MetaChat - I Just Saw The Movie Easy Rider......

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09 March 2009

I Just Saw The Movie Easy Rider...... →[More:]

And here's some interesting trivia about it:

Did you know that Karen Black and Toni Basil (of Mickey song fame) were whores in that movie?

Karen Black acquits herself especially well as someone having a very, very bad LSD experience in a New Orleans graveyward.

Anyone else see this and liked it? It's held up quite well over the years.

post by: Lipstick Thespian at: 22:03 | 20 comments

and Phil Spector was a drug dealer. I love this movie. First saw it when I was 12 years old. Back in the 70's movies toured around the theaters for several years so you got to see movies as they were meant to be seen even if you missed them first run.

posted by arse_hat 09 March | 22:15

I remember the first time I saw it. It was a rental, not a big screen. The ending was one of those endings that almost made me spit my teeth out. I REALLY didn't expect it, and I sure didn't like how it made me feel.

posted by richat 09 March | 22:21

Yeah on Spector. . .I mentioned this a few years ago. . .still a nice memory.

posted by danf 09 March | 22:22

Aw man, the ending is what makes that movie great. So sudden, and then the credits. I love how the shot dollies up from the ending and just hovers there.

I wish there were more movies made that way, where the ending isn't broadcast halfway through the first reel and isn't completely tidy and saccharine.

posted by Lipstick Thespian 09 March | 22:24

Oh yeah, I'm completely behind the ending, don't get me wrong. I'm always amazed when a piece of film can have THAT real and effect on me.

posted by richat 09 March | 22:34

LT if you have not sen it please get "Electra Glide in Blue". It has sometimes been called a rip off of Easy Rider but it really is miles away and it has some of the most amazing cinematography you could ever want. The final shot is still burned into my brain even more so than the signature "Zabriskie Point" shot.

It launched a whole raft of dark police dramas and I would argue set the stage for Clint Eastwood to become a superstar.

posted by arse_hat 09 March | 22:35

Sorry links; EGIB and ZP.

posted by arse_hat 09 March | 22:39

Man, speaking of cinematography, Lazslo Kovacs did Easy Rider and some of the shots are amazing in that movie.

posted by Lipstick Thespian 09 March | 22:41

I'm always amazed when I go back and watch movies from that time at how little plot there is in them. You're not really allowed to make mainstream movies so rambling and character-driven these days. Movies like Easy Rider or Five Easy Pieces or Altman's early movies seem so luxurious now, giving the movie viewer time to know the characters and see the scenery.

posted by octothorpe 09 March | 23:02

Yeah, I know! It's a beautiful way to do a movie - trust your characters, give them something personal to wander around for/with for a couple hours, and we're safe as houses.

Movies now have almost audible thumps when the acts tick over - you can almost hear the movie saY,

"HEY AUDIENCE, SECOND REEL IS GOING TO START RIGHT WHEN FEMALE CHARACTER "A" REACHES BREAKING POINT WITH MALE CHARACTER "B". And then, 40 minutes later....

"AUDIENCE - STAND BY FOR BIG CLIMAX AND RESOLUTION WITH WITTY BANTER AND ETC."

posted by Lipstick Thespian 09 March | 23:09

I have it on good authority that Karen Black is a "perennial lactater."

Seriously. Would I make that shit up?

posted by mudpuppie 09 March | 23:44

pups, i have a couple of stories to tell about that but as per Falstaff, The Better Part of Valour and all...

posted by arse_hat 09 March | 23:49

It's okay, arsey, I still think of you as the manliest of men.

posted by mudpuppie 09 March | 23:52

I loves ya kid.

posted by arse_hat 09 March | 23:55

Back atcha, El Leche Macho!

posted by mudpuppie 09 March | 23:57

HA! For me, the best part of mecha is that posts can devolve for good, not evil!

posted by arse_hat 10 March | 00:05

you all make me feel so icky sometimes....

posted by Lipstick Thespian 10 March | 06:52

I've seen it a couple of times. I have mixed feelings about it. I liked that it took chances, and I liked a lot of the performances, but I am not the target audience for a 60's counterculture movie. At least not that version of counterculture. Or unless it is way way overdone, like Billy Jack, which is unintentionally hilarious in places.

posted by King of Prontopia 10 March | 10:40

Although Nicholson had had other part, this is the first time he was really noticed.

(He's an extra in the first Mr. Roberts film, btw)

posted by danf 10 March | 11:15

The 70s were a Golden Age of depressing movie endings. I miss that about them.

posted by Joe Beese 10 March | 12:52

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