Topic: Easy Rider is in.....opinion

[74cb750]

My son asked me to sign a form so he can view Easy Rider at his high school. I remember being 16 on my big SL175 at the drive-in heather first time I saw it. I find it rather amusing that it is considered "R" rated, when I compare it to the violent video games kids play that are rated a mere Teen or less. Anyways, should kids view this movie? What do you think?. ......."...damn the pusher man...."

[Kixx007]

Drive in theater, whats that?!    And I dont see a problem with a high school aged teen viewing that movie.

[SteveD CB500F]

I watched it at Christmas (on TV) with my 18 year old son.  He got bored.

It seemed very slow moving and predictable compared to when I first saw it.

BTW: if the BBC show it, it must be OK for teens.

[Raul CB750K1]

I saw it for the first time just a couple of years ago. I found it boring. I don't think there is much to worry about. Also, we tend to think that our offsprings are more naive than we think. We used to share porn magazines and movies when we were 16, but my mother quickly changed the TV program every time there were a nipple or maybe one of those soft "bedtime" scenes.

Now with internet porn is more available than it have never been, so I just guess teenagers are used to it. The major concern I have about porn is that it is very misleading. We were tired of seeing porn before we had our first sex experience, and that was almost the only sexual information we had. It can lead youngsters to think that what they see is the way it should be, and that is far from the truth. I would say the key is honesty, open communication whenever it is possible and not overprotecting them. With 16 it's very unlikely that anybody can get a trauma for something they see.

Anyway, my daughter is just 2 years old and I plan to lock her up from the moment she turns 12 till she is 25...

Raul


P.S. My apologies for going off-topic

[Bob Wessner]

 A nipple on TV  That's only happened once here, and that was during a Superbowl Game and what a stupid flap that caused!

[Raul CB750K1]

Here in Spain you can see them so often that we don't get excited anymore!!! I remember when I was in the US, seeing that old movie "Once upon a time in America". I saw it when I was 16, and can remember when the girl is raped over the diamond trader's desk. In the States the scene was censored, though the girl's screams were still in the background. I wonder what the watchers would think, about why the girl was crying like that...


Maybe here in Spain we've gone too far, not because of the female anatomy, but because of the obscene language. There are plenty of TV programs of the "Jerry Springer" kind at early evening, when many children are seeing TV. The message they get is that it is cool to talk like that and if you want to be famous you have to go to TV and tell to all and sundry that you had sex with a famous actor or soccer player.

[SteveD CB500F]

More off-topic stuff (sorry)

In the UK, the first use of the F-word was when Bob Geldof was "imploring" people to give him money during Live Aid (1985). Since then it's fairly common after the self-imposed "watershed" at 9pm.

Now, the C-word I think has been heard once (can't remember when)

The Janet Jackson incident was met here with disbelief and some (ironic) hilarity!

[Gordon]

The Janet Jackson incident was met here with disbelief and some (ironic) hilarity!

It was met in the states with the same attitude.  It's the outspoken few who cause those kind of problems here.  Apparently rampant violence is fine-and-dandy, but God forbid you should see any gender-specific part of the human anatomy.  That would just be immoral.  The funniest part is they didn't even show her nipple.  She was wearing a freakin' pastie!

[Jonesy]

You might want to ask him about it after he sees the film. When I first saw it, it didn't really seem to make much sense to me. The one thing that kept me hanging on and watching was that fact that it was considered a "classic" biker movie. I originally dismissed it as a typical 60's film, figuring you had to be on acid in order to have it make any sense. Later I rented it (It probably didn't help that the first time I saw it I tuned into it a half hour late) and I watched the documentary included on the DVD. Then I understood (and appreciated) the film much more. It's important to remember the context in which the film was made. I came about 9 years after it was in theaters, so I didn't have that context, and niether will your son.

My favorite comment was by Peter Fonda about the film's opening sequence when he's filling the tube with money and hiding it in the gas tank. Meant as a subtle show of social commentary, he meant it to be interpreted as "Here I am, f*cking the American flag with money..."

[Raul CB750K1]

Man, I always wondered what the hell that meant. I couldn't understand why on earth anybody would put money inside a gas tank, when there are plenty of better places to hide it!!!

I bought the film real cheap en VHS tape, only saw it once, didn't like it and gave it because I'm short of space. Were the 60's really like that? People like Nicholson would just climb on the backseat and let him be carried away? And what about the end? What did they do wrong to the truck drivers? And why hopper didn't simply flee from there?

It's like "2001". The very first part is brilliant. The last half hour is boring. People trying to find a reason to it but I believe it was just Kubrick using outtakes...


Raul

[dusterdude]

raul,the 60`s were like that in respect to people just going where they wanted when they wanted,if they didnt have any thing tying them down.as far as the rest,im not sure i was a bit young at the time.

[SteveD CB500F]

My son hated 2001 as well (see Reply #6)

[Jonesy]

Were the 60's really like that? People like Nicholson would just climb on the backseat and let him be carried away? And what about the end? What did they do wrong to the truck drivers? And why hopper didn't simply flee from there?

I dunno... Nicholson played a really weird guy (not unlike most of his movies!), so I don't think that would have bothered him. As for the truck drivers, they (Wyatt and Billy) were only guilty of being themselves. They truckers heckled them first, with things like "You gonna get a haircut, boy?" and stuff. But, when Hopper flicks them off and asserts himslef, that's when they get blown away. Their deaths were symbolic in that they represented the counterculture ideals and the truckers represented the establishment. It was the end of the 60's, when stuff was winding down. Plus, there were many stories about Hell's Angels' guys getting blown off their bikes by shotguns in those days just because they were bikers. (Take a look at "Hell's Angel" by Sonny Barger)

Remember what Nicholson said: "People are always talking about individual freedom. But, when they see a free individual it's gonna scare 'em!"

