"Easy Rider 2: The Ride Back" Say WHAT???

So I was scooting around the Internet today, perusing some of the posts on a biker forum I frequent, when someone posted a story from H-D Magazine telling us the news that someone has decided to make a sequel to "Easy Rider," and that it's going to be called "Easy Rider 2: The Ride Back."

I have only one question: WHY???

I'm one of the very few bikers I know of that will readily admit that "Easy Rider" was one of the WORST biker movies EVER made. Most of the bikers I know get all enamored and glassy-eyed whenever someone mentions Peter Fonda, Dennis Hopper and "Easy Rider," and they'll run you slam over to get to the tube to watch it. They live by it, breathe it, know all of the lines by heart, and just drool all over themselves while watching Billy and Wyatt scoot down the highway on their customized Harley-Davidsons, "two young men in search of America," as the hype from the trailer went.

Bullshit. Pure, unadulterated bullshit of the highest order.

I mean, c'mon...have you ever watched the movie? For those of you who haven't, here's a brief synopsis so you can see what you've been missing.

Wyatt (Peter Fonda) and Billy (Dennis Hopper) are two DRUG DEALERS who open the movie by making a big score outside of an airport. They sell a buttload of drugs to some cat in a black limo, then hide the cash inside a plastic tube which they seal with a cork and then thread down into the peanut gas tank on Wyatt's chopper, "Captain America." (Good idea, there, Wyatt, stuffing all that crap down inside your peanut gas tank which only holds 2.5 gallons to begin with...and sealing it with a CORK, now that's a really good idea!) Then they get on their bikes and ride to Louisiana, having all kinds of weird, far-out adventures along the way. One of these adventures includes tripping on acid in a New Orleans CEMETARY, for cryin' out loud! Along the way they pick up some nerdy guy played by Jack Nicholson, and he gets to ride bitch on Captain America behind Wyatt because the bike has a sissy bar that he can lean back against.

The movie ends with all three of the main characters getting killed.

The "three amigos" pass through some small town in Texas, I think it was, and manage to piss off just about everyone they run into; the locals come out to their camp site in the middle of the night and play a little "catch up" during which they beat Nicholson to death. Wyatt and Billy, being the two considerate souls that they are (drug dealers, remember) just up and leave, leaving the body lying there for the coyotes. Later on down the road our two heros run afoul of two rednecks in a pickup truck while riding down the highway; Billy flips one of them the bird, who promptly pulls out a shotgun and blasts the crap outta him, sending him and his bike into the ditch. Wyatt stops to help Billy, puts his famous coat over him, then jumps on his bike to go get help. Well, of course the two good ol' boys in the pickup turn around and come back - can't have any witnesses, ya know - and they blast Wyatt clean off of the bike with another blast from the shotgun.

End of movie. Literally. The last shot is one taken from a helicopter (you can see the grass blowing around from the rotor blast) which shows Wyatt lying on his back, arms straight out in the classic crucifixion pose, his bike a burning heap of junk off to the side.

So why in the world, you ask yourself, would anyone want to try and make a SEQUEL to this movie?

Money. Gotta be the reason - it's the reason for most stupid things done with movies, so that's just gotta be it. Other than that, I can't see one single, solitary, good reason for making a sequel to what I think is the stupidest, lamest, most laughable "biker" movie ever made, and they made a bunch of 'em in the late sixties. The movie comes out in September, so we'll just have to wait until then to see if it's gonna be a good movie or just another stinker.

Now if you wanna see a GOOD biker movie, then I suggest you go rent "Beyond the Law" with Charlie Sheen and Michael Madsen. This movie is based on the TRUE STORY of a DEA agent who infiltrated the Mongols, and it's one kick-ass good movie!

As a matter of fact, I've got that one sitting in my drawer, and it's been a while since I've watched it..........

IHC