Original poster artwork · Great Cinema Master ListCannes · 1
Spoiler-free premise
Bikers Wyatt and Billy cross the American Southwest toward New Orleans, encountering communes, prejudice, and lawyer George Hanson.
Read expanded premiseLonger, still spoiler-free+
After a drug sale, bikers Wyatt and Billy ride from Los Angeles toward Mardi Gras in New Orleans with money hidden in Wyatt's motorcycle. Their road passes ranchers, a commune, small-town jail, and alcoholic lawyer George Hanson.
Why it belongs
Through location riding, rock music, jump cuts, and changing American encounters, Easy Rider makes the open road both freedom image and hostile territory.
Read expanded why it belongsThe fuller editorial case+
Chrome bikes, desert highways, campfires, communes, psychedelic editing, 16mm inserts, and songs by Steppenwolf and others transform travel into countercultural montage; Jack Nicholson's George gives the journey its clearest political diagnosis.
