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The gearheads at the Rusty Spoke Community Bicycle Collective are offering their own version of the summertime cinematic drive-in experience tonight when they present a "bike-in" screening at their location on Grand Avenue.
Fittingly enough, the film being featured is Easy Rider, the landmark movie masterpiece that's all about life on the open road and joys of riding a two-wheeler, albeit a motorcycle instead of a bike.
The epic 1969 flick, which was directed by the late Dennis Hopper and stars Jack Nicholson and Peter Fonda, will unfurl at Rusty Spoke this evening while cyclists watch the movie while sitting atop their steel steeds.
It's a perfectly acceptable alternative to catching a bloated summer blockbuster at your neighborhood multiplex, and even features "Captain America" (the nickname for Fonda's character) in a starring role.
Widely hailed as the movie that ushered in the revolutionary "New Hollywood" movement of the late '60s/early '70s, Easy Rider launch an era of edgy films and maverick directors like Martin Scorsese, Francis Ford Coppola, and John Milius. Plus, it's a helluva film to boot. Besides helping to power the careers of Hopper, Fonda, and Nicholson, the flick is filled with a variety of anti-establishment and subversive themes.
In other words, it's the perfect kind of movie to be shown at the equally countercultural Rusty Spoke. The screening will also feature plenty of refreshments, as the bike collective will be selling drinks for $3 and plates of food for $5. All proceeds will benefit Rusty Spoke.
Easy Rider will be screened tonight at 7 p.m. at Rusty Spoke Community Bicycle Collective, 1023 Grand Avenue.