A landmark counterculture film, and a "touchstone for a generation" that "captured the national imagination," Easy Rider explores the societal landscape, issues, and tensions towards adolescents in the United States during the 1960s, such as the rise of the hippie movement, drug use, and communal lifestyle.

With the cash stuffed into a plastic tube hidden inside the Stars & Stripes-painted fuel tank of Wyatt's California-style chopper, they ride eastward aiming to reach New Orleans, Louisiana, in time for the Mardi Gras festival.

The notion of "free love" appears to be practiced, with two of the women, Lisa and Sarah, seemingly sharing the affections of the hitch-hiking commune member before turning their attention to Wyatt and Billy.

"[11] Author Katie Mills wrote that The Trip is a way point along the "metamorphosis of the rebel road story from a Beat relic into its hippie reincarnation as Easy Rider", and connected Peter Fonda's characters in those two films, along with his character in The Wild Angels, deviating from the "formulaic biker" persona and critiquing "commodity-oriented filmmakers appropriating avant-garde film techniques.

[12] When seeing a still of himself and Bruce Dern in The Wild Angels, Peter Fonda had the idea of a modern Western, involving two bikers travelling around the country and eventually getting shot by hillbillies.

In an interview published in 2016 [Southern died in 1995] he said, "You know if Den Hopper improvises a dozen lines and six of them survive the cutting room floor he'll put in for screenplay credit.

[1][5] Peter Fonda said that on top of this, he personally paid for the costs of travel and lodging for the crew, saying, "Everybody was taking my credit cards and would pay for all the hotels, the food, the gas, everything with Diner's Club".

[15][5] Cinematographer Laszlo Kovacs said that an additional $1 million, "about three times the budget for shooting the rest of the film" was spent on the licensed music tracks that were added during the editing.

[16] He already had made two outlaw biker films and suggested that a 1968 Chevy Impala convertible be purchased to carry his camera smoothly, with speeds not exceeding 25 mph.

According to associate producer Bill Heyward in interviews included as part of the bonus DVD feature, "Shaking the Cage", Hopper was difficult on set.

[5] During test shooting on location in New Orleans, with documentary filmmaker Baird Bryant on camera,[17] Hopper fought with the production's ad hoc crew for control.

At one point, a paranoid Hopper demanded camera operator Barry Feinstein hand over the footage he shot that day so he could keep it safe with him in his hotel room.

[16] Among the extras who appear in the sequence are actors Dan Haggerty and Carrie Snodgress, musician Jim Sullivan, and Fonda's daughter Bridget.

A short clip near the beginning of the film shows Wyatt and Billy on Route 66 in Flagstaff, Arizona, passing a large figure of a lumberjack.

Besides the camera car, the production used two five-ton trucks, one for the equipment and pulling an 750 Amp generator trailer, and one for the up to four motorcycles, with the cast and crew in a motor home.

[16] In order to inspire more vitriolic commentary from the local men, Hopper told them the characters of Billy, Wyatt, and George had raped and killed a girl outside of town.

[5] In 1992, the film's producers, Schneider and Rafelson, sued Columbia Pictures over missing negatives, edit footage and damaged prints, holding them negligent concerning these assets.

"[21] While Easy Rider is famous for the Harley-Davidson choppers, the movie actually begins with the characters riding two European-made dirt bikes, Fonda on a red Bultaco Pursang, Hopper on Norton P11 Ranger.

The main motorcycles for the film, based on hardtail frames and panhead engines, were designed and built by two African American chopper builders — Cliff Vaughs and Ben Hardy — reflecting chopper designs popular among Black motorcyclists at the time, and following ideas of Peter Fonda, and were handled by Tex Hall and Dan Haggerty during shooting.

[2][36] In 1998, Easy Rider was added to the United States National Film Registry, having been deemed "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant.

[44] American Film Institute Lists Along with Bonnie and Clyde and The Graduate, Easy Rider helped kick-start the New Hollywood era during the late 1960s and 1970s.

Vice President Spiro Agnew criticized Easy Rider, along with the band Jefferson Airplane, as examples of the permissiveness of the 1960s counterculture.

[50] The movie was financed with money made from the Monkees, and features a cameo of record producer Phil Spector in the opening scenes, but neither provided any music.

[51] Editor and negative cutter Donn Cambern used various music from his own record collection to make watching up to 80 hours of bike footage more interesting during editing.

Bob Dylan was asked to contribute music, but was reluctant to use his own recording of "It's Alright, Ma (I'm Only Bleeding)", so a version performed by Byrds frontman Roger McGuinn was used instead.

Also, instead of writing an entirely new song for the film, Dylan simply wrote out the first verse of "Ballad of Easy Rider" and told the filmmakers, "Give this to McGuinn, he'll know what to do with it.

[53] For one, Cambern edited the footage much more closely to what were only meant as temporary tracks than was customary at the time, which led to everyone involved finding them much more suited to the material than they had originally thought.

[55] In November 2010, the film was digitally remastered and released by The Criterion Collection as part of the box set America Lost and Found: The BBS Story.

It included features from previous DVD releases; the documentary Born to Be Wild (1995); television excerpts showing Hopper and Fonda at the Cannes Film Festival; and a new video interview with BBS co-founder Stephen Blauner.

No members of the original cast or crew were involved with the film, which was produced and written by amateur filmmaker Phil Pitzer, who had purchased the sequel rights to Easy Rider.