Easy Rider

Two California hippies travel to Mexico and back to L.A. to pull off a cocaine deal to finance a cross country motorcycle trip to the Mardi Gras in New Orleans. Captain America (Peter Fonda) is the laid back philosopher who teams up with his pal Billy (Dennis Hopper) to sell drugs to a mystery man in a limousine (Phil Spector). After placing the cash in a tube hidden inside his gas tank, Captain and Billy set out across the lonesome highways in a symbolic search of freedom. They spend time with a group of communal organic farmers who give them LSD to take at a later date. After skinny dipping and smoking dope with the hippie girls, the two take off and enter a small town parade. The pair are jailed for parading without a permit, where they meet the eccentric, alcoholic attorney George (Jack Nicholson). The wealthy George bails everyone out of jail and joins the duo in their trip towards New Orleans. When the three travelers camp for the night, George is killed by some rednecks. The two continue on to the Mardi Gras where they are entertained by two bordello beauties (Karen Black, Toni Basil). The four take LSD and go sight seeing in the spectacular cemeteries near the old French quarter. Out of town, the two hippies stare down the barrel of a gun pointed by a reactionary redneck and his moronic sidekick. Songs from Steppenwolf, Bob Dylan, The Byrds, Jimi Hendrix The Band, The Electric Prunes and The Holy Modal Rounders make up the soundtrack of late 1960s music that accurately captures the violence, political intolerance and social upheaval of the times. Nicholson was received an Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actor. The screenplay by Hopper, Fonda and Terry Southern also was nominated. Fonda patterned his character and Hopper's after Roger McGuinn and David Crosby of The Byrds.