First Up...Jack

The 70's eh? Well, one thing I've got on most of the students at Flashpoint is that I was actually alive during the 70's! But since I was born in 1971, my experience in the 70's was Batman (Adam West-style), Spiderman (the old cartoons ruled!), The Monkees, etc. But I did have the chance to see some classics in the theater like Star Wars, Close Encounters Of The Third Kind, and Grease to name a few. I literally think I saw Star Wars about 20 times at the theater (my dad was writing his thesis paper at the time and would send my mom off with us to the theater for some peace and quiet, we all won there!) As for Close Encounters, some kids who were leaving the theater pointed at me on the way out saying I looked like the boy from the film, which freaked me out!

But I'm sure the films we will be watching weren't exactly on the list to take a young man of age to see. Any commentary the film industry were trying to make then would have been lost on me anyways. But I do want to know, what was going on out there in that turbulent time?

Five Easy Pieces was not what I expected. I didn't know what to expect actually, but having seen Nicholson in numerous films, I thought I had an idea of what I'd see, but I was wrong. I was expecting a sudden plot twist that would send Jack into psycho-Jack mode. But what the film turned out to be was just a story of man who didn't know what he wanted, just not what he had. He was a man who didn't want to be tied down. Free to move where and when he wanted. I felt sorry for his girlfriend because she seemed to be really dedicated to him, but he treated her like dirt more often than he didn't.

I did particularly enjoy 2 parts of the movie. The ramblings of the hitch-hiker as she went on and on about how dirty everything was. I wanted to shoot her, but it was so funny how they edited that. The diner scene was fun as well and how he finally was able to get her to realize how silly the waitress was being by not allowing him to have toast, but she would have none of that would she!

One thing I did notice as a Recording Arts person was the sound was very inconsistent and poor in numerous sections of the film, even leading to a dis-agreement at the end whether Jack's character actually says he is headed to Alaska.

As I dove into the readings, I really had no idea what to expect as I never really delved into the film culture of any decade, so it did take me surprise to read about how much of the hippie type culture and drug culture found it's way into the offices of these movie companies. And it was interesting reading about the exploits of one Dennis Hopper. After reading all the kaos behind Easy Rider and the battle between Fonda and Hopper and how the movie was such a success in spite of all that, I am lookin forward to seeing this film quite a bit more.

Actaully, it seems that both Easy Rider and Bonnie and Clyde took people by surprise as the powers that be didn't quite expect the success that they achieved.