Review

Sudden ending, jesus...

I'm not entirely clear on what exactly their whole quest was. And how they "blew it". My interpretation is that they're cowboys (of course) and they're working towards freedom in the abstract. But they don't really have any particular concrete goal. Just get to New Orleans with the money for Mardi Gras. Which they do successfully. But they don't really have a purpose. So once they're there, what happens? Well they die. I think...That was sort of how I interpret the cemetery scene. They successfully reach their goal. But as I said they never really had a higher purpose and were aimless wanderers more than anything. So once they crossed Mardi Gras off the list, they realize they never really had anything in the first place. The whole time they were just working to get to Mardi Gras with the money. But why? And what was their intent afterward. Not really anything, to my recollection.

That's what the cemetery bit is in my mind, a confession. I believe at one point during it Peter Fonda's character starts talking about his bad relationship with his mother. The acid trip is their confessing their sins and coming to terms with their lives. The rest of the movie is a fakeout in a way. For all intents and purposes the characters are already dead, so in a way the wretched toothless monsters of the South weren't really the killers. They were the wind that knocked Peter Fonda and Dennis Hopper's characters right over. That's how I see it at least.

I'm extremely curious how the bits with the hippies were seen at the time. Because to me, they were horrifying. I did not wanna be there and all I could think was "this is fully American Midsommar". I'm not a fan of the communes. Wondering if perhaps an older audience would have seen those scenes more favorably? Genuinely, I wasn't sure if I as the audience was supposed to look at the commune and see the freedom that the Fonda and Hopper are after, or if it's just a bunch of weirdos. I'm sure somewhere in-between.

Also, I find it hilarious that they gave these actors real drugs and said "alright, now get to acting". Ridiculous. Respect, but still ridiculous.