Easy Rider (1969) on Netflix
Two bikers, Wyatt and Billy, sell a stash of cocaine in Los Angeles and hide the cash in a motorcycle fuel tank, then head east toward New Orleans and Mardi Gras.
- Netflix3.6/5
- IMDb7.2/10123,612 votes
- Rotten Tomatoes84%
Trailer
Plot summary
Wyatt and Billy, two motorcyclists, carry cocaine from Mexico into Los Angeles and sell it, then conceal the cash in a plastic tube inside the fuel tank of Wyatt's chopper, painted with the Stars and Stripes. Their route runs east, with New Orleans and Mardi Gras as the goal. A flat tire on Wyatt's bike brings them to an Arizona farmstead, where the farmer and his family share a meal with them. On the road they give a lift to a hippie hitchhiker, who takes them to his commune; they spend the day there, and the hitchhiker hands Wyatt some LSD, asking him to keep it for the moment it is meant for.
Cast
- Antonio Mendozaas Jesus
- Mac Mashourianas Bodyguard
- Tita Coloradoas Rancher's Wife
- Sandy Brown Wyethas Joanne (as Sandy Wyeth)
Did you know?!Facts and trivia about Easy Rider (1969)
Can contain spoilers, watch the movie first.
- The part of George Hanson had been written for the actor Rip Torn. When Torn met Hopper and Fonda at a New York restaurant in early 1968, Hopper ranted about the rednecks he had encountered on his scouting trip to the South; Torn, a Texan, took exception, the two almost came to blows, and he withdrew, replaced by Jack Nicholson.
- In 1994 Jay Leno interviewed Hopper about Easy Rider on The Tonight Show, and Hopper falsely claimed that Torn had pulled a knife on him during the altercation, when it was actually the other way around. Torn sued Hopper for defamation and prevailed on all counts.
- At one point a paranoid Hopper demanded that camera operator Barry Feinstein hand over the footage he had shot that day, so he could keep it safe in his hotel room. An enraged Feinstein hurled the film cans at Hopper and the two got into a physical confrontation.
- Cinematographer Laszlo Kovacs said that an additional $1 million, about three times the budget for shooting the rest of the film, was spent on the licensed music tracks that were added during the editing.
- Peter Fonda had intended Crosby, Stills, Nash, & Young to write an original soundtrack, but Hopper, taking control of the project, threw them out behind Fonda's back, telling the band that anybody who rides in a limo could not comprehend his movie and that if they tried to get into the studio again he might cause them bodily harm.
- The main motorcycles were designed and built by two African American chopper builders, Cliff Vaughs and Ben Hardy, reflecting chopper designs popular among Black motorcyclists at the time and following ideas of Peter Fonda. Neither Vaughs nor Hardy was mentioned in the movie credits.
- One Captain America chopper was demolished in the film's final scene and the other three were stolen, probably taken apart before their significance as movie props became known. Dan Haggerty rebuilt the demolished bike, and it was offered at auction in October 2014 with an estimated value of $1 to $1.2 million.
- Hopper and Fonda hosted a wrap party for the movie and then realized they had not yet shot the final campfire scene. It was filmed after the bikes had already been stolen, which is why they are not visible in the background as they are in the other campfire scenes.
