LATEST REVIEW:

DVD: Easy Rider
Commentary: Dennis Hopper
First line: “Alright, I'm Dennis Hopper, I play second bike to Peter Fonda in this movie you know, so, I directed it, wrote it..”


After the introduction - the first five minutes or so, we're treated to a long, long silence during which Hopper refrains from making any noise at all. It's long enough to forget you're even listening to a director's commentary, in fact it's quite bizarre, but luckily it isn't a sign of things to come.

By all definitions, this is a good solid commentary. It gives a full background to the film and how it was made, the budgets involved and even members of the crew who were used as actors in certain places. Of course, the documentary Easy Riders, Raging Bulls (which accompanies the latest special edition DVD) covers some of the same issues and is probably the perfect supplementary material if you want to know more.

So, the problems? Well Dennis Hopper isn't the most interesting guy in the world. He talks and talks, sometimes he's silent but mostly he just talks. He doesn't tell jokes, but he does have very insightful stories to tell. Sadly I found myself not at all gripped listening to this commentary for the second time - his voice is dull and uninspiring - a stark contrast to the film we can see in the background - where is the passion and the excitement? Certainly not here. Maybe he took too many drugs during the production - I wouldn't entirely like to speculate, but whatever the reason is, it's a shame he didn't perk up a little bit.

Any doubts over the symbolism within the film and even pilosophical value of the text are quelled by Hopper justifying almost everything he included - even claiming that every song is telling the story, and is part of the narrative. We also hear the thought behind the american flag imagery in various locations, the shiny gas tank with the money in it as a metaphor for America's dangerously internal-perspective. Or something like that anyway. There are plenty of chances to learn something here, not only about Easy Rider but about how sometimes the associations you make with images and inclusions in a film really are put there by the director to have an intended interpretation.

Our good director also gets technical in his story-telling as well as telling shorter versions of the anecdotes available on the other couple of ER documentaries. This is also another chance to enjoy Easy Rider's sublime soundtrack - one of the best of any film ever made in my opinion - as I feel that Hopper is doing the same, going conveniently quiet during some of the songs, perhaps reliving what was a defining moment in film-making at the time.

Oh yeah, and the John Cleese lookalike in the 30th minute is still priceless.


Quotes:

“This scene was filmed in Mexico so that we could make it look like Mexico”

“He found a young black man, or we found a young black man that I knew, Cliff Boss, who was a member of a gang - I think the Satan's slaves..”