Dennis Hopper · 1969 · road
Dennis Hopper's 1969 countercultural landmark. Two bikers, Wyatt and Billy, ride east across the American Southwest from Los Angeles toward New Orleans and Mardi Gras, chasing a vision of freedom on the open road. What begins as a euphoric cross-country cruise darkens into a portrait of a divided nation, ending in sudden violence on a rural Southern highway.
- 1Los Angeles
Flush with cash from a drug deal, Wyatt and Billy point their choppers east out of Los Angeles in search of America.
- 2Monument Valley
Through the open spaces of the Southwest they ride free, camping under the desert sky and picking up a hitchhiker bound for a commune.
- 3New Orleans
They reach New Orleans for Mardi Gras and a bad trip in a cemetery, the dream of freedom beginning to curdle.
- 4Rural Louisiana
On a back road in the Deep South, heading on toward Florida, the journey ends in casual violence, freedom punished by the country that could not abide it.