOT Quentin Tarantino’s voice.

[@2wiceashard]

it is

[@JoshuaBarrio]

Easy Rider is overrated. Maybe seeing it in the era made the movie better. But doesn't hold up. QT is talking about the movies success and how different it was from everything else at the moment, plus how it wasn't associated with a studio. Modern equivalents from my era I can think of are Blair Witch Project (1999) & Paranormal Activity (2007)

[@JWIZZY4real]

Easy Rider would be dismissed as "woke" garbage by modern day conservitard audiences.

[@SquabbleBoxHQ]

Don't agree. It is too honest and conscious of reality in many moments.

[@willbaker8505]

Well it literally was and is still

[@nicosmind3]

Woke garbage is literally something that tries to shove the woke message down your throat about a variety of demonstrable nonsense. If it's not demonstrable nonsense then it's not woke garbage. And I've read the academic papers which spawn that nonsense. There's a reason why Hitler's Mein Kampf had large sections of it rewritten (Jew became White Male etc) and put forward to the top academic journals, and not only was it accepted, it was put up for an award!!

[@mantistoboggan5171]

What is strange is that boomers are a group moaning about woke stuff, yet this is something they probably liked. Not that they are the only ones to bring it up all the time. I hear millennials do it too. It's very interesting to keep asking for the definition of woke from tgem

[@chopperking1967]

Wrong. I have FAR more Conservative, than Liberal values, yet I love the movie. We have far more depth than you think we do.

[@Tootswilligers]

Easy rider is awful... but it has a hippy ending.

[@ianbauer4703]

Ouch

[@mypalfootfoot9591]

Rednecks who saw the movie back then felt the same way as you, part of their hate came from the fact that girls weren't interested in them. It took a few years but they eventually realized that if they ever wanted to get laid, they'd have to stop being on the wrong side of the culture.

[@user-uw8bm1jv8k]

Billy Jack was pure libturd idiocy, one of the most cornball films of all time.

[@lib556]

I distinctly recall the phenomenon surrounding Billy Jack in the early 70s. Seems it stayed in the theatre for over a year. A good example of how a hit song can boost tickets. Plus the martial arts craze was just beginning so...

[@user-uw8bm1jv8k]

@@lib556The martial arts aspect of the movie made it a success, no doubt. But the hokey story line, virtue signaling, and horrible acting were pathetic. It was a forerunner of today's wokie trash.

[@ianbauer4703]

Nah, it's a good flick

[@lib556]

@@user-uw8bm1jv8k Ah, the acting... ugh. Mind you, Tom Laughlin was fairly well established in some famous movies: South Pacific and Gidgit being 2 examples. BJ 2 was even worse. The cripple kid with the bunny getting shot by the National Guard. Ha ha. Saw that coming.

[@user-uw8bm1jv8k]

@@lib556As if the bad guys weren't awful enough, wasn't there a rape scene, where they staked the blonde to the ground ? We watched it for a goof 20 years ago, and almost shot the television, a la Elvis.

[@augustwest8862]

Easy Rider is a terrible movie, but at least it has a happy ending.

[@Tootswilligers]

Hippy ending

[@normanby100]

@@Tootswilligers The rednecks anticipate the hillbillies of Deliverance.

[@vinnyv949]

It’s a garbage boring movie. It’s not entertaining. It’s pretentious. One of the most overrated movies ever.

[@bingochoice]

Easy Rider was a shitty movie, 2 airheads riding motorcycles, what a bore..Dennis hopper who wrote it, isn't exactly a bright guy and it shows..I saw it when it came out and it was all I could do to sit through the entire thing..Thumbs down

[@UnityAgainstJewishEvil]

Couldn’t agree more. It’s self-indulgent slop.

[@Dagger-Deep]

Did you at least enjoy the campfire scene?

[@bingochoice]

I don't remember it@@Dagger-Deep

[@mypalfootfoot9591]

I remember guys like you back in the 60's, they never got laid!

[@UnityAgainstJewishEvil]

@@mypalfootfoot9591 You’re all over these comments with that corny bullshit lmfaoooo.

[@darinpetty3741]

Men don't put gloves on to put up a antana ? And trust me Bruce Lee would have beat his ass !