On This Day

Easy Rider released

July 14th 1969

11:29 14 July 2024

‘Easy Rider’ opened at the Beekman theatre in New York City on this day in 1969. The ultimate 60s counterculture movie grossed a house record of $40,422 in its first week. It took even more at the box office the following week with $46,609. It went on to become the number one film at the US box office for three weeks and became the fourth highest-grossing film of 1969 with a worldwide gross of $60 million.

Directed by Dennis Hopper who starred alongside Peter Fonda as hippie bikers Billy and Wyatt travelling across the American southwest and South with the proceeds of a cocaine deal encountering hatred and bigotry along the way and joining up with an alcoholic liberal lawyer George Hanson (Jack Nicholson) on their journey.

'Easy Rider' along with 'Bonnie and Clyde' (1967), 'The Graduate' (1967), 'The Wild Bunch' (1969) and others marked the dawning of a new era for Hollywood.