Easy Rider, Columbia Pictures/Photofest, photographer Peter Sorel, © Columbia Pictures
The Norton Simon Museum in Old Pasadena will screen the 1969 film Easy Rider on Saturday, August 1 from 4:30 p.m. to 6:05 p.m., opening a four-film summer series tied to the 100th anniversary of Route 66.
The screening is free with museum admission, and no reservations are needed, according to the museum’s event listing. Doors open 30 minutes before the start time, and the film will be shown in the museum’s theater. The Norton Simon Museum is located at 411 West Colorado Boulevard in Pasadena, along the Colorado Boulevard corridor that carries the annual Rose Parade route.
Easy Rider, directed by Dennis Hopper, follows two Harley Davidson–riding hippies, Wyatt (Peter Fonda) and Billy (Hopper), as they travel from Los Angeles to New Orleans searching for the meaning of life, according to the synopsis the museum published with the listing. Along the way, the museum’s description says, they find comfort in a commune and violence in small-town America. The museum notes that the film contains depictions of drug use, sex and violence. It carries an R rating.
The screening is part of a series the museum titles “On Route 66,” which it describes as four films presenting a range of journeys along the highway between Los Angeles and Chicago, with each film featuring the California section of the route. The museum says the series marks 100 years of the road. Each screening begins with an introduction by Joe Petricca, whom the museum identifies as a filmmaker, educator and the organizer of the series. The films are scheduled on select Saturdays in August.
The three additional titles the museum lists for the series are The Grapes of Wrath (1940), Hollywood or Bust (1956) and the animated film Cars (2006), each shown at 4:30 p.m. on a Saturday in August.
The event listing states only that the screening is free with museum admission. According to the museum’s ticketing information, general admission is $20 for adults and $15 for seniors ages 62 and above, and admission is free for museum members, students with identification, and visitors ages 18 and under. The museum also offers free admission to all visitors on the first Friday of each month from 4:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m. On Saturdays the museum is open from 12:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m.
Details for the screening are posted on the museum’s website, nortonsimon.org, and the museum can be reached at 626.449.6840.
