Arts and CultureNew York

Born to be Wild? Check Out a FREE Screening of Easy Rider Tonight in Bryant Park

Updated: Aug 06, 2011 10:37
The Bay's best newsletter for underground events & news

What could be more American than road trips and rock ‘n’ roll?  If you’re still in search of something do on this glorious Independence Day, check out a FREE screening of Easy Rider at the HBO Bryant Park Summer Film Festival.  It’s hard to tell what this movie doesn’t have– between a whacked out (and completely amazing) Dennis Hopper, a young Jack Nicholson in a Tom Wolfe-esque white suit, and Peter Fonda’s American flag-emblazoned motorcycle helmet, Easy Rider seems as emblematic of our country as baseball or apple pie or… you know, making wads of cash by illegal means, stuffing it in the gas tank of your motorcycle, and cruisin’ from LA to The Big Easy in search of babes, booze, and real-life bildungsroman.  Forget the Founding Fathers, these guys are the real patriots.

In a lot of ways, the characters in Easy Rider perfectly embody The American Dream.  For one thing, they’re self-made men—hard-workers who hustle and do whatever it takes (cough, sell drugs, cough) to take themselves to the top.  They also possess that decidedly American spirit of adventure—just like the pioneers who traveled West in search of gold or whatever, the Easy Rider guys set out to explore their country, make money, and better their lives.  Lastly, they’re the underdogs— long-haired, free-lovin’ hippies who hate war, love rock music, and are constantly battling The Man.  They represent a time when this country was not only at war with Vietnam, but with itself and its ideals… hey, kind of like present day!

The Lawn at Bryant Park opens at 5pm, and the movie starts at sunset.  All of the info about this FREE screening can be found HERE.  Get on your figurative hog (that’s slang for “motorcycle,” right?) and ride on over to Bryant Park!

FREE screening of Easy Rider, HBO Bryant Park Summer Film Festival

Bryant Park

Between 40th and 42nd St. and 5th and 6th Ave.

[Midtown Manhattan]

 

Image via Film Forum

 


 

Previous post

4 Common Bad Moves On First Dates

Next post

FREE Fireworks! USA! USA! USA!


Carrie Laven - Pretty Penniless

Carrie Laven - Pretty Penniless

Carrie Laven is a natural-born storyteller from California, but she
lives in New York now. She likes dogs, nail art, and Mexican food,
but mostly she likes scoring sweet deals at thrift stores. She tends
to have a flair for the dramatic.