# Easy Rider

Easy Rider is a 1969 film about two counterculture bikers who travel from Los Angeles to New Orleans in search of America.
    Directed by Dennis Hopper. Written by Dennis Hopper, Peter Fonda, and Terry Southern.

## Wyatt

* No, I mean it. You've got a nice place. It's not every man that can live off the land, you know. You do your own thing in your own time. You should be proud.
* [reading inscription] "If God did not exist, it would be necessary to invent Him."
* [while tripping on LSD] Oh Mother why didn't you tell me? Why didn't anybody tell me anything?...What are you doing to me now?...Shut up!...How could you make me hate you so?...Oh God, I hate you so much.
* [about marijuana] It gives you a whole new way of looking at the day.

## Billy

* I never really thought of myself as a freak, ya know...but I Love to Freak!
* Whew. Man, look, I gotta get out of here, man. Now we - we got things we want to do, man, like - I just - uh - I gotta get out of here, man.
* You gotta be kidding. I mean, you know who this is, man? This is Captain America. I'm Billy. Hey, we're headliners baby. We played every fair in this part of the country. I mean, for top dollar, too!

## George Hanson

* Well, you boys don't look like you're from this part of the country. You're lucky I'm here to see that you don't get into anything...Well, they got this here - see - uh - scissor-happy 'Beautify America' thing goin' on around here. They're tryin' to make everybody look like Yul Brynner. They used - uh - rusty razor blades on the last two long-hairs that they brought in here and I wasn't here to protect them. You see - uh - I'm - uh - I'm a lawyer. Done a lot of work for the A.C.L.U.
* You can get out of here, if you haven't killed anybody - at least nobody white.
* [to guard] Very groovy. Very groovy. See there. I bet nobody ever said that to you.
* Here's to the first of the day, fellas. To ol' D. H. Lawrence. Nik-nik-nik-f-f-f-Indians!
* I must've started off to Mardi Gras six or seven times. Never got further than the state line.
* 'Madame Tinkertoy's House of Blue Lights. Corner of Bourbon and Toulouse, New Orleans, Louisiana.' Now this is supposed to be the finest whorehouse in the South. These ain't no pork chops. These are U.S. Prime.
* You- you mean marijuana. Lord have mercy, is that what that is? Well, let me see that. Mmmmm-mmm. Mmmm...I-I-I couldn't do that. I mean, I've got enough problems with the - with the booze and all. I mean, uh, I - I can't afford to get hooked...it-it-it leads to harder stuff.
* That was a UFO, beamin' back at ya. Me and Eric Heisman was down in Mexico two weeks ago - we seen forty of 'em flying in formation. They-they-they've got bases all over the world now, you know. They've been coming here ever since nineteen forty-six - when the scientists first started bouncin' radar beams off of the moon. And they have been livin' and workin' among us in vast quantities ever since. The government knows all about 'em.
* Oh, yeah, that's right. That's what's it's all about, all right. But talkin' about it and bein' it, that's two different things. I mean, it's real hard to be free when you are bought and sold in the marketplace. Of course, don't ever tell anybody that they're not free, 'cause then they're gonna get real busy killin' and maimin' to prove to you that they are. Oh, yeah, they're gonna talk to you, and talk to you, and talk to you about individual freedom. But they see a free individual, it's gonna scare 'em.
* Well, they are people, just like us - from within our own solar system. Except that their society is more highly evolved. I mean, they don't have no wars, they got no monetary system, they don't have any leaders, because, I mean, each man is a leader. I mean, each man - because of their technology, they are able to feed, clothe, house, and transport themselves equally - and with no effort...Why don't they reveal themselves to us is because if they did it would cause a general panic. Now, I mean, we still have leaders upon whom we rely for the release of this information. These leaders have decided to repress this information because of the tremendous shock that it would cause to our antiquated systems. Now, the result of this has been that the Venutians have contacted people in all walks of life - all walks of life. [laughs] Yes. It-it-it would be a devastatin' blow to our antiquated systems - so now the Venutians are meeting with people in all walks of life - in an advisory capacity. For once man will have a god-like control over his own destiny. He will have a chance to transcend and to evolve with some equality for all.

