5. Easy Rider (1969)
When Easy Rider was first released it was edgy, epitomized cool, and had odd scene breaks where the editing flashed back and forth between one scene and another about five times, which has never been done since. Dennis Hopper and Peter Fondas hippy drug flick was about freedom, exploration, both geographically and biologically and most importantly, it was about experimenting with only a loosely scripted film. It was a success, but also so haphazard that Hopper and Fonda would fall out and never talk again over who got credited for doing what. It seemed as though nobody was sure. The Ending That Ruined the Film Having crossed America, Los Angeles to New Orleans on their trusty hogs, the hippies get happy. A protracted stoner sequence follows. When they wake up the next day, the Hopper and Fonda, perhaps having had a large part of their memory erased by drugs, realized that they needed to have an ending to their film. Therefore the trusty old Deep South, with its backward ways and conservative beliefs becomes the ideal place to quickly kill off the characters and be done with the film. Its not a dumb ending necessarily, but it feels so disconnected to the rest of the film thematically that it ultimately hurts the film.