Indeed it is just that valley. It was a nice touch to ride it in color on motorcycles the New Hollywood counterculture film, just as John Wayne has ridden it so many times on horseback in black and white in the Golden Age of Hollywood.
I also recognized Monument Valley.Very good footage. I believe that is the first footage I have seen of Easy Rider. I suspect that most of the movie is not up to that standard. When Easy Rider came out, I was short of money, and in later years, when I did have money for movies, I don't recall it being available.
It’s a movie that has its moments. I wouldn’t claim every moment is transcendent, but it does offer insight into what the left of the counterculture thought it was doing in 1969 — and what they thought they were up against. Then as now, their view of their opponents was not fair or flattering. But there is a surprising religious core that has gone missing since, which brings moments of humility we rarely see today.
There’s another one I’ve learned about just this week, which I haven’t seen yet. It’s called Electra Glide in Blue, and it is billed as a kind of right wing response. I am going to try to find it.
You should find that one. I didn't entirely agree with Electra Glide's version of the extreme any more than with Easy Rider's, but it's a well done movie.
It's available on Amazon Prime, EPIX (a cable movie channel), and some crowd called Vudu. DVDs of it are available, too, if you want to drop a lesser, one-time dime on it.
The Great Plateau in southern Utah drops away in an escarpment to Monument valley, the spires of which appear to be the uneroded remains of that plateau. A road was constructed to bring uranium ore from the plateau down to the valley for processing. It is called the Moki Dugway and is quite a road. Not a track for a hardtail panhead chopper with a 10" extended fork and no front brake....
"Electra Glide in Blue"! Haven't even heard that referred to in ages, and probably haven't seen it in thirty or thirty five years. I only remember the end scene. If you find it, I'd love to know where.
Easy Rider wasn’t a biker movie; it was a hippie movie with bikes. As Sonny Barger, the celebrity former president of the Hells Angels MC, pointed out bikers of the 60’s and 70’s largely came from blue collar backgrounds and most were veterans. They had little to nothing in common with the hippie counterculture and often clashed violently with them.
11 comments:
Beautiful country. Looks like monument valley in Northern Arizona.
Indeed it is just that valley. It was a nice touch to ride it in color on motorcycles the New Hollywood counterculture film, just as John Wayne has ridden it so many times on horseback in black and white in the Golden Age of Hollywood.
I also recognized Monument Valley.Very good footage. I believe that is the first footage I have seen of Easy Rider. I suspect that most of the movie is not up to that standard.
When Easy Rider came out, I was short of money, and in later years, when I did have money for movies, I don't recall it being available.
It’s a movie that has its moments. I wouldn’t claim every moment is transcendent, but it does offer insight into what the left of the counterculture thought it was doing in 1969 — and what they thought they were up against. Then as now, their view of their opponents was not fair or flattering. But there is a surprising religious core that has gone missing since, which brings moments of humility we rarely see today.
There’s another one I’ve learned about just this week, which I haven’t seen yet. It’s called Electra Glide in Blue, and it is billed as a kind of right wing response. I am going to try to find it.
You should find that one. I didn't entirely agree with Electra Glide's version of the extreme any more than with Easy Rider's, but it's a well done movie.
It's available on Amazon Prime, EPIX (a cable movie channel), and some crowd called Vudu. DVDs of it are available, too, if you want to drop a lesser, one-time dime on it.
Eric Hines
The Great Plateau in southern Utah drops away in an escarpment to Monument valley, the spires of which appear to be the uneroded remains of that plateau. A road was constructed to bring uranium ore from the plateau down to the valley for processing. It is called the Moki Dugway and is quite a road.
Not a track for a hardtail panhead chopper with a 10" extended fork and no front brake....
"Electra Glide in Blue"! Haven't even heard that referred to in ages, and probably haven't seen it in thirty or thirty five years. I only remember the end scene. If you find it, I'd love to know where.
Electra Glide in Blue: https://www.amazon.com/Electra-Glide-Blue-Robert-Blake/dp/B00J8G3VHG
Eric Hines
Thanks!
Easy Rider wasn’t a biker movie; it was a hippie movie with bikes. As Sonny Barger, the celebrity former president of the Hells Angels MC, pointed out bikers of the 60’s and 70’s largely came from blue collar backgrounds and most were veterans. They had little to nothing in common with the hippie counterculture and often clashed violently with them.
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