## The Stranger

* It doesn't make any difference what city. All cities are alike. That's why I'm out here now...cause I'm from the city, a long way from the city - and that's where I want to be right now.
* The people this place belongs to are buried right under you. You could be a trifle polite...It's a small thing to ask.
* You see, what happened here is these people got here late in the summer. Too late to plant. But the weather was beautiful and it was easy livin', and everything was fine. And then came that winter. There were forty or fifty of them here living in this one-room place down here. Nothing to eat - starvin'. Out by the side of the road lookin' for dead horses...Anything they could get ahold of. Now there's - there's eighteen or twenty of them left and they're city kids. Look at them. But they're getting this crop in. They're gonna stay here until it's harvested. That's the whole thing.

## Others

* Rancher: Turn that thing off. You're making my horse skittish. ... Sure is a good-looking machine.
* Sarah: We just can't take anymore, Stranger. Just too many people dropping in. Oh, I'm not talking about you and your friends, you know that. And like the week before, Susan dropped in with twelve people from Easter City. She wanted to take ten pounds of rice with her...Well naturally, we had to say no...So she gets all up tight and she breaks out some hash - and she won't give us any. Oh, and...that's not all. The next morning, they went outside to start their bus and they couldn't get it started...
* Joanne: [reading from the I-Ching] Starting brings misfortune. Per-serverance brings danger. Not every demand for change in the existing order should be heeded. On the other hand, repeated and well-founded complaints should not fail to a hearing.
* The Devil: Hear ye, hear ye, hear ye. We've come to play for our dinner. Or should I say, stay for our dinner. Or even slay for our dinner...We've come to drink your wine, taste your food and take pleasure in your women.
* Jack: [praying] We have planted our seeds. We ask that our efforts be worthy to produce simple food for our simple taste. We ask that our efforts be rewarded. And we thank you for the food we eat from other hands - that we may share it with our fellow man and be even more generous when it is from our own. Thank you for a place to make a stand.
* Prostitutes: [while tripping on LSD] I'm going to die. I'm dead...Do you understand?...Oh dear God, please let it be. Please help me conceive a child...I'm right out here out of my head...Please God, let me out of here. I want to get out of here...You know what I mean...You wanted me...You wanted me ugly didn't you? I know you johns - I know you johns.

