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Special Features
Commentary with Dennis Hopper
Easy Rider: Shaking The Cage
Digitally Mastered Audio & Anamorphic Video
Making-Of Documentary "Easy Rider: Shaking The Cage", Featuring New Interviews with Peter Fonda, Dennis Hopper and More
Dennis Hopper Audio Commentary
Production Notes
Interactive Menus
Talent Files
Scene Selections
Easy Rider: Shaking The Cage
Digitally Mastered Audio & Anamorphic Video
Making-Of Documentary "Easy Rider: Shaking The Cage", Featuring New Interviews with Peter Fonda, Dennis Hopper and More
Dennis Hopper Audio Commentary
Production Notes
Interactive Menus
Talent Files
Scene Selections
Editorial Reviews
Amazon.com essential video
This box-office hit from 1969 is an important pioneer of the American independent cinema movement, and a generational touchstone to boot. Peter Fonda and Dennis Hopper play hippie motorcyclists crossing the Southwest and encountering a crazy quilt of good and bad people. Jack Nicholson turns up in a significant role as an attorney who joins their quest for awhile and articulates society's problem with freedom as Fonda's and Hopper's characters embody it. Hopper directed, essentially bringing the no-frills filmmaking methods of legendary, drive-in movie producer Roger Corman (The Little Shop of Horrors) to a serious feature for the mainstream. The film can't help but look a bit dated now (a psychedelic sequence toward the end particularly doesn't hold up well), but it retains its original power, sense of daring, and epochal impact. --Tom Keogh
Product Description
Experience the real '60s counterculture in this compelling mixture of drugs, sex and armchair politics. Academy Award®-winner Jack Nicholson (Best Actor, One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, 1975; Best Supporting Actor, Terms of Endearment, 1983; Best Actor, As Good As It Gets, 1997) stars with Peter Fonda and Dennis Hopper (who also directs) in this unconventional classic which Time Magazine hails as "one of the ten most important pictures of the decade." Nominated for an Academy Award® (1969) for Best Original Screenplay (written by Peter Fonda, Dennis Hopper and Terry Southern), Easy Rider continues to touch a chord with fans everywhere.
Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
79 of 84 people found the following review helpful
Format:DVD
"Easy Rider" directed by Dennis Hopper, produced by Peter Fonda and written by Peter Fonda, Dennis Hopper and Terry Southern was a low budget film ($340 grand) that surprisingly became a box office smash. The story is about two hippys (Fonda & Hopper) who buy choppers with cash they've gotten from a drug deal. They ride cross country heading to Louisianna (to Mardi Gras) and on their way meeting different people, visiting a commune of hippys, ending up in jail, going to a brothel, taking acid etc. The ending was disturbing in 1969 and still is, even in these days of non-stop violence in our country. This 35th Anniversary Edition is identical to the regular dvd version of "Easy Rider" with the exact same bonus material "The Making-Of Documentary "Easy Rider: Shaking The Cage" (feat. interviews with Fonda, Hopper, etc.) and an audio commentary by Dennis Hopper plus production notes. The bonuses for this 35th Anniversary Edition are a cd which includes eight songs (do not confuse this cd with the actual "Easy Rider Soundtrack" as it is not). The songs are "Born To Be Wild" - Steppenwolf, "The Weight" - Smith, "Nights In White Satin" - The Moody Blues, "Wasn't Born To Follow" - The Byrds, "San Francisco Nights" - Eric Burden And The Animals, "The Pusher" - Steppenwolf, "It's Alright Ma (I'm Only Bleeding)" - Roger McGuinn and "Get Together" - The Youngbloods. The 80 page book "Easy Rider" by Lee Hill is interesting and includes all you'll ever want to know about the film. The bottom line is, if you already own the regular dvd of "Easy Rider" I'd pass on this 35th Anniversary Edition. Of course, if you don't own this classic film it may be worth the extra cash for the bonus cd and book.
43 of 48 people found the following review helpful
Format:DVD
Easy Rider is a truly landmark film in the true sense of the meaning of the term. Produced on a very low budget and set in the late 60's it was, in my opinion, the first movie to really capture a particularly interesting moment in time. While many films sort of used the notion of the late 60's, drugs, sex, rebellion, idealism, as a means to make money, this seemed really the first film to accurately reflect a realistic image of the time period with an unflinching eye.
Peter Fonda and Dennis Hopper play Wyatt, or Captain America, and Billy, two free type spirits who, after a making quite a bit of money through a sale of drugs, decide to hit the road and drive cross country to Mardi Gras. Along the way, they pick up George Hanson, a southern lawyer, played by Jack Nicholson.
While watching this movie, you may get a sense that it is sort of a western, with the western landscapes and the main characters riding 'iron' horses. This was the intention of the filmmakers, especially the director, Dennis Hopper. One of my favorite scenes was at the beginning, right before Wyatt and Billy are about to embark on their trip, Wyatt removes his watch and throws it on the ground. This symbolized a sense of throwing off the constraints of the old world and an effort to embrace true freedom, if there is such a thing.
Nicholson tends to steal the scenes he is in, and gives a particularly wonderful piece about what freedom is, and why people are so afraid of it. He sort of represented to me one who has been fed many misconceptions about the individuals and movement Wyatt and Billy represent, but once in their company, finds that much of what he has been told may not be true. A sort of individual caught between the generations.
The film is dated, but that didn't detract anything for me. The only scene I really didn't care for was when Wyatt, Billy, Mary (Toni Basil), and Karen (Karen Black) drop acid in a Louisiana cemetery and proceed to trip for an extended period of time.
