10 Double Movie Features From Hell

It's a wonder Easy Rider is as good a film as it is, and truly a testament to the work of editors everywhere, but specifically Donn Cambern, who must have had to wade through the assemblage of footage shot by Dennis Hopper and eked out a narrative.

There was no real screenplay to work with, most of the film was ad-libbed and filmed partly on LSD. Cambern had to transmit what Hopper and Peter Fonda were trying to say through a heavy filter of drugs. But amazingly, the film succeeds, however broadly, at striking a blow for anti-establishment. Even after the footage was trimmed and formatted, playwright Henry Jaglom was brought in as an editorial consultant, to help solidify the work's poignance.

Easy Rider should also be credited with probably the first accurate depiction of an LSD trip, with shifting time, flashbacks, jump cuts and handheld shots peppered throughout. Prior to Hopper's work, cinema had only seen Vincent Price intentionally trip out to induce fear and Jack Nicholson's little-seen Roger Corman film The Trip.

But like anything related to drugs, Dennis Hopper eventually became far too self-indulgent, to the point where even he realized it. As a result, following up Hopper's undeniable masterpiece with any of the tripe he attempted against studio wishes (he allegendly urinated on a desk during a meeting for The Last Movie) is an unbearable experience.

It's no fun, either, to experience the sell-out Hopper, delivering unwelcome hammy villain turns until Speed.