Goodbye, Easy Rider
Article by Ray Schillaci
At age 79, the Easy Rider star went peacefully in his sleep after a long bout with lung cancer. Peter Fonda took the cinema world by storm in 1969 when he starred in Dennis Hopper’s Easy Rider. He and Hopper helped usher in the “new Hollywood” with their rebellious ways. Fonda also produced and was co-writer with Hopper. But, it was no easy ride, and that is best summed up in Peter Biskind’s candid Easy Riders, Raging Bulls: How the Sex-Drugs-Rock ’N’ Roll Generation Saved Hollywood. But, as notorious as those young bulls were, Biskind paints a picture of Fonda being the cooler head among so many others.
Peter Fonda never seemed to achieve the level of legendary success that his father, Henry Fonda, or his sister, Jane Fonda had. But, it appeared he was far more interested in sending out a message with his films. With Easy Rider, he and Hopper captured the spirit of the ’60s: rebellion, drug experimentation, and the search for America. Fonda followed up with a feminist western called The Hired Hand and after that a film about the environment, Idaho Transfer. Later, he went on to a succession of “B” movies that would end up being cult favorites – Dirty Mary Crazy Larry, Open Season, and Race With the Devil. But they never achieved the success of his legendary biker film.
Back in the day, Fonda was as revered as Mick Jagger, Muhammad Ali, Jimi Hendrix and John Lennon as a large part of the countercultural movement. But, what might have held Fonda back from legendary success was himself. Having dropped out of society after the success of Easy Rider, he lived on a sailboat with the intention of writing. By his own admission he was not able to get anything accomplished.
He would continue to perform in a number of forgettable films until 1997 when he emerged as a beekeeper and Vietnam vet whose family was falling apart in Ulee’s Gold. Finally, Fonda was recognized for his acting ability and awarded an Oscar nomination for that role. The years before that film, Fonda’s second wife Rebecca, Bridget Fonda’s mother, would eventually be the influence that moved him to Livingston, Montana onto a 300 acre property with two ranches where he lived in blissful cinematic solitude. The same neck of the woods where Jeff Bridges, Sam Peckinpaw (The Wild Bunch), and other artistic recluses resided. He was a man with a great deal of heart that cared more about issues than fame and fortune. He was the embodiment of that Easy Rider, and now he rides off into the sunset.
