The Frame

Peter Fonda and Dennis Hopper ride the roads on their bikes, apparently on their way to do a drug deal, but mostly they’re riding. And they pick up Jack Nicholson along the way (this was before he got annoying, although not everyone agrees with me that he got annoying, so whatever). They’re outsiders everywhere they go, and violence erupts in a Texas town, where the inhabitants see their countercultural status as hugely dangerous–and maybe it was, to them. It’s a sad film in many ways, chronicling a side of the sixties that mainstream film tended to try to avoid, but there are also many moment of joy and freedom. Not to mention the fact that it paved the way for many of the most innovative tendencies of 1970s filmmaking. The making-of documentary on the DVD was really interesting, too–as far as hectic filmmaking experiences go, it’s got to be right up near the top.
Well Above Average