An Ode to "Easy Rider" - Dennis Hopper R.I.P. and the Boys on Bikes

TEXT, VIVIAN KELLY

It was a shock to hear last night to hear that one of our acting legends, DENNIS HOPPER, passed-away. He wasn't one of my favorite actors [I hated 'Blue Velvet'], but there was no denying that he was a great one. A few films he's appeared in include: Giant, Rebel Without a Cause, Gunfight at the OK Corral. His acting has a blazing authenticity to it because he actually lived the life he acted. In 1969, Hopper wrote EASY RIDER - a "counterculture road movie script" he produced with just $400,000. Hopper directed it himself, and starred it it alongside Peter Fonda, Hopper and Jack Nicholson. The film did amazingly well at box-office because it hit a nerve with the nation's youth, by appealing to the anti-establishment youth culture of the times. It is widely regarded as the first anti-establishment film. Many other me-too films followed, produced by major studios, which featured hippies, bikers, draft dodgers and pot smokers. There's only one EASY RIDER, and one Dennis Hopper. If you haven't seen this movie, you owe it to yourself to do so.
Dennis, we salute you.