Made on a shoestring budget, this film really captures the feeling of the late 1960s. The story linked two symbols of rebellion — the motorcycle and the hippie movement. Time has only lessened the power of these images. Motorcycles are big business and the hippie movement looks like a failed frivolity. However, this film still lasts as a time capsule of the era's feelings and ideals.
Wyatt aka Captain America (Peter Fonda, ULEE'S GOLD) and Billy (Dennis Hopper, APOCALYPSE NOW) have participated in a cocaine deal to get the money for a cross-country trip to Mardi Gras. Along the way, they stop at a farm and are inspired by the farmer's life living off the land. Later they arrive at a hippie commune where they party and indulge in the drug-fueled climate.
However, these episodes are fairly simple and straight-forward looks at various ways of living outside of the establishment. The hippie commune is a bit too idealized in retrospect. However, the film comes alive and gains great power when Wyatt and Billy meet George Hanson (Jack Nicholson), a drunken lawyer who helps them get out of jail. George is a frat boy true and true, but seems to have walked a fine line of culturally accepted rebellion until venturing out on the road with Wyatt and Billy.
The parallels and contrasts between George and the other two men are wonderful. Plus, Nicholson is simply amazing. He steals the movie and brings it close to greatness. How the various townsfolk, especially the young girls in the diner, react to these dirty, long-haired hippies is fascinating.
Tragedy does strike and a bad acid trip in Mardi Gras, combined with Captain America's visions of death, bring an ominous tone to the end of the film. There's also a sequence between Billy and Captain America, who says, "We blew it" that has been debated since the film came out. As well, the ending has surprisingly taken on two very different meanings whether you read it from a 1960s or a current perspective.
The film has great cinematography and the editing style is inventive. Some of the visual metaphors the film presents are obvious, but nonetheless powerful. Though I think the film has lost some of its power since its original release, it still has some universal issues within it that anyone can relate too. And taken simply as a look back on the age of flower power, it stands solid.
Rick DeMott
Animation World Network
Creator of Rick's Flicks Picks
