Busy being born

Easy Rider

(1969)

Another film I was too young to see when it was brand new (though I'm pretty sure I saw it within a couple of years, somehow), and the strongest association I have with it is listening to the extremely groovy soundtrack, in my first car, on, yes, my 8-track tape deck. My second-strongest association was with Jack Nicholson's hilarious perfomance, and that stupid football helmet.

Last time I saw more than a few minutes of this was more than a quarter of a century ago, when, at 15 or so years old, it seemed frightfully dated and just not very good. But I was so much older then, etc.; I'm a lot less inclined now to judge its age lines harshly. Much of it remains barely watchable, but the search for America is golden. Hell, if nothing else, what a kick to recognize Phil Spector as the boys' coke connection, and to see (I wouldn't have recognized her without the credits) 25-year-old-and-cuter-than-the-legal-limit Toni Basil.