Though the moniker may sound like it denigrates its wearers’ work ethics, the term “slouch hat” actually refers to the common practice of fastening one side of brim against the crown-allowing the other side to “slouch” down-so that its martial wearer could more efficiently shoulder a rifle. Though it has been used widely by military forces and guerrillas around the world in the centuries since, the hat has maintained a particularly strong as an Australian national symbol, emerging after these khaki hats were authorized for Australian military uniforms during the Victorian era. Also known as an “Australian bush hat”, “digger hat”, “Kossuth hat”, or “Outback hat”, this style was reportedly pioneered during the 1640s King Charles I’s royalist Cavaliers during the English Civil War. Wyatt and Billy represent two interpretations of American representation in their dress, with Wyatt sporting patriotic red, white, and blue iconography among his more contemporary black leather while Billy’s buckskins suggest a Native American provenance, his earthy tones ranging from sand to umber to present a more “heritage hippie” image.Ī 2016 blog entry at The Dedicated Follower of Fashion thoughtfully posits that “Billy’s Southwestern influenced outfit could have been dug up at a flea market, emphasizing the rejection of mass market clothing and embracing individuality.”Īround these parts, they don’t take too kindly to gents wearing their sunglasses inside.īilly and Wyatt insist that George strap on a helmet before agreeing to take him, but Billy himself foregoes any headgear more protective than his signature slouch hat. Indeed, The Byrds and McGuinn, as well as the likes of The Band, Jimi Hendrix, and Steppenwolf, provided the movie’s now-iconic soundtrack that serves as a celebratory dirge to freedom as our riders’ journey takes them from the vast, accepting lands of the southwest and into the dangerously reactionary deep South. The music scoring their journey also had some influence on their appearance, with Wyatt-or “Captain America”, if you will-reportedly modeled after Roger McGuinn while Hopper’s mustachioed Billy bears an undeniable resemblance to David Crosby, a founding member of The Byrds. Their illicit trade notwithstanding, our two protagonists are established as outlaws from the outset, their names borrowed from seminal “wild west” figures like Wyatt Earp and Billy the Kid, charging through the countryside not on horses but on Harleys. There’s plenty more drug use along the way, from a few LSD tabs scored from a fellow traveler to introducing the wild-eyed lawyer George Hanson (Jack Nicholson) to marijuana, but the substances are secondary as Easy Rider allegorizes the death-or, perhaps, the contemporary redefinition-of the American dream. The iconoclastic filmmaker had been acting on screen since the ’50s before he made his directorial debut with the groundbreaking Easy Rider.įilmed early in 1968 but not released until the tumultuous summer of ’69, Easy Rider had been conceptualized by Hopper with screenwriter Terry Southern and fellow actor Peter Fonda, who would join Hopper on screen as the pair of freedom-loving bikers we follow across the country following a lucrative cocaine sale. The late Dennis Hopper was born 86 years ago today on May 17, 1936. Dennis Hopper as Billy in Easy Rider (1969) Vitalsĭennis Hopper as Billy, cowboy-styled biker and cocaine smugglerĪcross the southern United States from Los Angeles through Louisiana, February 1968
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