With wind in their long hair and drugs stowed in their motorbikes, a couple of born-to-be-wild men blaze a path on the American highway in the opening credits of “Easy Rider.” It’s a quintessential cinematic moment that epitomized the general mood of an entire generation. American 1960s counterculture was a watershed for free speech and socio-politically charged expression from the younger generation. A plethora of movements would rise out of the period, giving voice to the oppressed and the disenfranchised while flipping off The Man as a direct reaction to the disastrous Vietnam War. Cinema, like all art, reflected the times in a cornucopia of creative ways; Dennis Hopper’s 1969 directorial debut and commercial hit about two marijuana dealers broke new ground and truly defined the spirit of the times.
“Easy Rider,” which Criterion released in a brand spanking new Blu-ray edition yesterday, may be the most popular film to come out of the counterculture age, but is far from being the only one worthy of discussion. Directors from all walks of life countered the mainstream in starkly innovative ways. The Czech New Wave in Europe reflected a rebellious attitude against harsh Soviet dominance; brave souls in Britain spoke up against the stilted values of the country’s class system; and in America, cinema was being examined, experimented upon and redefined as it surfed the dissident waves of tempestuous nonconformity.
Join us as we run down 11 essential counterculture films that belong right alongside “Easy Rider” in the way they protested against the established order. Whether they’re fantasy, fiction, documentary, drug-fueled manifestos, award-winning masterpieces, or doomed failures-turned-cult-classics, all films discussed below are in some way, shape, or form products of the turbulent, revolutionary and abundantly creative time known as the counterculture era.
“Daisies” (1966)
The first (and, alas, only) female-directed film that fits our counterculture bill is Věra Chytilová’s poppy and arty revelation. A paragon for the emerging Czech New Wave, and one of the most creatively audacious pictures of its time — not least because it was directed by a woman in a heavily male-dominated industry and because it depicted the mischievous pranks of two free-spirited anti-establishment ladies — “Daisies” premiered two years before the Prague Spring, when Czechoslovakia protested against its Soviet political oppressors. Following the rambunctious adventures of Marie I (Jitka Cerhová) and Marie II (Ivana Karbanová), who creak and talk like mechanical dolls and consume everything in their path in the name of mindless liberation, the charm of Chytilová’s film is magnetized through a style directly influenced by American counterculture legend Andy Warhol and the Dadaists (OG counterculturalists). Experimenting with color grading, editing, and sound mixing, perhaps the most lasting cinematic convention “Daisies” turned upside-down was its rebellious and farcical attitude towards the patriarchal society it was born in. As a piece of history, the film is rightly regarded as one of the most influential and daring feminist manifestos of its time, creating such an uproar that Chytilová was banned from working in Czechoslovakia until 1975.
“Symbiopsychotaxiplasm: Take One” (1968)
The first on our list of counterculture films that plays with the documentary format is William Greaves’ seminal experiment ‘Symbiopsychotaxiplasm: Take One.’ Filmed on a gorgeous day in Central Park, the contents take the creative process to a much deeper, satirical and inceptive level than any other film of its time. Greaves himself appears as the director on set, instructing his cameramen on what to shoot: one camera for the actual story they’re filming (a melodramatic scene between two lovers), one camera for the cameras filming the story, and one camera for the general surroundings in which their documentary is being filmed. Throughout its breezy hour and 15 minutes, the viewer is constantly kept on edge by questioning the authenticity of what’s happening on screen. And throughout this rigmarole of colliding realities, socio-political hot-button topics inevitably seep through: Feminism, homophobia, racism, sexism, and people’s perception of proper conduct are all part of Greaves’ stew. Greaves, furthermore, playfully puts himself in the center of it all by ‘playing’ the part of a director, further manipulating perceptions (Is he just being himself? Is he acting? Is he acting like he’s acting?). ‘Symbiopsychotaxiplasm’ should also be regarded as a groundbreaking and pioneering product for African-Americans behind the camera. The great Amy Taubin explains: “Quite simply, in 1968, there were at best a handful of African-American directors working in television and no African-Americans directing feature films. For an African-American director to make a feature film, let alone one as experimental as a film by Warhol or Godard, could not have been imagined if Greaves hadn’t gone out and done it.”
“If….” (1968)
“Death to the oppressor.” So the blood oath of the self-proclaimed Crusaders begins in Lindsay Anderson‘s searing and essential tale of an uprising against a British private school system in the late ’60s (read: values and traditions upheld since the days of the Empire). Clicking at the heels of the May 1968 riots in Paris — a social revolution that resonated around the world — “If….” is generated by the zeitgeist of its time to such an intense degree that you can practically feel the heat of the restless anxiety pulsating through the screen on your cheeks. Malcolm McDowell makes one of the more enigmatic movie debuts of 20th-century cinema as Mick Travis, poster child for living outside the box, doing whatever the hell you want to do, and taking violent action against conformity. The hierarchical system governing the College House in “If….” — with its Whips, Scum, and stilted adults — is as precise an allegory for all of Britain as the red pins that shoot out of Travis’ gun. And who can forget that sensational conclusion, literally firing bullets of repressed anger at our faces? As a bludgeoning product of its time, the film would go on to become one of the most predictable Palme d’Or winners in history when it won in 1969 — a year after the festival had to be canceled due to the aforesaid May riots.