It’s impossible to imagine anyone else in the role. Captain America of 1969. Easy Rider— (the original title was ‘The Loners’. Not the same vibe. Not at all.)
And there’s Peter Fonda, tall, slim, taciturn, burdened, already laboring under the weight of precognition: he sees his fate, as he does that of his buddy, Billy (Dennis Hopper). And he gleans, throughout their motorcycle voyage, the fate of his generation. You can ride but you can’t hide.
It is this pervading doom—in a biker movie of all
places—that becalms Fonda’s performance, raising it to perfection. He need not
have made another film, so discreetly did he meld his own being to a narrative.
The planes of his face, the wind-swept hair, the billowing, floral-print
pullover, it all made sense. This is a complete person. Here, inside this film,
forever, is where he belongs.
Can you hear them now? There he goes, riding for a lost generation
of drugs and war and music, all swirling up in acid-drenched dreams, riding a
moonlit, undiscovered highway, you know the one that takes you far, far beyond the vanishing point..
#peterfonda #easyrider #dennishopper #jacknicholson
#ianmclarke #1969 #1960a #pop #culture #film