Easy Rider is a 1969 American road movie written by Peter Fonda , Dennis Hopper , and Terry Southern, produced by Fonda and directed by Hopper . It tells the story of two bikers (played by Fonda and Hopper) who travel through the American Southwest and South . The success of Easy Rider helped spark the New Hollywood phase of filmmaking during the early 1970s. The film was added to the Library of Congress National Registry in 1998 . A landmark counterculture film, and a "touchstone for a generation" that "captured the national imagination , " Easy Rider explores the societal landscape, issues, and tensions in the United States during the 1960s , such as the rise and fall of the hippie movement and communal lifestyle .