THE counter-culture movie (Easy Rider (DVD))

Member Name: batmoz

Product:	Easy Rider (DVD)
Date:	28/04/03 (96 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: excellent remastered movie, great acting, superb extras

Disadvantages: what's the point of filmographies

In what's widely regarded as THE counter-culture movie, hippies Wyatt (Peter Fonda) and Billy (Dennis Hopper) go on a motorcycle trip across America. Along the way, they meet everyone from violent rednecks to stoned freaks, and also hook up with disenchanted lawyer George Hansen (Jack Nicholson). Not everyone lives happily ever after.
Aside from the perfunctory filmographies, this is a superb disc. The remastered film itself looks stunning, with director Hopper capturing the majesty of the American landscape in a way that would make John Ford proud while also conveying the darker side of a US society bitterly divided by the Vietnam War. Hopper's commentary confirms the film-makers were often riding by the seat of their pants, and the 67-minute documentary is excellent.
But the Best Extra has to be the Shaking The Cage documentary, which is a scary account of what it was like to be experimental film-makers back in 1969. Featuring interviews with Hopper, Fonda and other key cast and crew members, it tells the story of a shoot so dogged by arguments and crises that it's a miracle Easy Rider ever reached the screen at all.

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