The film tells the story of two cyclists who ideally drive the Christmas trip to New Orleans after registering cocaine in Mexico and then reselling it in California. This journey tries to shed light on the hidden aspects of their journey while their journey reveals a period of counterculture and intolerance.
The film may be a relic now, but it is a fascinating souvenir -- particularly in its narcissism and fatalism -- of how the hippie movement thought of itself.
Though deserving of its esteemed status on account of the cinematic revolution it spawned, the feature itself is something of a relic. But since when isn't it fascinating to reflect on the fossils of the past?
Hopper, Fonda and their friends went out into America looking for a movie and found instead a small, pious statement (upper case) about our society (upper case), which is sick (upper case). It's pretty but lower case cinema.
Empire Magazine
February 25, 2013
This is a glorious widescreen vision of a hot and bothered America, at once beautiful and lost. Yes, it has dated, but its pessimistic last gasp ("We blew it...") still carries a prescient sting.