Along with wonderful performances, much credit must go to the cinematographer, as the landscapes are beautiful, especially the wide shots of the western scenery. They are truly breathtaking. And the music used was exceptionally good, fitting each scene and helping to create the proper mood throughout the film.
The movie presented here looks excellent, in anamorphic wide screen, and includes a commentary by Dennis Hopper. Also included is a wonderful 'Making of' featurette called Easy Rider: Shaking the Cage which really helps to illustrate all that went into making this film. The production, at time, often reflected the turbulent times of when the film was made, and helps to give more flavor to the movie, really enhancing the overall effect. All in all, Easy Rider is a wonderful slice of outsider Hollywood that captured the true essence of an exceptionally turbulent time in America.
28 of 31 people found the following review helpful
Format:DVD
The Plot: Dennis Hopper and Peter Fonda are two drug dealers from L.A. who get rich selling coke to Phil Spector(imagine that...). They celebrate by hitting the road on their choppers towards Mardi Gras. Among many of the kind Americans they run into along the way is the one and only Jack Nicholson, an alcoholic ACLU attorney who helps them out of jail. In return, they decide to take him to New Orleans with them and get him stoned in the process (the funniest scene in the movie--Nicholson offers an inspiring monologue concerning extraterrestrial intelligence). Enduring harassment and abuse from the rural locals, they arrive at Mardi Gras. Tony Basil(!) is one of the hookers they drop acid with in the graveyard (an unsettling psychedelic sequence only surpassed by the climax of "2001: A Space Odyssey"). Sounds great, doesn't it? It is. Despite its flaws and shortcomings, this is an American classic not to be missed.
Any fan of independent films will adore this movie (check out "Midnight Cowboy", too, if you like this one). The acting is amateurish but the script is inspired, and the cinematography and soundtrack are terrific.
This movie is a symbolic snuff film, and the American Dream is the victim in the spotlight. It foreshadows the paranoia and hostility that would later precipitate the War On Drugs and, now, the War On Terror. Ironically, the alcoholic lawyer played by Jack Nicholson is the only person that has a clear and sober idea of what is going on, and he is quickly silenced by the barbaric locals. The two main characters themselves have a vague idea of it, but are too caught up in their own hedonism to see it clearly. Near the end of the film, Peter Fonda grimly concludes: "We blew it." Ouch--the truth hurts; I wasn't even alive in the '60s and I'm still feeling it today.
Any fan of independent films will adore this movie (check out "Midnight Cowboy", too, if you like this one). The acting is amateurish but the script is inspired, and the cinematography and soundtrack are terrific.
This movie is a symbolic snuff film, and the American Dream is the victim in the spotlight. It foreshadows the paranoia and hostility that would later precipitate the War On Drugs and, now, the War On Terror. Ironically, the alcoholic lawyer played by Jack Nicholson is the only person that has a clear and sober idea of what is going on, and he is quickly silenced by the barbaric locals. The two main characters themselves have a vague idea of it, but are too caught up in their own hedonism to see it clearly. Near the end of the film, Peter Fonda grimly concludes: "We blew it." Ouch--the truth hurts; I wasn't even alive in the '60s and I'm still feeling it today.
Most Recent Customer Reviews
$42.50 for the BluRay?
What kind of capitalist plot is that? Guess I'll wait for it to come around to pay-cable again!
BTW, the scene where they can't get a room at a motel? Read more
BTW, the scene where they can't get a room at a motel? Read more
Published 3 days ago by Gary Davis
America - The good, the bad and the ugly.
There are some movies, weather they be good, bad or ugly, that become a part of our American film culture and indeed, a part of our overall culture. Read more
Published 6 days ago by Wood Wren
"We blew it, man"
This movie is simply stunning. An awesome commentary on the world in the 60's and very expertly shot. Don't pass this one up.
Published 3 months ago by Brett Windrow
Not Happy
The dvd that I ordered was supposed to be NEW not USED. After all that is what I paid for. I received the USED DVD no plastic wrappomg, this DVD is a Christmas gift. Read more
Published 5 months ago by mimib24
Easy Rider DVD
I got this video for a chinese gift exchange for my motorcycle riding group. I thought it would be a great laugh (most of us were young adults when this movie came out) along with... Read more
Published 5 months ago by Susan
Motorcycle Love
A classic movie with a classic story. I've seen it many time and just decieded to buy so I can watch it when I want. Read more
Published 5 months ago by Mike Sr.
Counter-culture, counter-productive
WARNING! SPOILERS AHEAD!
On the surface of this searching, interesting yet self-consciously cynical film are certain production values that are impressive and memorable. Read more
On the surface of this searching, interesting yet self-consciously cynical film are certain production values that are impressive and memorable. Read more
Published 7 months ago by L. Spain
interesting flashback to another time
interesting to see after last viewing in 1969. wonderful music. and great to see jack in one of his first appearances! did not remember phil spector doing cameo as the pusher! Read more
Published 8 months ago by Steven A. Crawford
A classic
I was too young when it was released to understand and appreciate. Now I took the time to order it and I fully grasp it. Read more
Published 8 months ago by P.Ilou
The 60's Counterculture Defined
The odyssey of two motorcycle hippies: Billy (Dennis Hopper) and Wyatt aka Captain America (Peter Fonda) who score it big on a cocaine deal and go on a celebratory ride from L.A. Read more
Published 11 months ago by Reid Becker
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