## Dialogue

    Billy: You're pulling inside, man. You're getting a little distance tonight.
    Wyatt: Yeah, well, I'm just getting my thing together.
    Billy: Hey man, everything that we ever dreamed of is in that teardrop gas tank - and you got a stranger over there pourin' gasoline all over it. Man, all he's got to do is turn and look over into it, man, and he can see that...
    Wyatt: He won't know what it is, man. He won't know what it is. Don't worry, Billy. Everything's all right.
    Wyatt: You ever want to be somebody else?
    Stranger: I'd like to try Porky Pig.
    Wyatt: I never wanted to be anybody else.
    Billy: This is nothing but sand, man. They ain't gonna make it, man. They ain't gonna grow anything here.
    Wyatt: They're gonna make it. Dig, man. They're gonna make it.
    Stranger: [giving Wyatt some LSD] When you get to the right place, with the right people, quarter this. You know, this could be the right place. The time's running out.
    Wyatt: Yeah, I'm, I'm hip about time. But I just gotta go.
    Billy: I'm sorry about the misunderstanding.
    George Hanson: There was no misunderstanding. We're all in the same cage here.
    Billy: You must be some important dude. That treatment--
    George Hanson: What does he mean "dude"? Dude ranch?
    Wyatt: "Dude" means a nice guy, you know? "Dude" means a regular sort of person.
    Deputy: What the hell is this? Troublemakers?
    Cat Man: You name it - I'll throw rocks at it, Sheriff.
    Cat Man: Check that joker with the long hair.
    Deputy: I checked him already. Looks like we might have to bring him up to the Hilton before it's all over with.
    Cat Man: Ha! I think she's cute.
    Deputy: Isn't she, though. I guess we'd put him in the women's cell, don't you reckon?
    Cat Man: Oh, I think we ought to put 'em in a cage and charge a little admission to see 'em.
    George: Those are what is known as 'country witticisms'.
    Customer 1: You know, I thought at first that bunch over there, their mothers had maybe been frightened by a bunch of gorillas, but now I think they were caught.
    Customer 2: I know one of them's Alley-oop - I think. From the beads on him.
    Customer 4: Well, one of them darned sure is not Oola.
    Customer 1: Look like a bunch of refugees from a gorilla love-in.
    Customer 2: A gorilla couldn't love that.
    Customer 1: Nor could a mother.
    Customer 3: I'd love to mate him up with one of those black wenches out there.
    Customer 4: Oh, now I don't know about that.
    Customer 3: Well, that's about as low as they come. I'll tell ya...Man, they're green.
    Customer 4: No, they're not green, they're white.
    Customer 3: White? Huh!
    Customer 4: Uh-huh.
    Customer 3: Man, you're color blind. I just gotta say that...
    Customer 1: I don't know. I thought most jails were built for humanity, and that won't quite qualify.
    Customer 2: I wonder where they got those wigs from.
    Customer 1: They probably grew 'em. It looks like they're standin' in fertilizer. Nothin' else would grow on 'em...
    Customer 3: I saw two of them one time. They were just kissin' away. Two males. Just think of it.
    Deputy: What'cha think we ought to do with 'em?
    Cat Man: I don't damn know, but I don't think they'll make the parish line.
    George: You know, this used to be a helluva good country. I can't understand what's gone wrong with it.
    Billy: Huh. Man, everybody got chicken, that's what happened, man. Hey, we can't even get into like, uh, second-rate hotel, I mean, a second-rate motel. You dig? They think we're gonna cut their throat or something, man. They're scared, man.
    George: Oh, they're not scared of you. They're scared of what you represent to 'em.
    Billy: Hey man. All we represent to them, man, is somebody needs a haircut.
    George: Oh no. What you represent to them is freedom.
    Billy: What the hell's wrong with freedom, man? That's what it's all about.
    George: Oh yeah, that's right, that's what it's all about, all right. But talkin' about it and bein' it - that's two different things. I mean, it's real hard to be free when you are bought and sold in the marketplace. 'Course, don't ever tell anybody that they're not free 'cause then they're gonna get real busy killin' and maimin' to prove to you that they are. Oh yeah, they're gonna talk to you, and talk to you, and talk to you about individual freedom, but they see a free individual, it's gonna scare 'em.
    Billy: Mmmm, well, that don't make 'em runnin' scared.
    George: No, it makes 'em dangerous. Nik, nik, nik, nik, nik, nik, nik, nik - Swamp.
    Billy: We've done it. We've done it. We're rich. Wyatt. [laughs] Yeah, man. [laughs] Yeah. Clearly, we did it, man we did it. We did it. Huh. We're rich, man. We're retired in Florida, now, mister. Whew.
    Wyatt: You know, Billy. We blew it.
    Billy: What? Huh? Wha-wha-wha- That's what it's all about, man. I mean, like you know - I mean, you go for the big money, man, and then you're free. You dig? [Laughs]
    Wyatt: We blew it. Good night, man.
    Driver: Hey, Roy, look at them ginks!
    Roy: Pull alongside, we'll scare the hell out of 'em. [to Billy] Want me to blow your brains out? [Billy obscenely gestures at him] Why don't you get a haircut?
    Billy: [after being shot] Oh my God!
    Wyatt: Oh my God! I'm going for help, Billy.
    Billy: I got 'em. I'm gonna get 'em. ...Man, I-I'm gonna get 'em. Where are they now?

## Cast

* Peter Fonda - Wyatt
* Dennis Hopper - Billy
* Jack Nicholson - George Hanson
* Luke Askew - The Stranger
* Antonio Mendoza - Jesus
* Phil Spector - Connection
* Mac Mashourian - Bodyguard
* Warren Finnerty - Rancher
* Tita Colorado - Rancher's Wife
* Luana Anders - Lisa
* Sabrina Scharf - Sarah
* Karen Black - Karen
* Toni Basil - Mary

## External links

* Easy Rider quotes at the Internet Movie Database
* Easy Rider at Rotten Tomatoes
* Easy Rider at Filmsite.org