[mcpuffett]

was the c word bit not the sex pistols on the bill grundy show? mick (pretty vacant ) 

[MRieck]

was the c word bit not the sex pistols on the bill grundy show? mick (pretty vacant ) 

Ahhhhh...the Pistols. Now thems the good times!!

[Bobby]

Yeah, I feel by today's standards, 'Easy Rider' may pale in comparison to modern attention deficit editing and effects.  I saw the film back in 1972 when I was 12 years old.  I had a '70 Hodaka 100cc and was attempting a career in moto-cross.  I would pay my 75 cents to see any movie released that starred motorcycles and or fast cars.  I find that when I have an opportunity to watch a beloved film from my youth, I tend to be a little disappointed.  'Vanishing Point' and 'Billy Jack' come to mind.  Let Junior watch 'Easy Rider', if nothing else he may want to be the next "man who went looking for America and couldn't find it anywhere!"

-Bobby
 

[pmpski_1]

Watch about an hour of videos on MTV, then watch Easy Rider. Decide which one of those two you would rather have your kids watch. I'm not for censorship at all, but I've seen videos that are more explicit than some of the ...ahem... "exotic dance clubs" I've been to. The uncensored Duran Duran "Girls on Film" video would be laughable by todays standards.

[Harry]

and if you want to be famous you have to go to TV and tell to all and sundry that you had sex with a famous actor or soccer player.

...or Danish motorcyclists.

[74cb750]

Now wait a minute...you can't compare Easy Rider with Billy Jack, because Billly Jack had big bad bikers on Yamaha 2 strokes and the soundtrack was definitely Harley Davidson's. At least the Easy Rider movie had real sounds. Remiinds me of the time a "group" of bikers asked me to join their "group", if you can picture this...I was riding a Suzuki GT250. At the end of the Easy Rider movie, when the truckers killed....well there were people like that. As a matter of fact there are still people like that, but most of the time I donot meet them.

[750deepsouth]

Easy Rider - well, watched it myself a few months ago after first seeing it in the ealry 70's. This time, I thought - very corny, really, but in keeping with the style of the times. As Michel says, at least the bikes were allocated the correct soundtrack and that is more than some old [and newer] movies. But the music - still great, timeless and classic.

Regarding censorship - Easy Rider is pretty harmless. A light touch of the drug culture of the time. Compared to todays offerings, very tame.

Anyone watch 'Deadwood' ? now that is a series I wouldn't let anyone under 18 watch - the full range of English vernacular, and in every 2nd sentence. And violent.

I agree with some of the other posters - some the the 'reality' programs are tuely for the brain-dead only...and Janet Jackson. Good Grief. Must go, before I get started.

Andy

[dusterdude]

andy,i absoultely love deadwood,but i know what you mean about letting anyone young see it.

[750deepsouth]

I'ts not so much the langauge [I hear 6-10yr olds saying those words sometimes] but the rather graphic depiction of certain aspects of life - almost to the point of being gross at times  lol
But it is quite a good story..

[Vatch]

Great soundtrack.  I still will watch any movies that have motorcycles in them.  My wife just rolls here eyes at some of my video store picks (e.g. I bought a vampire a motorcycle).

If anyone thinks "Easy Rider" can be slow moving and confusing at times, check out Dennis Hopper's 1972 effort, "The Last Movie."  I think it was the next movie he directed afer Esay Rider and his last for a 20 years.  It took me sitting down three times to finish getting through that flick.  If anyone has any idea what the f*&^ was going on, I'd like to hear about it.  Made "Easy Rider" seem straight forward.

[Uncle Ernie]

You guys are really sending me back... I remember when a Honda 305 was a mamoth road machine. Too big, really. After that there was Triumph or Harley, but that was really inconcievable to me then. I saw Easy Rider when it first came out. For me, at the time, it was like getting dunked in the water. Preacher take me now. A religious experience that left me dumbstruck for quite a while. I moved to SanFrancisco right after that, and yes, much of THAT world really was like that. Homemade Harley (and some Honda 750s, too) choppers all over the Haight. Some had front ends so long you had to pop the front end up a couple of times because otherwise they had a turning radius of a limo. These guys, and most hippies, lived lifestyles that would have decimated the colonies; no baths (lots of patchouli oil), lots of pot and assorted drugs, crashing out of the cold/rain whenever/wherever. The Airplane and Gratefuldead were doing free concerts in the park. Unlike today, the rest of the country would have liked to INVITE terrorists in to bomb the place and places like it. That was when Terrorist was an unformed word.          Now everyone goes along to get along and raising a question is unpatriotic (what were those freedoms our boys were fighting for again?)  Hysterical perspective... watch Easy Rider and talk about the differences between then and now.  Could be boring or it might be educational.

[Bob Wessner]

I remember when a Honda 305 was a mamoth road machine.

Maybe motorcycles have something in common with PC's after all. I can remember when PC's based on Intel's 286 chip were first produced. Everyone reviewing them said they had more computing more power than any desktop user would ever need and they would be suitable for servers only..ha, ha! Now everyone's latest crotch rocket has more HP than most compact cars with a fraction of the curb weight.